MRF Challenge Bahrain: Bharath on podium again as Cullen and Lauda win

Mathias Lauda, son of former three-time F1 champion Niki, took his first win in the 2014/15 MRF Challenge 2014 round at the Bahrain International Circuit. Lauda held off a late challenge from South African driver Kyle Mitchell to win from start to finish. Behind Mitchell was India's Raj Bharath who took his second podium position of the weekend after taking a second place finish on Friday.

In race 1, GP3 Driver Ryan Cullen continued his great run of form to win his second win of the MRF Challenge weekend. Toby Sowery continues to lead the MRF Challenge points standings in spite of not winning this weekend with Cullen in second and Raj Bharath and Kyle Mitchell tied for third place.

In the first race of the day, Cullen led from the start with Bharath in 2nd place. There was chaos behind as Vinicius Paparelli nudged reigning MRF Formula Ford 1600 champion Tarun Reddy who hit Vikash Anand and sent both Indians crashing.

At the front, Mitchell had a great start and was up to 3rd place putting pressure on Bharath. Cullen pulled away comfortably to lead by over 5 seconds with Mitchell finally getting past Bharath on lap 6. Bharath lost another place when Sowery passed up on the next lap to take 3rd place. Cullen held on for a comfortable win with Mitchell finishing in 2nd place and Sowery in 3rd. Bharath finished 4th place with Paparelli in 5th and Mathias Lauda in 6th place, earning him the reverse grid pole position. Lee Keshav and Advait Deodhar both finished in the points after finishing in 9th and 10th positions respectively.

Cullen was happy to close the gap to MRF Challenge points leader Sowery. "I had a great start and pushed very hard to pull out a lead in the first few laps," he said. "After getting a five second lead it was all about controlling the pace till the end. I am very happy to win again and close in on Toby's championship lead."

The second race saw Lauda leading into the first corner ahead of Paparelli with Sowery in a close 3rd. Sowery passed Paparelli for 2nd place on lap 2 but lost out to him on the 4th lap with an intense battle between the two.

The safety car came out on the second lap after Lee Keshav collided with Freddie Hunt, who was pushed into a spin. Tarun Reddy, who started from the back, moved up to 9th place when the safety car came out. Reddy took advantage of the restart and got past Cullen and Paparelli to move into fifth position on the fourth lap, behind Bharath.

Bharath got past Sowery to take third place with Reddy following him through. Reddy was forced to retire from a brilliant 4th place after his engine cover came off. Lauda crossed the finish line to win ahead of Mitchell and Bharath. Sowery finished in fourth place with Kaminsky in fifth. Race two winner Moore finished in sixth place.

Race 3 Results
1. Ryan Cullen (GBR)
2. Kyle Mitchell (RSA)
3. Toby Sowery (GBR)

Race 4 Results
1. Mathias Lauda (AUS)
2. Kyle Mitchell (RSA)
3. Raj Bharath (IND)