DAMS Lucas Oil showed strong qualifying and race pace in the second FIA Formula 3 meeting of the season at Bahrain International Circuit, with Christian Ho taking points in both races.

Following a promising showing at the season-opening event, where Matías Zagazeta secured fifth in the Sprint Race, Singaporean rookie Ho impressed by taking fourth in qualifying in the Middle East.

The 2024 Eurocup-3 champion started ninth for the semi-reverse grid Sprint on Saturday and fought hard in a tightly-bunched field to gain a position and claim eighth, picking up his first points in the series. Peruvian racer Zagazeta looked to push towards the top-10 in a very competitive midfield, eventually gaining 11 positions to take 17th, while Nicola Lacorte’s positive start to the race was cut short after damage to the car forced him to retire.

Sunday saw the 22-lap Feature Race take place, with Ho starting fourth. He dropped down in the opening laps but battled hard to retain a points-paying position. After the pit-stop phase was completed, the 18-year-old was involved in a tense battle at the lower end of the top-10, eventually securing 10th and adding another point to his weekend tally. Lacorte pushed forwards strongly in the race, with the Italian driver taking 20th from 25th on the grid, with Zagazeta crossing the line 28th.

Formula 3 now returns to Europe for the remainder of the campaign, with Round 3 taking place at Imola on 16-18 May.

Christian Ho: “It was a much better weekend than Melbourne, we knew we had good one-lap pace from testing, so I was delighted to take P4 in qualifying. I was aiming for points in the Sprint Race, and even though I dropped back at the start, I was able to battle my way back into P8. We knew there was work to do on Sunday, but unfortunately, we didn’t have the pace to stay with the frontrunners. I tried to save my tyres and attack at the end and I was able to finish in the points again. Overall, it’s a really positive weekend, to qualify on the second row is huge and we’ll look to work on a few areas ahead of Imola. Thanks to the team for their efforts and we’ll aim for even better results in the coming rounds.”

Qualifying: 4th | Sprint Race: 8th | Feature Race: 10th

Matías Zagazeta: “For me it was a tough weekend throughout. A couple of mistakes in qualifying left us near the back of the grid for both races, which complicated matters. It’s always tough to recover from there, but we learned some important points and will keep pushing forwards as a team for the triple-header starting next month.”

Qualifying: 28th | Sprint Race: 17th | Feature Race: 29th

Nicola Lacorte: “We didn’t have the best qualifying, the session was going well but then I was unable to improve on the third run with new tyres, which cost me several places on the grid. The Sprint started strongly, even though I picked up damage on Lap 1. The pace was good and I felt comfortable in the car, before the damage became too much and I had to retire. We were quick again on Sunday and made some overtakes, although we are still behind where we want to be. It’s clear there is speed in the car, so we need to avoid mistakes to help us achieve those results.”

Qualifying: 25th | Sprint Race: DNF | Feature Race: 20th

Charles Pic, Team Owner: “We can be happy with the performance this weekend, we showed plenty of potential and there are a lot of positives to build on. It was great for Christian to qualify on the second row and he proved his ability to score points in both races despite some overheating under braking. Both Matías and Nico showed

promise in qualifying, but mistakes prevented them from starting the races higher up. Matías made some good moves in the Sprint to finish P17 and Nico had strong pace as well. We learned a lot for the future and we have found a good baseline to build on. We can be happy with the level we are displaying, especially so early on in our F3 journey.”

Image: Dutch Photo Agency