The two drivers in Campos Racing colors added more points to their tally at Monza, which hosted the penultimate round of the season
The second-to-last round of the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship season proved to be a fertile ground for Campos Racing and their drivers. Kush Maini and Ralph Boschung made it into the points-paying positions in their Campos Racing-run Dallara F2 cars. In the case of Maini, the Indian driver saw his feature race compromised after Jak Crawford collided into him while fighting for a podium result.
On Friday morning, Maini posted the 10th-fastest lap time in free practice with his best effort of 1m33.742s after putting 17 laps under his belt. Swiss Boschung had a similar positive start to the weekend by finishing 12th in the timesheets with his best lap of 1m33.796s. In the afternoon, Maini and Boschung managed to rise the bar in qualifying and the Indian posted a lap of 1m32.542s, which was 6th-fastest in the session. Boschung rounded out the top-ten with a lap of 1m32.655s and granted the pole position of Saturday’s reverse grid.
Saturday’s sprint race, consisting of 21 laps, saw as Boschung kept his rivals at bay at the start but the driver of Campos Racing locked up his front tires at T1 and dropped three places. On the contrary, Maini moved up to third in the first stages of the race when the safety car was deployed. The sprint race was back in green on lap 5 and Boschung further tumbled down the order due to his front tires damage and was forced to make a pit stop on lap 7. The safety car came out once again by the halfway point and, in the second part, Maini fought with Theo Pourchaire and Richard Verschoor to take the checkered flag in fifth place. Boschung ended up in 19th following his issues on the first lap.
The feature race wasn’t less hard-fought with Maini moving up to fifth at the start. Boschung had also gained a place when the safety car was deployed when Frederik Vesti and Clément Novalak retired on the first lap following two separated racing incidents. The race relaunched on lap 3 but three laps later was back in safety car conditions when Arthur Leclerc lost control of his car at the first chicane. All the drivers on the soft tire, including Maini and Boschung, took advantage to make his mandatory pit stop. The Indian driver of Campos Racing gained two other places by overtaking Victor Martins and Roman Stanek thanks to his pit crew’s quick operation. Seconds after the green flag, Zane Maloney hit hard the wall and the field rejoined behind the safety car. Maini was in the top-5, trying to overtake Crawford when the latter at the right-hander Curva Grande and both cars made contact. Crawford was given a ten-second penalty later but Maini’s race came to an early end due to front suspension damage. Boschung avoided more problems in the incident-marred race and crossed the finish line in ninth place.
With a mere round to go, Maini is 11th in the drivers’ standings on 60 points with Boschung further adrift with 37 points to his name. Campos Racing currently sits ninth in the teams’ standings.
The season finale will take place at Yas Marina Circuit on 25-26 November.
