David dominates as title contenders fluster in F4 UAE’s third Kuwait race

Photo: F4 UAE

R-ace GP’s Zachary David dominated a dramatic third Formula 4 United Arab Emirates race at Kuwait Motor Town.

The race’s expected victory contenders were all removed from contention on the opening lap as there was collisions between the drivers on the front two rows of the grid.

A touch between poleman James Wharton and fellow front-row man Ugo Ugochukwu at turn two sent Ugochukwu off-track and both down the order, to 19th and 33rd respectively, while Tuukka Taponen crashed into the back of Valerio Rinicella on the run to turn two and it forced the former out and dropped the latter to sixth.

Emerging in the lead from that chaos to lead from seventh on the grid was Xcel Motorsport’s Noah Lisle, ahead of David, Sainteloc Racing’s Theophile Nael, R-ace’s Jesse Carrasquedo Jr and Xcel’s Federico Rifai.

The safety car was then out until lap four, and Rifai passed Carrasuqedo for fourth at turn two on the restart lap while David passed Lisle for the lead.

On the next lap, Bianca Bustamante drove over the rear of Lena Buhler and the safety car was required again as both retired.

Wharton and Ugochukwu had recovered to 18th and 24th by this point, but Ugochukwu was put under investigation for overtaking behind the safety car.

David had to resist an attack from Lisle when racing resumed again, but built a gap before the next lap where Lisle’s focus switched to the cars behind.

Rinicella had passed Federico Rifai for fourth on the restart lap and tried passing Nael when the latter went to attack Lisle, but instead the pair made contact at the esses and it gave Lisle a small gap.

He was four tenths of a second clear by the end of the lap, but David was already 2.757s up the road and Nael was still able to use the slipstream to pass Lisle at turn two next time by. An incident involving the pair at the previous corner then earned a Nael a five-second penalty, guaranteeing David as victor by a big 4.287s margin.

Nael set fastest lap, but was classified eighth with the penalty applied and Lisle got relief as he was demoted to fourth on the final lap by Rinicella, who passed on the run to turn two, but then got a podium finish thanks to Nael’s penalty.

Luciano Morano and Noah Stromsted also ended the race under investigation, and Wharton beat the latter to 13th place in a three-wide photo finish. Points leader Ugochukwu finished 18th.

Race results (11 laps)