F2 Report: Marti comeback steals the limelight in Bahrain 

As was the case in Oscar Piastri’s lights-to-flag victory, there was plenty of overtaking action on-show as F2's young guns tore around Sakhir. Throughout a frenetic main event, Dunne dueled with Leonardo Fornaroli, Victor Martins, and Luke Browning before pulling out an unassailable lead and streaking to the finishing line—to make it back-to-back wins for Rodin Motorsport at the circuit.

But the headlines will go to Marti. Josh Durksen, who picked up a Sprint win in Australia, looked on course to clinch a second victory in succession. However, it was Marti who managed to find his way through from an eleventh-place start to take a hugely impressive Sprint win.

During the Feature Race, Marti nearly notched another podium, only being denied by a last-gasp Fornaroli defensive display, leading the young Spaniard to reflect on a weekend that could’ve delivered even more silverware.

Marti said: “I think on Saturday we were quickest or on par with the quickest, and today we just didn't really bring what we needed to challenge Alex Dunne and Luke Browning.

“I thought Leo [Fornaroli] was quite aggressive on the last lap, but I mean you're fighting for a podium, so I get it. It was a bit on the limit, but nothing I wasn't expecting.

“To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed. I should have gotten that third place, but all in all it's a great weekend, 22 points in the bag, and sights set on Jeddah," he added.

As a feeder series, F2 is often the place drivers go to prove their potential, leading them to push to the absolute limit. And the Bahrain Sprint Race didn’t disappoint, with Martins surviving a first corner trip through the advertising hoardings as the field rapidly converged.

What followed was an epic scrap between Dino Beganovic, Durksen, and eventually Marti. Beganovic overtook Durksen for the lead on lap 11 only to drop back behind eight laps later when Max Esterson’s retirement brought out the safety car, and the Paraguayan sent it into turn one on the restart.

Dunne’s failed attempt to overtake Richard Verschoor then triggered an intense four-car scrap that caused Browning to suffer contact and open the door to Marti. When Beganovic botched an attempt to overtake Durksen on the penultimate lap, Marti snatched yet another position, before dramatically sealing the win with a final-lap, turn one overtake.

Reflecting on his second-ever Sprint win, Marti added: “We've definitely made a step forward, and we are definitely competitive, but at the same time we really have to get our stuff together in qualifying, especially myself.

“The race in itself was packed with so much emotion and so much adrenaline, and the release of emotion going through the finish line on the last lap overtake was great.

“I was in P4 with two laps to go and P6 with four laps to go; it was an absolute mess of a race. Overall, it was great to get a win. I think the team was also very happy.”

Sunday’s Feature Race wasn’t quite as pulsating, but there was still plenty of action for racing purists to enjoy. Unlike in Australia's Sprint, Formula 3 champion Fornaroli held onto the lead from pole position heading into the first corner.

But teammate Roman Stanek tumbled down the order, allowing Dunne to find his way through and sweep past Fornaroli on lap seven. Though Victor Martins had a shocker of a Sprint, he battled well in the Feature Race, pulling a fantastic overtake on Rafael Villagomez—who also fell prey to an audacious outside pass from Jak Crawford— to snatch an eventual fifth.

After the pit stops, Durksen managed a brilliant double overtake on Stanek and John Bennett himself, while Marti tried to force his way past Fornaroli for yet another podium. But Browning was the man to watch. Choosing an alternative tire strategy saw him drop down the field at the start; however, this soon gave him a huge pace advantage.

The Williams Academy driver powered his way up to second, but he was unable to stop Dunne from becoming F2’s first-ever Irish race winner. Afterwards, the 19-year-old's team boss, Benn Huntingford, heaped praise on the driver and his nerves of steel for hanging on.

Huntingford said: “It was great to hear him under control in the car. It was great to hear him having a plan for what he was doing in the race. He showed a great level of maturity there.

“It's also always good when we can rely on the drivers feedback and we are able to make changes to help with their performance; that's a strong place for us to be as a team.”

After a few weeks away, F2 will stay in sync with the F1 calendar for the coming weekend, meaning that the next race for Dunne and co. will be in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (