Campos Racing drivers had to make their way up in the races after a challenging qualifying session, but nevertheless, their pace and speed showed that the best is yet to come.
Campos Racing and its drivers did not have an easy start to the 2024 FIA Formula 3 season at the Bahrain International Circuit. In such a closely contested category, turning around the qualifying result in the race is always a tough task. Nonetheless, Oliver Goethe, Mari Boya, and Sebas Montoya showed that the best is yet to come considering the potential demonstrated in Sakhir, even though they didn't manage to translate it into results on this occasion.
During free practice, Campos Racing drivers focused on completing as many laps as possible to maximize their chances in qualifying. However, qualifying was going to be very challenging due to the presence of wind, which caused conditions to ignificantly change from one lap to another. This affected Campos Racing drivers, with Spanish driver Boya settling for 15th place with a time of 1m47.170s, while Goethe qualified two positions further back with his lap time of 1m47.198s. Colombian driver Montoya would start from the back with his time of 1m48.358s.
On Friday, in the sprint race, it became evident that the great strength of Campos Racing drivers was going to be their race pace. Gradually and steadily overtaking their rivals, Boya, Goethe, and Montoya began to move up through the field. In the final stages, both Boya and Goethe were already in points-scoring positions, and after 19 laps, the Spanish driver finished eighth at the finish line, ahead of Goethe in ninth. Montoya's recovery was also noteworthy, as he finished in 18th place after overtaking eleven rivals.
On Saturday, in the longer race known as the feature race, Boya was eleventh after the first lap, and it seemed likely that he would finish much higher. However, a collision with a rival caused him a puncture, sending him to the back of the pack as he was forced to pit. Goethe took over and after four laps was already fighting for the top ten positions. After an exciting battle with his rivals, during which they exchanged positions numerous times, the Campos Racing driver finished tenth at the finish line. Montoya climbed up to 17th place this time, while Boya, after his pit stop, finished 29th although he had one of the most competitive race paces in the entire field.
The next event will be held at the semi-urban circuit of Melbourne in three weeks’ time.
