Photo: Formula Trophy
Theo Palmer leads the Formula Trophy standings after round one at Dubai Autodrome, with Alp Aksoy Hasan his closest rival.
Race one on Saturday had been won on-the-road by Prema’s Aksoy, but a post-race 10-second penalty penalty for a false start demoted him to sixth and handed victory to Hitech GP’s Palmer.
That should have promoted Aksoy to third on the reversed grid for race two on Sunday, behind team-mate Payton Westcott and Yas Heat Academy’s Adam Al Azhari, but instead he was handed a five-place grid penalty so lined up eighth as he would have done if his victory had stood.
Westcott cut to the inside at the start to fend off Al Azhari, as Pinnacle Motorsport’s Niccolo Maccagnani went past Xcel Motorsport’s David Cosma Cristofor for third. He then got alongside Al Azhari through the first few corners but could not make a move stick.
The long pit straight and back straight helped Al Azhari keep with Westcott, forcing the leader into weaving down both on laps two, seven and nine. The last of those helped bring Cosma onto the top two’s tail, and Westcott weaved down the back straight on each of the last four laps as they profited from her slipstream.
She held on to win the 14-lap encounter by 0.534s, with Cosma more focused on defending from Evans GP’s Hunter Salvatore by the end. Maccagnani had lost third early on then had his mirrors filled by Salvatore until he got past mid-race. Aksoy and Palmer cleared him a few laps later, with Maccagnani lacking pace and finishing a distant seventh.
Hitech’s Scott Lindblom was eighth, having held off Xcel’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling most of the race. Akcel GP’s Arthur de Doncker overtook Campbell-Pilling on lap 11 then kept the pressure on Lindblom.
Aksoy qualified on pole for race three, and came under attack from Palmer on the outside into the opening corner. The poleman remained ahead, and a few corners later Campbell-Pilling and then Maccagnani squeezed past Palmer before the safety car was summoned. Several drivers had gone off at turn one, and Lindblom had suffered a race-ending spin.
Salvatore pitted before the lap three restart, and could only recover to 16th in the remaining laps. Aksoy romped to victory by 6.3s, with Palmer diving down Maccagnani’s inside at the end of the back straight on lap seven and overtaking Campbell-Pilling on lap 10 to finish second and keep the points lead.
Cosma came home fifth, and Al Azhari led a lengthy battle for 10th place that involved six drivers by the end.
Results round-up
Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Payton Westcott Mumbai Falcons 28m53.662s
2 Adam Al Azhari Yas Heat Academy +0.534s
3 David Cosma Cristofor Xcel Motorsport +1.117s
4 Hunter Salvatore Evans GP +1.752s
5 Alp Aksoy Hasan Mumbai Falcons +4.758s
6 Theo Palmer Hitech GP +7.962s
7 Niccolo Maccagnani Pinnacle Motorsport +11.004s
8 Scott Lindblom Hitech GP +24.137s
9 Arthur de Doncker Akcel GP +24.491s
10 Rowan Campbell-Pilling Xcel Motorsport +24.971s
Fastest lap: Al Azharo, 2m02.703s
Race 3 (13 laps)
1 Aksoy 28m18.173s
2 Palmer +6.301s
3 Campbell-Pilling +10.051s
4 Maccagnani +10.770s
5 Cosma Cristofor +17.702s
6 Jaber Al Sabah Xcel Motorsport +18.083s
7 Noah Killion AGI Sport +18.541s
8 Sicong Chen Black Blade Racing +19.021s
9 Yuta Suzuki Akcel GP +23.713s
10 Al Azhari +33.081s
P: Aksoy, 2m01.244s
FL: Aksoy, 2m02.656s
Championship standings
1 Palmer 51 2 Aksoy 43 3 Cosma Cristofor 35 4 Campbell-Pilling 34 5 Maccagnani 30 6 Westcott 29 7 Salvatore 26 8 Al Azhari 25 9 Al Sabah 8 10 Killion 6