The second round of MRF Challenge served as a support race for WEC, GP2 and GP3, but absence of round one bigwigs raised fresh concerns about the quality of the field.
Junior series promoters pay hefty sums to earn the status of a support race. Not only does it provide added exposure to the participating drivers, but it also raises the reputation of the championship.
During its first two seasons, MRF Challenge served as a support event to the Indian Grand Prix, providing drivers with an opportunity to race on the same weekend as F1.
However, since the demise of India from the F1 calendar, MRF had to fill a void to maintain its status of a competitive winter championship. The World Endurance Championship (WEC) round in Bahrain filled that bill perfectly during the 2014-15 season.
This year, GP2 and GP3 series were also added to the roster, giving international drivers, in particular, a chance to interact with the teams they might be racing for in the next couple of years.
And all this happened by a fortunate turn of events. After Nurburgring announced its inability to host the German Grand Prix, the promoters of GP2/GP3 were left to find a new venue to keep the 11-round calendar intact. The fact that WEC’s Six Hours of Bahrain round was scheduled just one week before the GP2/GP3 season finale in the neighbouring country of UAE made it a suitable replacement for Germany.
And, hence, we had a round of MRF Challenge, playing the support series role to not only WEC, but two prime feeder championships of Formula 1, namely, GP2 and GP3.
Headline drivers absent
MRF has successfully used presence of sons of former F1 drivers as a marketing tool to promote its series.
But its real headline drivers in round one were F3 racer Jake Dennis and Honda’s GP2 protege Nobuharu Matsushita. The duo have a genuine chance of moving up the ladder and making a mark in circuit racing.
However, both drivers remained absent from round two in Bahrain. The entry list for the Dubai race weekend, published just before the January issue of autoX went to press, also failed to mention them.
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