Photo: FRME
Formula Regional Middle East’s 2023 championship runner-up Taylor Barnard started the 2024 season by taking two poles in qualifying on Yas Marina Circuit’s Corkscrew layout.
Pinnacle Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava was the surprise pace-setter early in Q1, setting a 1m46.074s then improving to 1m43.828s to sit in first place through the first six minutes.
Mumbai Falcons’ Rafael Camara toppled him with a 1m43.406s set almost six-and-a-half minutes in, with team-mate Ugo Ugochukwu going second fastest, and at that point only nine drivers had set laptimes at a representative pace.
Abkhazava was shuffled down to fifth place 20 seconds later as Sainteloc Racing’s practice pace-setter Theophile Nael slotted into second and Mumbai Falcons’ James Wharton went fifth fastest. Now 13 drivers had lapped at pace, while R-ace GP’s drivers had not even started flying laps.
Sainteloc’s Matteo De Palo set a 1m43.516s to take third place seven minutes into the 15-minute session, and Mumbai Falcons’ Arvid Lindblad went sixth fastest with his first effort.
Not long after the session reached its halfway mark, yellow flags waved at turn six and then red flags which brought everything to a halt. Pinnacle’s Mari Boya had snuck in a 1m43.144s to go fastest just before that happened, and the group of drivers with representative laptimes to their name had grown to 22 but R-ace’s quartet had been caught out.
Q1 later restarted with seven minutes left on the clock, but there was a wait of several minutes before further flying laps were set. PHM Racing’s Taylor Barnard posted a 1m42.714s to go top, only for the laptime to be deleted, promoting Boya back to a joint first place as Camara had matched his pre-red flag benchmark.
Ugochukwu went third fastest, with the R-ace drivers immediately going into the top 10 with their first laps. Tuukka Taponen set a 1m43.199s to move into third with two minutes to go, and Abkhazava rose back up to fourth.
Barnard then reclaimed top spot with a 1m43.034s, and he did not improve when he met the chequered flag on his next lap.
Wharton did get faster, but fell 0.056s short of matching Barnard, then Taponen was just 0.046s off the poleman to secure himself a race one front row spot. Boya, Camara and Abkhazava were shuffled down to fourth, fifth and sixth.
Xcel Motorsport’s Yaroslav Veselaho was first to top the times in Q2, setting a 1m48.604s four minutes in. Two minutes later Boya and Nael brought the pace down into the 1m43s, with Wharton splitting the two when he went 0.052s slower than Boya’s 1m43.174s benchmark.
Boya and Nael then lowered the pace again, and with seven minutes to go Ugochukwu got within 0.003s of Boya’s 1m42.945s.
Barnard would soon blow them out of the water by going 0.541s faster, and R-ace’s Martinius Stenshorne went second fastest with five-and-a-half minutes remaining.
In the final minute Barnard improved to 1m43.374s, with Ugochukwu 0.258s behind to end Q2 as his closest rival. Stenshorne and Taponen qualified third and fourth, ahead of Camara, Wharton, Boya and Nael.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Taylor Barnard PHM Racing 1m43.034s
2 Tuukka Taponen R-ace GP +0.046s
3 James Wharton Mumbai Falcons +0.056s
4 Mari Boya Pinnacle Motorsport +0.110s
5 Rafael Camara Mumbai Falcons +0.110s
6 Alexander Abkhazava Pinnacle Motorsport +0.240s
7 Zachary David R-ace GP +0.241s
8 Martinius Stenshorne R-ace GP +0.244s
9 Ugo Ugochukwu Mumbai Falcons +0.306s
10 Valerio Rinicella MP Motorsport +0.355s
Race 3 grid
1 Barnard 1m42.374s
2 Ugochukwu +0.258s
3 Stenshorne +0.428s
4 Taponen +0.431s
5 Camara +0.492s
6 Wharton +0.553s
7 Boya +0.571s
8 Theophile Nael Sainteloc Racing +0.607s
9 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak PHM Racing +0.664s
10 Rinicella +0.746s