Photo: Top Speed
Sasha Bondarev started the UAE4 season at Yas Marina Circuit last week with victory, and left round one as points leader.
The Mumbai Falcons driver was fastest in practice on Saturday morning, setting a 1m55.575s to edge R-ace GP’s Andy Consani by 0.051 seconds. Prema’s David Cosma Cristofor was 0.218s behind in third, with 0.071s covering him, Yas Heat Academy’s Adam Al Azhari, Hitech GP’s Scott Lindblom and Prema’s Christian Costoya.
Qualifying took place in the afternoon, and it was the same drivers near the top. In Q1, Bondarev impressed to be quickest by 0.359s. Cosma was second, 0.011s ahead of Consani, with Al Azhari and Campbell-Pilling split by 0.055s and both over half a second behind. A second covered the top 13, with Mumbai Falcons’ Alp Aksoy Hasan topping the rookie classification in sixth.
Consani edged team-mate Elia Weiss to race three pole in Q2 by 0.007s, with Bondarev only 0.025s off in third. Cosma, Aksoy and Al Azhari were all within 0.2s of Consani’s pace, with half a second covering the top 10 and 20 drivers lapping within a second of pole.
Bondarev converted pole into victory at the end of the day in a relatively calm race. He covered the inside line at the start, and both Cosma and Consani tried going around his outside through the opening corner (on the layout that uses the south pits) but no positions changed.
The poleman already had a gap by the end of the lap, and after a safety car period running from lap two to four that was triggered by Yas Heat’s Charbel Abi Gebrayel crashing out he gradually pulled away to win the 15-lap encounter by 2.065s.
Consani took second by nailing a dive down the inside of the chicane on lap six, then had the pace to leave Cosma far behind. Aksoy began attacking Campbell-Pilling for fifth on lap seven, and got ahead at the end of lap 11. The response from Campbell-Pilling was immediate but brief, and he soon settled in behind.
Providing plenty of action for spectators was Weiss and Craigie’s fight over seventh. Craigie took the position from Weiss on lap one, with his team-mate reclaiming it on lap seven. Four laps later Craigie tried going around Weiss’s outside through the opening corner, then on lap 12 they remarkably ran side-by-side all the way to turn one of the grand prix layout where Craigie finally completed his pass.
Weiss’s attention had to switch to a charging Costoya by race-end. He had spent many laps filling the mirrors of and attempting diving moves on R-ace’s Emily Cotty, and once he finally cleared her he overtook Mumbai Falcons’ Kingsley Zheng and got onto Weiss’s tail. Lindblom started 38th but made up 15 places on lap one, and was up to 14th by the finish.
That was not enough to benefit from the reversed grid for race two on Sunday morning, while finishing 12th earned Mumbai Falcons’ Niccolo Maccagnani pole ahead of Cotty and Zheng.
Two formation laps took place and red flags waved rather than the chequered flag, meaning the race was shortened by five minutes. Maccagnani cut to the inside at the start to block off Cotty, so she tried overtaking him around the outside of the opening corner but he moved back across. Just behind, Campbell-Pilling’s car flew through the air and down onto Costoya’s.
Weiss had moved to the inside behind Costoya to avoid hitting him as they turned in, but by doing so he moved across the front of Campbell-Pilling and he had no time to react. The safety car was needed to clear the incident, with Costoya retiring in the pits sans rear wing or engine cover.
Little happened on the lap three restart, although lots of drivers went off at chicane on lap four and there was a change in the podium positions on lap five as Craigie snuck down the inside of Zheng before the first corner. Aksoy ran in fifth, ahead of Consani, Bondarev, Cosma and Lindblom. The safety car returned on that lap, as Prema’s Payton Westcott crashed out and PHM Racing’s Platon Kostin stopped on the GP layout’s pit straight.
It was not until lap eight that racing could resume, and Consani attacked Aksoy straight away. Bondarev sought to profit from their battle and overtook Consani off-track in the hotel section. It was calm up front, and Maccagnani was unchallenged before the next safety car period began on lap 10 due to Xcel Motorsport’s Brock Burton stopping on track.
Although green flags waved again on lap 12, Pinnacle Motorsport’s Kaylee Countryman crashed before the lap even began and then a huge crash on the back straight led to the race being stopped and the results being taken from lap 10.
