Picariello makes it no contest in round two too

Alessio Picariello snuffed out the competition in round two of the MRF Challenge at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir on Friday night.

Sixth to set off from the reverse grid, few would have felt he was a debutant, going by his resounding victory. Underscoring his triumph was the fastest lap he logged for the second time in this world class facility sprawled out in the desert.

Pietro Fittipaldi, however, moved to the fore in the championship by warding off Nikita Troitckii in the floodlit second race. The former steered clear of the Russian by a dozen points and by 18 over Tatiana Calderon, placed third overall in the final standings.

Picariello was in rampaging form, zooming from sixth to second position by the third corner itself. By the fifth, he had outpaced Matheus Leist and left the rest of the fleet in his wake. Lurking not too far behind was Fittipaldi, who soon was tailing Leist.

Tarun Reddy’s cup of woe spilt over when his car’s contact with Tatiana Calderon’s in the opening lap not only sent him crashing out but seriously hampered the Colombian’s prospects as well. Not long after Fittipaldi overtook Leist as did Troitckii.

Picariello was at his blazing best in the penultimate lap before taking the chequered flag, following another flawless performance. Fittipaldi pipped Troitckii to second position by 0.091 seconds. Harrison Newey, son of legendary F1 engineer Adrian Newey, posted his best finish of the season, coming in fourth, ahead of Leist and Calderon.

The results (second race): 1. Alessio Picariello 20:32.866 (Bel) 2. Pietro Fittipaldi 20:37.947 (Bra) 3. Nikita Troitckii 20:38.038 (Rus) 4. Harrison Newey 20:43.473 (UK) 5. Matheus Leist 20:45.634 (Bra).

Championship standings: 1. Pietro Fittipaldi 98 points; 2.Nikita Troitckii (86); 3. Tatiana Calderon (84); 4. 4. Nobuharu Matsushita (80); 5. Alessio Picariello (56); 6. Jake Dennis (53).

( A. Joseph Antony is in Manama at the invitation of MRF Ltd. )