Dominant Picariello completes grand double

Alessio Picariello finished the bustling weekend in style with a grand double in the second round of MRF Challenge at Bahrain International circuit in Sakhir here on Friday night.

The 22-year-old Belgian driver seemed to love the pleasant breeze here, eking out a dream performance.

Picariello started strongly at sixth position in the reverse grid race. He stormed his way to take quick lead and win his second race of the day. Earlier he had won the first race after starting from pole.

Picariello finished ahead of championship leader Pietro Fittipaldi in yet another dominant display and also clocked the fastest lap with a time of 2.02.251 minutes.

The debutant driver made an excellent start to go second in the opening lap. British driver Sean Walkinshaw, who finished sixth in the first race, started from pole but dropped back allowing Matheus Leist of Brazil to take the initial lead. But Picariello continued his remarkable weekend to gain pace and accelerate past Leist.

Brazilian driver Fittipaldi (98 points) enhanced his championship lead after finishing second while Nikita Troitcki (86 points) kept pressure on him with a third place finish.

Colombian woman driver Tatiana Calderon, who had a podium finish in the first race, got off to a bad start. She made contact with Tarun Reddy who had a miserable day. Reddy, who had starting issues in the first race, tried to make amends with a fast start but had to retire prematurely after getting a blow from Calderon’s car in the first lap. Calderon herself dropped to seventh but recovered well to finish sixth and take her championship points to 84.

Britain’s Harrison Newey, son of legendary F1 engineer Adrian Newey, had his best finish of the season in fourth place, ahead of Leist and Calderon. Belgian Sam Dejonghe finished seventh ahead of pole-setter Walkshinshaw.

“Everything has been perfect this weekend. I have not raced for a year now but felt comfortable with the car straight away. I had a good start, moved into third position in the second corner, then to second two corners later and finally into the lead. After that it was just about managing the pace,” Picariello said after the race. The third round will be held in Dubai and the final round will be held in Chennai.

The results (Top 10): 1. Alessio Picariello, 2. Pietro Fittipaldi, 3. Nikita Troitckii, 4. Harrison Newey, 5. Matheus Leist, 6. Tatiana Calderon, 7. Sam Dejonghe, 8. Sean Walkinshaw, 9. Nerses Isaakyan, 10. Max Fewtrell.