Barnard dominates FRegional Middle East opener at Yas Marina

Photo: FRMEC

Taylor Barnard got his Formula Regional Middle East campaign off to a perfect start with a dominant victory in the opening round at Yas Marina.

PHM Racing’s Barnard, the series runner-up in 2023, made a clean start from pole position and led comfortably throughout, taking the flag 4.6 seconds ahead of the R-ace GP duo of Tuukka Taponen and Martinius Stenshorne.

Fellow front row starter, Taponen made a slightly better getaway to put Barnard under pressure into Turn 1, although Barnard quickly blocked off the inside to retain the lead.

Taponen, on his first FRegional start, carried too much speed into the final chicane, locking up and taking to the run-off. While the Ferrari junior managed to rejoin without losing position, he dropped to 0.8s down on Barnard.

Two successive fastest laps from Barnard enabled him to build up a lead of 2.2s at the end of lap 3. Thereafter, he was untroubled, extending his lead to over five seconds as Taponen defended from Mumbai Falcons’ James Wharton.

As Barnard disappeared into the distance, Taponen headed an eight-car train, with team-mate Stenshorne having jumped up to fourth from seventh on the grid on the opening lap.

Behind the leading quartet, Pinnacle Motorsports’ Mari Boya held off Mumbai Falcons’ Rafael Camara for fifth.

The third Mumbai Falcons entry of Ugo Ugochukwu had dropped back to 21st from eighth on the grid after a slow start, and was left with a difficult afternoon, eventually making up five places to finish 16th.

Up front, the positions had stabilised with Wharton unable to challenge Taponen, while Boya was putting pressure on Stenshorne but without being close enough to make a move.

On lap 14 Wharton was in Taponen’s slipstream down the main straight, attempting a late dive to the inside of the Turn 14 chicane. Taponen saw him and left him enough room so that both made it through in unchanged order.

In a brief flurry of overtaking, Stenshorne moved up to third, having closed the gap to Wharton over the preceding laps, while Camara passed Boya around the outside of Turn 9, the first corner on the Grand Prix circuit.

Taponen and Stenshorne maintained a strong pace, each setting personal fastest laps on the race on lap 15, but the gap between them stayed at just under one second to the flag.

Wharton had closed back onto the tail of Stenshorne, managing a half-hearted look at taking the final podium place on the final lap.

Camara had a comfortable run to fifth, 4.5s down on team-mate Wharton with Boya half-a-second behind, after battling with Tasanapol Intrhaphuvasak.

The positions remain provisional, with Taponen under investigation for leaving the circuit and gaining an advantage. Inthraphuvasak and eighth-placed finisher Zachary David are also under investigation for “constant abuse” of track limits at Turn 7 after the hotel section.

Alexander Abkhazava took ninth for Pinnacle Motorsport having incurred a three-place grid drop after qualifying while the top 10 was rounded out by Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad, who fought his way through to 10th after a disappointing qualifying had left him 15th on the grid.

Race result (18 laps)