Academy Report: Progress and Podiums on Show in Bahrain and Beyond

The second round of the Formula 2 and Formula 3 seasons saw our Academy drivers head to Bahrain, where they delivered a weekend filled with bold strategy, sharp overtakes and more points on the board.

Luke Browning, Victor Martins, and Alessandro Giusti all faced fierce competition in Sakhir, while Sara Matsui and Lucas Palacio flew the flag in high-level karting events across Europe.

Here’s how each of our drivers performed.

Luke had a tough launch off the line in Saturday’s Sprint, losing places in the opening phase. However, the Brit recovered well – as the race restarted on Lap 5, he surged from P10 to P7 in a matter of corners, making up three spots in one of the standout sequences of the race.

A late Safety Car prompted several drivers to pit, but Luke stayed out on track. Despite contact from Alex Dunne in the esses – which he somehow managed to shrug off – he kept pushing. He made a clean pass later in the same section to reach P6. But with others on fresher tyres surging through, he was ultimately reeled in and crossed the line in P11.

Luke started on the alternate strategy and dropped from his P3 grid spot to run P10 in the early phase. With a reminder from the pit wall that he was P2 among the prime runners, he made his way forward with a clean move on Joshua Dürksen to lead the alternate strategy pack.

He pitted on Lap 14 for softs, aiming for a long final stint – and it paid off. As others filtered through their stops, Browning climbed into the top five. With fresher tyres, he passed Mari Boya and then made a decisive DRS move on Leonardo Fornaroli for P3.

He closed rapidly on Academy colleague Victor Martins, and on Lap 23 of 32, made the pass to secure the P2 and a spot on the podium – his second of the season.

Victor's Sprint unravelled early after being forced onto the grass in a chaotic four-wide moment, with no room left as the pack bunched into Turn 1. Hitting a braking point marker cost him a front wing and left him at the back in P20 after a pit stop.

Despite that, Victor stayed in the fight and climbed as high as P13 late on, opting not to pit during the final Safety Car period. Though out of the points, it was a gritty recovery from the Frenchman.

Starting P2, Victor dropped back early on. By Lap 5, he had dived up the inside of Roman Staněk for P5 and soon dispatched Rafael Villagómez to slot into fourth.

He was the first of the leaders to pit on Lap 13 and executed a strong undercut, rejoining ahead of two key rivals to run in P2. He set off after Alex Dunne, but as the race progressed, tyre degradation began to bite.

Victor eventually ceded position to Luke on Lap 23 but still brought home a solid haul of points in P5 on a weekend that showed solid pace.

Alessandro Giusti lost two places on the opening lap but kept it clean in the frantic midfield. A Safety Car pause allowed him to reset, and he used DRS expertly on the restart to slip past into P5 with a confident move into Turn 1.

A later attempt to pass Martinius Stenshorne in the esses didn’t stick, and he fell into the clutches of Callum Voisin, dropping to P6. A second Safety Car bunched the field again, but on the final restart, a drag race to Turn 1 saw Sandro lose one more spot to finish P7.

Sandro was in the thick of it from the get-go, involved in a thrilling three-wide fight down the pit straight to end Lap 1 in P12.

He began his charge forward with successive DRS passes on Sami Meguetounif and Nikola Tsolov, getting into the points. By Lap 13, he re-passed teammate Laurens van Hoepen to reclaim P9 and continued climbing.

A move on Charlie Wurz around the outside of Turn 4 was one of the highlights of the race, earning him P7. He ran out of laps to advance further but finished just tenths off P6 – a confident and dynamic performance from the Frenchman.

Sara Matsui was back on international soil, taking on the OK-N Senior grid at the Champions of the Future event in Valencia.

After qualifying P9, she kept consistent form through the heats with a pair of P10 finishes. The final was more difficult with a P21 result. Nonetheless, her strong pace in the lead-up remains an encouraging sign ahead of another full international season.

Lucas Palacio kicked off his Italian karting campaign with a stellar result at Pista Salentina.

After securing a P4 finish in the Pre-Final, the young American delivered a composed and fast Final, climbing to P2 by the flag to secure a podium finish in Round 1 of the Campionato Italiano ACI Karting.