Barnard dominates FRME’s Kuwait finale after Antonelli is penalised

Photo: FRME

Taylor Barnard finally claimed an on-the-road Formula Regional Middle East win in the final race at Kuwait Motor Town, and did so in style.

The PHM Racing driver inherited a win last week after team-mate Joshua Dufek got disqualified, and this time he looked set for second place again until Mumbai Falcons’ points leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli got a penalty.

Antonelli had gone off the track on the run to turn two on the opening lap to pass Sami Meguetounif and Mari Boya for the lead, and that copped him a five-second penalty that was issued in the middle of the race.

The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior was far up the road at that point, but he then started to be drawn in by Barnard.

Barnard had passed Meguetounif for fourth on lap two, then he moved ahead of Rafael Camara at turn three on lap six. He went off track on the run to turn two next time by as he defended third place from Camara, then on lap nine he passed Mari Boya for second on the same straight.

He immediately gapped himself from Boya, and started to bring down a lead Antonelli held that exceeded the margin he was to be penalised by.

Barnard got onto the rear of Antonelli on lap 15 of 17, and passed him halfway down the straight to turn two. Following that he then established a huge 6.435s lead before the chequered flag.

Antonelli’s penalty dropped him to fourth behind his team-mates Rafael Camara and Lorenzo Fluxa, while Boya dropped down to 10th late on.

Meguetounif finished fifth, holding off his charging Hyderabad Blackbirds powered by MP team-mate Joshua Duerksen late on, and Dufek took seventh from R-ace GP’s Martinius Stenshorne who lost places throughout the race.

Race result (17 laps)