Home Formula RegionalFRegional Middle East Freddie Slater scores double pole at FRegional Middle East opener

Freddie Slater scores double pole at FRegional Middle East opener

by Peter Allen

Photo: Top Speed

Freddie Slater scored a double pole position in the opening qualifying sessions of the Formula Regional Middle East season in Abu Dhabi.

Contesting his second weekend in FRegional after his debut at the Macau Grand Prix, Slater left it late to top the first of the two sessions for the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons squad.

Evan Giltaire held on to top spot for ART Grand Prix as the final five minutes ticked down with a time of 1m49.621s. At this point it was local man Rashid Al Dhaheri who had got closest to Giltaire, 0.132 seconds away, with team-mate Slater third.

Slater however managed to go 0.07s quicker than Giltaire at the chequered flag to post a 1m49.551s. Giltaire was unable to respond, pitting on his last lap.

Al Dhaheri finished third while McLaren junior Brando Badoer claimed fifth on his last lap for PHM Racing, sandwiched by Pinnacle Motorsport’s Mexican duo of Jesse Carrasquedo and Ernesto Rivera.

French Formula 4 champion Taito Kato took eighth in his first FRegional qualifying session with ART, just 0.002s behind R-ace GP’s Macau GP winner Ugo Ugochukwu.

Giltaire again set the pace in session two, putting in the first true flying lap of 1m49.319s with five minutes remaining but Slater beat that immediately. He would be the first and only driver to dip into the 1m48s, finding a further improvement with three minutes to go to take pole with a 1m48.854s.

Pinnacle’s Mexican pair were strong once more, Red Bull junior Rivera claiming third on his last lap to beat Carrasquedo.

Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Freddie Slater Mumbai Falcons 1m49.551s
2 Evan Giltaire ART Grand Prix +0.070s
3 Rashid Al Dhaheri Mumbai Falcons +0.202s
4 Jesse Carrasquedo Pinnacle Motorsport +0.311s
5 Brando Badoer PHM Racing +0.372s
6 Ernesto Rivera Pinnacle Motorsport +0.481s
7 Ugo Ugochukwu R-ace GP +0.530s
8 Taito Kato ART Grand Prix +0.532s
9 Reza Seewooruthun Mumbai Falcons +0.550s
10 Kanato Le ART Grand Prix +0.648s

Race 3 grid
1 Slater 1m48.854s
2 Giltaire +0.465s
3 Rivera +0.635s
4 Carrasquedo +0.639s
5 Al Dhaheri +0.699s
6 Ugochukwu +0.734s
7 Seewooruthun +0.739s
8 Theophile Nael Sainteloc Racing +0.796s
9 Jin Nakamura R-ace GP +0.931s
10 Akshay Bohra R-ace GP +1.006s