Photo: FRMEC
Rafael Camara took his second Formula Regional Middle East win in a safety car-filled opening race of the weekend at Yas Marina Circuit.
There was drama throughout, beginning on the formation lap as Mari Boya was late to get off the line and Jesse Carrasquedo did not get moving at all so had to have his car wheeled into the pitlane.
Bruno del Pino started on reversed-grid pole, ahead of Camara, Nikhil Bohra, Alexander Abkhazava, Ugo Ugochuckwu and James Wharton. Del Pino swept to the inside off the line to cover off Camara, enabling Bohra to go around the outside of him at turn one for second place.
Theophile Nael went off and could not get going again so retired from the race, then at the final chicane Kanato Le and Yujia Gao collided and that required the safety car to come out.
By that point del Pino had built a gap up front, while there had been a tense fight for eighth between Tuukka Taponen, Costa Toparis and Taylor Barnard.
The restart took place at the end of lap three, but the message came late and at the chicane a slow-moving del Pino was narrowly avoided by Bohra, while Ugochucku avoided crashing by jumping briefly up to second place.
They got back in the correct order as they returned to racing speeds, and del Pino was reported to the stewards for dangerous driving. Taponen passed Noah Lisle for seventh, and gained another spot as Abkhazava was spun out of the race at the chicane.
The safety car returned on the next lap as the front-right wheel of del Pino’s car broke and he ploughed into the barriers. Camara led the field for the next restart on lap eight of 14, and Wharton lost fourth place to Zachary David at the hairpin.
While Camara looked comfortable up front, battles continued behind. On lap 11 Bohra was passed by Ugochukwu on the inside of turn one, and on lap 12 Wharton repeated that move just as David went around the outside of Bohra. Taponen relegated Bohra to sixth at the hairpin, but he got back ahead at the chicane.
A lap later Taponen tried again, and this time Bohra was denied the chance to regain the place as the safety car came out due to Ruiqi Liu retiring. With no time for a restart it meant Camara won, and Taponen grew his championship lead by six points in fifth as rival Barnard passed Toparis for eighth just before the race was neutralised.
Race result (14 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rafael Camara | Mumbai Falcons | 32m18.731s |
| 2 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Mumbai Falcons | +0.199s |
| 3 | Zachary David | R-ace GP | +0.785s |
| 4 | James Wharton | Mumbai Falcons | +1.173s |
| 5 | Tuukka Taponen | R-ace GP | +1.496s |
| 6 | Nikhil Bohra | MP Motorsport | +1.670s |
| 7 | Noah Lisle | Xcel Motorsport | +2.007s |
| 8 | Taylor Barnard | PHM Racing | +2.325s |
| 9 | Costa Toparis | Evans GP | +2.498s |
| 10 | Giovanni Maschio | Pinnacle Motorsport | +3.245s |
| 11 | Mari Boya | Pinnacle Motorsport | +3.506s |
| 12 | Emmo Fittipaldi | MP Motorsport | +4.365s |
| 13 | Enzo Peugeot | Sainteloc Racing | +4.828s |
| 14 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | PHM Racing | +6.856s |
| 15 | Brando Badoer | PHM Racing | +7.580s |
| 16 | John Bennett | Evans GP | +10.005s |
| 17 | Jose Garfias | Sainteloc Racing | +10.848s |
| 18 | Isaac Barashi | MP Motorsport | +11.870s |
| 19 | Yaroslav Veselaho | Xcel Motorsport | +13.759s |
| 20 | Zhongwei Wang | R&B Racing | +14.314s |
| 21 | Ruiqi Liu | PHM Racing | +2 laps |
| Ret | Bruno del Pino | MP Motorsport | |
| Ret | Alexander Abkhazava | Pinnacle Motorsport | |
| Ret | Edgar Pierre | Evans GP | |
| Ret | Finley Green | Pinnacle Motorsport | |
| Ret | Kanato Le | R-ace GP | |
| Ret | Yujia Gao | R&B Racing | |
| Ret | Theophile Nael | Sainteloc Racing | |
| DNS | Jesse Carrasquedo | R-ace GP | |
| Fastest lap: Camara, 1m50.778s
Championship standings |
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