Photo: Parc Fermé TV
Federico Al Rifai emerged as points leader after the opening Saudi Arabian Formula 4 round at Kuwait Motor Town.
On Friday he had avoided being disqualified in race one by ignoring black flags, then on Saturday he bounced back with two wins.
Al Rifai was 11th on race two’s reversed grid, with Amna Al Qubaisi and Juancho Brobio supposed to be sharing the front row. But Brobio broke down en route to the grid.
Al Qubaisi held the lead at the start, with Omar Aldereyaane running alongside Faisal Al-Kabbani for several corners before getting past him into second. However Al-Kabbani reclaimed the place before the safety car was summoned due to Oscar Wurz stopping at the side of the track.
Racing resumed on lap five with Al Qubaisi leading a very different order of cars. Saqer Al-Maosherji was second, ahead of Kirill Kutskov, Al-Kabbani, Hamda Al Qubaisi and Aldereyaane.
Al-Kabbani dropped down further and had an off, and the safety car was called out again with Amna Al Qubaisi leading Kutskov and Hamda Al Qubaisi. Al-Maosherji pitted at the end of the lap but rejoined the action and caught the field up.
The next restart was on lap eight, and a failed pass by Kutskov sent Amna Al Qubaisi into a half-spin. Her sister Hamda inherited the lead ahead of Al Rifai, Kutskov, Suleiman Zanfari and Andrej Petrovic. Al Rifai took the lead by going around the outside of Al Qubaisi at turn one on lap 10, then held her off for the rest of the race.
Zanfari tried passing Kutskov on lap 11 but the latter went off and Petrovic passed both to take third. Al-Maosherji won a late battle with Al-Kabbani for sixth.
Race three was another reversed-grid encounter, and Brubio stalled from pole then had contact with Al-Kabbani on lap one. Abdulaziz Abudenadah spun, and Hamda Al Qubaisi ended the lap with a big lead over Al-Maosherji and an even bigger gap to third place, which Wurz took from Zanfari at the end of lap two.
The safety car then came out for two laps, and Al Qubaisi built up a big lead again after that to win.
Petrovic attacked Zanfari on the pit straight for two laps before finally passing him at the final corner on lap seven, but Zanfari reclaimed fourth at turn one while Al Rifai made contact trying to follow him through.
On lap nine Petrovic repeated his move, then he passed Wurz on the last lap for third. Zanfari lost fifth to a penalty for track limits abuse.
Al Rifai converted pole into victory in race four, which Wurz missed. On lap one he was attacked by Zanfari until he went off at the end of the back straight and then spun back onto the track. He was lucky not to be hit, and his recovery was helped by four drivers pitting at the end of the lap.
Kutskov finished second, and Aldereyaane held third ahead of Petrovic and Al-Kabbani until lap seven when Petrovic got inside of him at turn two. Al-Kabbani had a race-ending off at the end of the back straight, promoting Zanfari to fifth.
Results round-up
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Federico Al Rifai 37m24.436s
2 Hamda Al Qubaisi +0.551s
3 Andrej Petrovic +4.329s
4 Kirill Kutskov +6.179s
5 Suleiman Zanfari +6.733s
6 Saqer Al-Maosherji +7.378s
7 Faisal Al-Kabbani +7.647s
8 Amna Al Qubaisi +17.021s
9 Laura Villars +23.241s
10 Abdullah Al Qubaisi +49.368s
Fastest lap: Al-Maosherji, 2m02.315s
Race 3 (12 laps)
1 H Al Qubaisi 29m10.866s
2 Al-Maosherji +5.010s
3 Petrovic +8.695s
4 Oscar Wurz +9.136s
5 Al Rifai +12.288s
6 Kutskov +13.036s
7 Oma Aldereyaane +15.850s
8 Amna Al Qubaisi +18.403s
9 Zanfari +21.968s
10 Al-Kabbani +35.677s
FL: H Al Qubaisi, 2m02.934s
Race 4 (10 laps)
1 Al Rifai 20m31.067s
2 Kutskov +4.140s
3 Petrovic +15.553s
4 Zanfari +16.475s
5 Al-Maosherji +22.797s
6 Aldereyaane +57.053s
7 Abdullah Al Qubaisi +1m07.104s
8 Villars +1m15.672s
9 Abdulaziz Abuzenadah +1m26.128s
10 H Al Qubaisi +1m50.340s
FL: Zanfari, 2m01.557s
Championship standings
1 Al Rifai 60 2 H Al Qubaisi 59 3 Petrovic 55 4 Al-Maosherji 54 5 Kutskov 50 6 Zanfari 49 7 Aldereyaane 22 8 Al-Kabbani 13 9 Wurz 12 10 Amna Al Qubaisi 10