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 was free to 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 13th, but left Bahrain without a point to his name.
Another driver that endured a difficult start was Campos driver Mari Boya, who suffered a puncture in an incident involving ART team-mate 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 of 22, 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.
Source: Autosport