Nikhil Bohra controls hectic FRME race two at Dubai

Photo: FRMEC

MP Motorsport’s Nikhil Bohra emerged victorious from a hectic Formula Regional Middle East race two at Dubai Autodrome after taking the lead at the start.

PHM Racing’s Tasanapol Inthrapuvasak and Luca Badoer completed the podium in second and third place respectively, but never had a chance of challenging Bohra for the race victory.

Bohra claimed the lead of the race off the blocks from second place as reversed-grid polesitter Theophile Nael endured a slow start. Nael spent the opening lap defending from Inthraphuvasak and Badoer in what was a close on-track battle between the three of them.

Both PHM drivers overtook the Sainteloc Racing ace heading into turn one on lap two, with Inthraphuvasak taking the outside line while Badoer dived into the inside of the Frenchman. Meanwhile, Bohra had already opened up over a one-second gap at the front of the field.

Nael struggled for pace and R-ace GP’s Martinius Stenshorne was soon pressuring him. The Norwegian attempted a move but Nael closed the door and both ended up running off-track at turn 11. Stenshorne lost several positions as a consequence, and so did Nael, who immediately dropped behind the much faster Mumbai Falcons drivers Ugo Ugochukwu and Rafael Camara.

Pinnacle Motorsport’s Mari Boya also drove past Nael half a lap later, moving up to sixth place.

Right behind them, the battle was on between PHM’s Taylor Barnard and R-ace GP’s Stenshorne and Tuukka Taponen, where the latter came out on top and took eighth place.

In the following laps, Nael continued to plummet down the order, and eventually came to a halt at the run-off area of turn one and retired. He had been running in 10th place with over five minutes to the end of the race.

It was the drivers running in the rear half of the pack who put on the show in the second half of the race. A heated-up battle between Sainteloc’s Noah Stromsted and R-ace GP’s Zachary David for 16th place was then joined by other drivers, and ended up with Evans GP’s John Bennett making contact with Pinnacle’s Giovanni Maschio, who spun. However, both drivers could rejoin and no safety car was needed.

Camara attempted a pass on team-mate Ugochukwu in the second-to-last lap, and eventually got ahead, but couldn’t make it stick.

Race result (16 laps)