Sakhir (Bahrain): Great Britain’s Harrison Newey won the first race of the MRF Challenge 2016 at Bahrain International Circuit here on Friday. Newey, who also won the qualifying race earlier in the day, started from pole and dominated the 10-lap race till the end to clock impressive timing of 20:19:964s.
Mick Schumacher turned on the magic in the second race to lead from start to the finish and take top podium spot ahead of Joey Mawson, Ralf Aron and Newey.
In the opening race Newey continued from where he had left in the qualifying race in the morning when he registered fastest lap of 2:00:316s the fastest time ever set by newly introduced MRF F2000 cars at this circuit.
The 18-year-old Newey, son of famed Formula One engineer Adrian, registered fastest lap of the opening race when he clocked 2:01:497s on the fourth lap to further strengthen his lead over Estonian driver Aron and Australia’s Mawson.
The MRF Challenge is happening alongside the final round of FIA World Endurance Championship (6 Hours of Bahrain) in which big brands like Porsche, Audi, Ford and Toyota are also participating. The 5.4 km Grand Prix layout, with 15 turns is one of the most challenging in the world.
Results: 1. Harrison Newey 20:19.964s, 2. Ralf Aron 20:24.941s, 3. Joey Mawson 20:27.788s, 4. Juri Vips 20:33.106s, 5. Mick Schumacher 20:34.023s, 6. Felipe Drugovich 20:35.087s, 7. Pedro Cardoso 20:40.184s, 8. Kimi Schramm 20:46.008s, 9. Dylan Young 20:47.104s, 10. Yoshiaki Katayama 20:47.912.
