Camara wins opening race of F4 UAE’s Abu Dhabi finale

Photo: F4 UAE

Prema driver Rafael Camara claimed victory in the first race of Formula 4 United Arab Emirates’ season finale.

Camara took the chequered flag ahead of PHM Racing’s Nikita Bedrin and Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Aiden Neate, with all three holding on to their starting positions.

On lap three, Hitech GP’s Alex Dunne moved ahead of Prema’s Charlie Wurz and PHM Racing’s Taylor Barnard for fourth, and their battle allowed the top three to open a gap of one-and-a-half seconds from the cars behind.

As the race progressed, Dunne left Wurz and Barnard behind and closed on Neate, who couldn’t keep up with Camara and Bedrin’s pace. Despite being within one second of Neate for half of the race, Dunne wasn’t able to attempt a move on the Briton for the last podium spot, meaning he came home in fourth place.

Global Racing Service’s Vladislav Ryabov dropped down to 16th place at the beginning of the race after starting from ninth on the grid. However he recovered with good pace and by lap seven of 13 had got back into the top 10.

A fierce battle for seventh place was taking place in front of him between between Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, Miron Pingasov and Jonas Ried, allowing Ryabov to close a four-second gap in five laps and gain one more spot to finish ahead of Ried in ninth with a last-lap pass.

Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Conrad Laursen was forced to retire on lap four while battling for seventh with Pingasov, Inthraphuvasak and Ried. His team-mate James Wharton also had his race come to an early end several laps after an incident with Anshul Gandhi.

Race results (13 laps)