Photo: F4 UAE
PHM Racing’s Nikita Bedrin led from lights to flag to record his second Formula 4 United Arab Emirates victory in the opening race of the weekend at Dubai Autodrome.
Bedrin made good use of pole position to lead away at the start ahead of Mumbai Falcons duo Kean Nakamura Berta and Dion Gowda.
Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri made a slow getaway from third on the grid and was collected by Sainteloc Racing’s Matteo Quintarelli and Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough, resulting in all three retiring and the safety car being deployed.
Yas Heat Academy driver Zack Scoular snatched fourth into turn one at the restart from Mumbai Falcons’ points leader Freddie Slater, who then wrestled back the position later in the lap after a thrilling dice through turns nine to 11.
That allowed the front three to break clear, and Bedrin resisted the close attentions of Nakamura for the remaining laps to win by 0.6 seconds. Gowda finished a further 3.5s adrift in third and just ahead of Slater.
Yas Heat’s Keanu Al Azhari climbed from tenth to seventh early on and then passed AGI Sport’s Jack Beeton and Scoular before taking the chequered flag in a lonely fifth.
Beeton finished in sixth, but Scoular retired with a rear-right puncture late on. Prema’s Doriane Pin climbed from 13th on the grid to seventh, while Xcel Motorsport’s Tiago Rodriques slipped back behind the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior late on after damaging his front wing.
Hitech’s Gabriel Stilp made up ground to finish ninth ahead of R-ace GP’s Enzo Yeh. Xcel’s Alvise Rodella lost out to the pair and then slipped into the clutches of Mumbai Falcons’ Alex Powell, who had started from the back of the field following an issue in qualifying.
A fierce late scrap between Powell and Rodella allowed R-ace’s debuting Enzo Deligny, also recovering after stalling at the start, to nip past the pair but Powell then fought back to finish 11th. Deligny edged Rodella by 0.2s to take 12th and reversed-grid pole for race two.
New team X GP joined the grid with cars for Kaishun Liu and Chester Kieffer, who finished 23rd and 16th respectively.
Race results (13 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikita Bedrin | PHM Racing | 30m39.486s |
| 2 | Kean Nakamura Berta | Mumbai Falcons | +0.600s |
| 3 | Dion Gowda | Mumbai Falcons | +4.150s |
| 4 | Freddie Slater | Mumbai Falcons | +4.754s |
| 5 | Keanu Al Azhari | Yas Heat | +7.417s |
| 6 | Jack Beeton | AGI Sport | +16.535s |
| 7 | Doriane Pin | Prema | +17.695s |
| 8 | Tiago Rodrigues | Xcel Motorsport | +20.512s |
| 9 | Gabriel Stilp | Hitech GP | +22.169s |
| 10 | Enzo Yeh | R-ace GP | +22.667s |
| 11 | Alex Powell | Mumbai Falcons | +23.568s |
| 12 | Enzo Deligny | R-ace GP | +24.034s |
| 13 | Alvise Rodella | Xcel Motorsport | +24.213s |
| 14 | Raphael Narac | R-ace GP | +24.809s |
| 15 | Kamal Mrad | PHM Racing | +26.718s |
| 16 | Chester Kieffer | X GP | +27.129s |
| 17 | Yevan David | Sainteloc Racing | +27.644s |
| 18 | Jules Caranta | Sainteloc Racing | +27.977s |
| 19 | Reza Seewooruthun | Hitech GP | +29.053s |
| 20 | Nicolas Stati | AGI Sport | +31.126s |
| 21 | Luke Sammalisto | R-ace GP | +31.212s |
| 22 | Yuanpu Cui | Xcel Motorsport | +31.455s |
| 23 | Kaishun Lui | X GP | +31.798s |
| 24 | Maximilian Popov | PHM Racing | +33.613s |
| 25 | Maxi Restrepo | Sainteloc Racing | +35.380s |
| 26 | Everett Stack | PHM Racing | +36.066s |
| 27 | Kai Daryanani | Pinnacle Motorsport | +37.188s |
| 28 | Yuhao Fu | Pinnacle Motorsport | +42.770s |
| 29 | Zack Scoular | Yas Heat | +1m07.842s |
| 30 | Seb Murray | Hitech GP | +1m29.845s |
| Ret | Deagen Fairclough | Hitech GP | |
| Ret | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | |
| Ret | Matteo Quintarelli | Sainteloc Racing | |
| Fastest lap: Slater, 2m02.426s
Championship standings |
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