It ensured Maccagnani won, while Lindblom was locked into eighth place having climbed six spots before red flags waved.
Consani led lights-to-flag in race three, helped initially by a lap one fight for second place. Bondarev went side-by-side with Weiss mid-lap then got ahead under braking into the chicane despite a big lock-up. Weiss fought back at the first corner of lap two, then the battle was interrupted by the safety car on lap two as Burton had gone off and come to a stop.
Drama elsewhere led to Xcel’s Jarrett Clark pitting for a new front wing, with Maccagnani also having to pit.
Racing resumed on lap four, and a lap later Bondarev got alongside Consani on the outside through turn one. He then went off, and as he rejoined the next three drivers bunched up behind. Aksoy had spun on lap one, leaving Al Azhari to attack Cosma. On lap five he did just that exiting the hairpin, and was ahead into the chicane but Cosma cut it to be fourth again.
He returned the position on lap six but the delay in doing so copped him a five-second penalty, and they were dropped by the lead trio.
Consani began pulling away and Consani was pressuring Al Azhari until the safety car interrupted again on lap eight.
When Consani brought the field back to racing speeds at the end of lap nine, Bondarev stuck with him. He tried Consani’s outside at the start of lap 11, then the safety car made another appearance a lap later. There were two incidents causing yellow flags, one of which was Al Azhari overtaking Cosma into the hotel section but picking up damage that led to him dropping down the order and eventually pitting for key repairs.
He rejoined ahead of the field, so then let himself be lapped but still copped a 30s penalty. The safety car left before the 14th and final lap, but more drama meant the race officially ended on lap 12.
Cosma passed Weiss for third off-track at turn one, while Consani held off Bondarev and met the chequered flag as the winner. Exiting the final chicane, the battle for third ended with Cosma crashing into the barriers heavily and Weiss pitting. Red flags waved after Consani had crossed the line, and Weiss was found at fault for the incident and penalised 15s.
Cosma got another five-second penalty of his own for his overtake, meaning in the updated results it was Campbell-Pilling who completed the podium with Costoya in fourth. He had clashed with Cotty on his way up the order, and she finished fifth.
Craigie was sixth, and Lindblom went on another charge from 38th to seventh to end the weekend 12th in the standings. Bondarev leads Consani by two points.
Results round-up
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Sasha Bondarev Mumbai Falcons 31m23.563s
2 Andy Consani R-ace GP +2.065s
3 David Cosma Cristofor Prema +5.842s
4 Adam Al Azhari Yas Heat Academy +6.501s
5 Alp Aksoy Hasan Mumbai Falcons +11.571s
6 Rowan Campbell-Pilling Rodin Motorsport +12.458s
7 Kenzo Craigie R-ace GP +14.263s
8 Elia Weiss R-ace GP +15.014s
9 Christian Costoya Prema +15.267s
10 Kingsley Zheng Mumbai Falcons +17.632s
Pole: Bondarev, 1m55.565s
Fastest lap: Consani, 1m55.914s
Race 2 (10 laps)
1 Niccolo Maccagnani Mumbai Falcons 25m52.269s
2 Emily Cotty R-ace GP +0.373s
3 Craigie +0.764s
4 Zheng +1.317s
5 Aksoy +1.635s
6 Bondarev +1.973s
7 Consani +2.303s
8 Scott Lindblom Hitech GP +2.738s
9 Cosma +3.262s
10 Al Azhari +3.606s
FL: Consani, 1m56.750s
Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Consani 27m24.280s
2 Bondarev +0.451s
3 Campbell-Pilling +1.845s
4 Costoya +2.428s
5 Cotty +3.015s
6 Craigie +3.772s
7 Lindblom +4.297s
8 Bader Al Sulaiti QMMF by Hitech +5.090s
9 Iacopo Martinese PHM Racing +6.143s
10 Alba Hurup Larsen Evans GP +6.722s
P: Consani, 1m55.674s
FL: Consani, 1m56.292s
Championship standings
1 Bondarev 51 2 Consani 49 3 Craigie 29 4 Cotty 28 5 Maccagnani 25 6 Campbell-Pilling 23 7 Aksoy 20 8 Cosma Cristofor 17 9 Costoya 14 10 Al Azhari 13