Hadrien David signed off his time in Formula Regional Asian Championship with a second win of the weekend at Dubai Autodrome, once again fending off Pepe Marti.
Pinnacle Motorsport’s Marti made a strong start to pass poleman David for the lead, but he came back past around the outside of turn one. The pair battled while also under pressure from Gabriele Mini, Isack Hadjar and Jak Crawford in the opening laps.
Crawford and Hadjar passed Mini, forcing the Hitech GP driver wide off the track but he was able to hold on in the next corners to reclaim his position. It was not long however until Mini was once again defending from the two behind.
Crawford stayed on Mini’s tail in the following laps but was unable to get past before the retirement of David Morales led to the safety car being summoned.
A perfect restart from David meant he had a comfortable gap to Marti after, while Mini and Crawford battled. Crawford attempted to pass around the outside of turn one, but Mini sent him wide and Crawford lost out to Dino Beganovic.
Mumbai Falcons’ Sebastian Montoya and Arthur Leclerc tangled in the following corners, with Montoya going into the run-off then sending Leclerc wide as he rejoined the track. Leclerc and Paul Aron went wheel-to-wheel next, until Montoya made contact with Aron’s rear-end and earned a black-and-white flag.
At the front David eventually came under pressure from Marti again, locking up and giving Marti – who he beat to race one victory – a chance. In the last two laps, the faster Marti placed himself ready to overtake but ran out of time to make a move.
Hadjar was third, Mini resisted late pressure from Beganovic and Crawford for fourth, while Montoya struggled with his tyres and dropped to 14th at the end.
Dilano van’t Hoff battled with Gabriel Bortoleto for points before retiring after contact with Aron.
Race results (19 laps)
Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Hadrien David | 3Y by R-ace GP | 31m23.730s |
2 | Pepe Marti | Pinnacle Motorsport | +0.359s |
3 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | +3.801s |
4 | Gabriele Mini | Hitech GP | +7.738s |
5 | Dino Beganovic | Mumbai Falcons | +8.103s |
6 | Jak Crawford | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | +8.546s |
7 | Arthur Leclerc | Mumbai Falcons | +9.151s |
8 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 3Y by R-ace GP | +11.977s |
9 | Paul Aron | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | +14.046s |
10 | Lorenzo Fluxa | 3Y by R-ace GP | +16.563s |
11 | Joshua Dufek | Hitech GP | +21.387s |
12 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Hitech GP | +21.711s |
13 | Pierre-Louis Chovet | BlackArts Racing | +22.074s |
14 | Sebastian Montoya | Mumbai Falcons | +23.249s |
15 | Levente Revesz | Evans GP Academy | +23.790s |
16 | Frederick Lubin | Evans GP | +24.435s |
17 | Nicola Marinangeli | Evans GP | +26.140s |
18 | Hamda Al Qubaisi | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | +26.823s |
19 | Amna Al Qubaisi | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | +30.206s |
20 | Ayato Iwasaki | Pinnacle Motorsport | +32.454s |
21 | Khaled Al Qubaisi | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | +35.761s |
22 | Salih Yoluc | Pinnacle Motorsport | +41.317s |
Ret | Thomas Luedi | Pinnacle Motorsport | |
Ret | Dilano van’t Hoff | Pinnacle Motorsport | |
Ret | David Morales | Evans GP Academy | |
DNS | Oliver Goethe | 3Y by R-ace GP | |
Fastest lap: Marti, 1m35.862s
Championship standings |