Browning got his F3 season off to the best of starts, leading from start to finish to take the full 25 points after absorbing pressure from Christian Mansell throughout.
Beganovic’s miserable start to the season continued as his Prema-run car failed to launch from pole position and dropped him to the back of the field, adding to the pain of a scoreless sprint due to a lap one puncture.
As the Swedish driver lost ground, Browning could head into the first corner with an unchallenged lead. Making the most of this, the Hitech driver quickly pulled clear of DRS range as the chasing pack engaged in a fierce battle.
Beganovic eventually recovered to P13 but left Bahrain without a point to his name.
Another driver who endured a difficult start was Campos driver Mari Boya, who suffered a puncture in an incident involving team-mate ART driver Laurens van Hoepen. Compounding this misery, the Spaniard was then handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
The early beneficiaries of these problems were Sami Meguetounif (Trident) and Christian Mansell (ART), with the drivers who had started fourth and fifth respectively climbing to second and third.
These positions switched in Mansell’s favour on lap five, as both drivers locked up into Turn 10 and the Australian quite literally slid down the inside.
As drivers settled into the race, Browning saw his lead erode and by lap 10, he led a DRS train of 11 cars, with his margin to Mansell just half a second.
Lap 17 saw gaps begin to appear with the top four pulling two seconds clear of the chasing pack. This came after concern from Browning after his engine tone changed significantly, something which was initially feared to be a lost engine cylinder.
However, it transpired that a broken piece of heat shielding was to blame for the change, and not anything more sinister.
With five laps of the 22 remaining, Browning began to push once again but he was unable to shake Mansell from his gearbox. This push split the lead group into two packs, with Meguetounif and Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) dropping back.
Keen to fire fresh life into his own push for the race win, Tramnitz dove to the inside at Turn 1, taking the final podium position from his Trident rival.
But there was no grandstand finale, as Browning cruised to the chequered flag from Mansell and Tramnitz.
1
L. Browning Hitech Pulse-Eight
14
22
–
2
C. Mansell ART Grand Prix
23
22
+1.200
1.2
1.200
3
T. Tramnitz MP Motorsport
7
22
+2.400
2.4
1.200
4
S. Meguetounif Trident
5
22
+5.600
5.6
3.200
5
S. Ramos Trident
6
22
+6.900
6.9
1.300
6
G. Minì Prema Powerteam
2
22
+8.200
8.2
1.300
7
L. Fornaroli Trident
4
22
+8.800
8.8
0.600
8
A. Lindblad Prema Powerteam
3
22
+9.500
9.5
0.700
9
A. Dunne MP Motorsport
9
22
+16.600
16.6
7.100
10
O. Goethe Campos Racing
10
22
+17.000
17.0
0.400
11
N. Tsolov ART Grand Prix
25
22
+18.000
18.0
1.000
12
N. León Van Amersfoort Racing
20
22
+19.400
19.4
1.400
13
D. Beganovic Prema Powerteam
1
22
+20.000
20.0
0.600
14
M. Stenshorne Hitech Pulse-Eight
15
22
+21.700
21.7
1.700
15
L. Van ART Grand Prix
24
22
+22.600
22.6
0.900
16
C. Wurz Jenzer Motorsport
17
22
+23.100
23.1
0.500
17
11
22
+23.600
23.6
0.500
18
N. Bedrin PHM AIX Racing
27
22
+29.900
29.9
6.300
19
M. Zagazeta Jenzer Motorsport
19
22
+30.800
30.8
0.900
20
T. Inthraphuvasak PHM AIX Racing
26
22
+34.400
34.4
3.600
21
C. Voisin Rodin Motorsport
29
22
+35.800
35.8
1.400
22
T. Smith Van Amersfoort Racing
22
22
+37.400
37.4
1.600
23
J. Loake Rodin Motorsport
31
22
+41.100
41.1
3.700
24
M. Esterson Jenzer Motorsport
18
22
+42.300
42.3
1.200
25
P. Wiśnicki Rodin Motorsport
30
22
+52.300
52.3
10.000
26
C. Shields Hitech Pulse-Eight
16
22
+53.900
53.9
1.600
27
J. Dufek PHM AIX Racing
28
22
+59.900
59.9
6.000
28
K. Sztuka MP Motorsport
8
22
+1’03.800
1’03.8
3.900
29
M. Boya Campos Racing
12
22
+1’28.200
1’28.2
24.400
dnf
21
21
1 lap
Retirement
Sprint race winner Arvid Lindblad added further points to his early haul, finishing eighth.
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