Both Campos Racing drivers made it into the points during the Russian Grand Prix this weekend. Boschung finished sixth on Saturday and Beckmann took the checkered flag in feature race on Sunday

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Campos Racing extended its points-paying finishes in the FIA Formula 2 championship in the frame of the Russian Grand Prix hosted at Sochi Autodrom. Ralph Boschung and David Beckmann completed a strong weekend in their Campos Racing-run Dallara F2 cars. It was another difficult weekend due to extremely rainy conditions on Saturday, which forced to cancel the second sprint race.

Boschung showed great pace in free practice as he finished second fastest with a lap time of 1m49.444s, a mere 21 thousandths slower than Felipe Drugovich. Beckmann posted a best lap of 1m50.764s after completing 16 tours, but the session left him optimistic ahead of qualifying. In qualifying, Boschung soon set the early benchmark on his first set of purple soft tires with a lap time of 1m48.264s. Further adrift, Beckmann posted the 6^th-fastest lap time. Boschung still managed to lower his previous best and clocked a time of 1m48.230s with Beckmann in 8^th place with a personal best of 1m48.428s. In the closing minutes, everybody improved their previous lap times and finally Boschung qualified 5^th with a lap time of 1m48.024s and Beckmann set to start from 14^th with a personal best of 1m48.428s.

As a result of above mentioned rain, race 2 was cancelled and race 1 took place in the afternoon instead when weather conditions had already improved but drivers still had to cope with very low grip levels. From sixth on the reverse grid, Boschung kept his place at the rolling start, and on lap 5 moved up to fifth when Liam Lawson hit the wall. The Swiss driver got involved in good battles but a couple of lock ups made him to struggle with tire wear in the closing stages of the race. Boschung still kept Christian Lundgaard at bay to finish 6^th and score 4 points. Beckmann, who had started the pit lane, scored the second-fastest lap of the race to cross the finish line in 15^th place.

On Sunday, the feature race promised another exciting battle. Both Boschung and Beckmann chose to start on the softer compound. The Swiss driver made a fantastic getaway and from fifth on the grid lunged into third place. Further adrift, Beckmann had moved up to 11^th on lap 1. Boschung pitted from third place, behind Oscar Piastri and Théo Pourchaire, on lap 6 for the set of medium tires. Beckmann also made his mandatory pit stop just one lap later. On lap 12, Boschung moved past Alessio Deledda as the Italian hadn’t still pitted and remained close to Piastri and Pourschaire. By the halfway point, Boschung scored a number of personal fastest laps to pull away from Jehan Daruvala. Unfortunately, while defending his third place on the final laps, Boschung locked up his front tires and wear and degradation caused him a puncture and the Swiss driver was forced to retire with three laps to go. Beckmann finally secured a point by finishing tenth after a very solid race with good pace.

Boschung currently sits 12^th in the drivers’ standings on 40 points with Campos Racing lying seventh in the teams’ standings on 46 points.

The FIA Formula 2 now takes a two-month hiatus as the penultimate event of the season is scheduled at new Jeddah Street Circuit on 4-5 December.

Photo: © Dutch Photo Agency'