Giltaire grabs FRegional Middle East points lead with late-night victory

Photo: FRME

ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire became the new Formula Regional Middle East points leader with victory in race three on Yas Marina Circuit’s Corkscrew layout.

Having missed race two a few hours earlier due to a mechanical problem, Giltaire needed good fortune to boost his title hopes at the end of Thursday and just that happened.

The poleman kept the lead comfortably at the start, as a three-wide fight for second formed behind. R-ace GP’s Ugo Ugochukwu went from fourth to second, ahead of Mumbai Falcons’ Rashid Al Dhaheri and PHM Racing’s Brando Badoer, who had been on the front row.

There was drama later in the lap, with Pinnacle Motorsport’s Jesse Carrasquedo Jr going off in the hotel section and ART GP’s Taito Kato spinning Mumbai Falcons’ points leader Freddie Slater at the final chicane as he carried too much speed into the corner while passing R-ace’s Enzo Deligny for sixth.

Kato and Slater were able to continue, but both ended up pitting later and Slater then retired there after finding himself at the back of the field. Sainteloc Racing’s Yaroslav Veselaho also spun on lap one, and the safety car had to be called out.

Racing resumed on lap five, and Giltaire held Ugochukwu at bay. He could not shake him off though, with Ugochukwu looking stronger on tyre management.

On lap eight he halved Giltaire’s lead to 0.4 seconds, and by the end of lap nine he was filling his mirrors.

The pace advantage he had became more obvious, and on lap 10 he took the lead at the final chicane. Giltaire attempted to reclaim first place around the outside of turn one next time by, but soon Ugochukwu was pulling away.

He was four seconds clear of Giltaire on lap 14 when he struck trouble and ended his race by the barriers of turn one on the Grand Prix layout, gifting Giltaire the lead back. As quickly as Ugochukwu had been escaping Giltaire, Badoer had been closing in on him, and he was on course to catch the leader before race control decided to end the race behind the safety car to recover Ugochukwu’s vehicle.

Another to struggle for pace relative to their rivals in the race’s second half was Al Dhaheri, and he caused a bottleneck effect lap-by-lap with cars trading positions behind but struggling to get past him. He eventually dropped all the way down to 10th.

The first group to clear him were Deligny, Sainteloc’s Theophile Nael and Pinnacle’s Ernesto Rivera, and they were 15s behind Ugochukwu before he crashed out.

Mumbai Falcons’ Reza Seewooruthun passed Al Dhaheri on lap 11, while ART GP’s Kanato Le and Carrasquedo squabbled continually with each other before eventually moving past Al Dhaheri on lap 13.

Race results (17 laps)