Photo: Top Speed
Local talent Rashid Al Dhaheri emerged from the opening Formula Regional Middle East round, the first ever event using second-generation FRegional machinery, as points leader.
A new era began at Yas Marina Circuit last Saturday, in two ways for FRME as it swapped championship for FIA regional trophy status, and Pinnacle Motorsport’s Alex Powell set the pace in free practice. A 1m48.178s put him 0.127 seconds ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Kabir Anurag, as a second covered the top 25 in the 32-car field.
Two qualifying sessions followed, and MP Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava denied R-ace GP’s Al Dhaheri race one pole by a tiny 0.001s in Q1. Trident’s Maximilian Popov and Mumbai Falcons’ Kean Nakamura-Berta trailed by 0.019s and 0.029s respectively, with ART GP’s Taito Kato 0.102s off the pace and edging Powell to fifth by 0.005s.
Half a second split the top 10, and 26 drivers were within a second of pole.
Al Dhaheri lowered the pace in Q2, earning race three pole by 0.109s over Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic who was 0.001s ahead of Nakamura-Berta. Powell was 0.208s behind in fourth, with Popov a further 0.029s slower. Abkhazava was 0.499s off in 11th, a second split the top 26, while Sebastian Wheldon (Mumbai Falcons) and Jules Roussel (G4 Racing) failed to set any laptimes in both sessions.
Race one concluded the day, and Abkhazava held off Al Dhaheri for victory. There were several stallers on the formation lap, then on the actual start (which took place on the South circuit’s pit straight) the poleman swept across and Al Dhaheri was briefly beyond track limits due to it.
He kept with the leader, and tried the outside into the final chicane. Abkhazava’s defence allowed Al Dhaheri to draw alongside as they began lap two, but there was still no change of position and Al Dhaheri remained in Abkhazava’s mirrors for the rest of the race’s 17-lap duration. His only other overtaking opportunity was into the last chicane on lap five.
The top six starters actually all held their positions, although several came close to track limits penalties. Powell was all over Kato on lap nine but his attempt to get alongside instead set up Ninovic to attack him. Ninovic had pressured Powell on lap four, having overtaken MP’s Christian Ho on lap one.
The race’s biggest moment of drama was a crash for MP’s Alceu Feldmann Neto, who was a lapped 32nd place after pitting.
Trident’s Andrija Kostic finished 12th, earning him reversed-grid pole for race two on Sunday. He packed in drama before the start, as he spun at the final corner of the formation lap and was handed a drive-through penalty as a result.
Rodin’s Maxim Rehm was due to start fourth but a technical issue meant he pitted at the end of the formation lap. It meant he avoided a huge crash at the start, as team-mate Reza Seewooruthun stalled from second place and was hit from behind by CL Motorsport’s Michael Belov (who had no time to avoid an impact) in a horror crash. Two wheels were instantly ripped off and sent skywards, eventually landing without hitting either driver, and further damage left Belov’s chassis as a wreck.
Kostic had swept across off the line and had his advantage removed by red flags, with a stoppage lasting over 26 minutes before the race restarted from the pitlane, behind the safety car and with the clock reset to 25 minutes remaining.
The field actually began racing on lap three, and Race Performance Motorsport’s Miguel Costa in second was instantly defensive against Ho. The top three pulled away, as Nakamura-Berta smashed into Powell at the chicane.
This helped Ninovic move up to fourth ahead of Kato, Popov, Abkhazava and Al Dhaheri. Just behind them were Artem Severiukhin (G4 Racing) and Jan Przyrowski (R-P-M) but they collided and spun at the first corner of lap four and the safety car was summoned.
Racing resumed on lap six, and Costa led the way as Kostic went to serve his penalty. Ho quickly took the lead from him and pulled away, Kato overtook Ninovic into the hotel section and Al Dhaheri cleared Popov at the hairpin. Kato ended the lap attempting to go around Costa’s outside at the chicane, and on the next lap he got alongside again but rode kerbs that sent him skyward and then hard into the barriers once his front wheels were back on the ground.
The safety car was needed once more, with Ninovic and Mumbai Falcons’ Salim Hanna now completing the top four.
Green flags waved again on lap nine, and Ho pulled away over the four laps that remained to win by 1.45s. Al Dhaheri attacked Hanna down the circuit’s regular pit straight on the restart lap, then had a huge lock-up into the hairpin and lost out to Abkhazava.
He swept across to defend down the next straight, almost pushing Al Dhaheri off, but they traded fifth place again on lap 10.
Al Dhaheri’s best performance was in race three, which he led lights-to-flag. Ninovic lurched forward before stalling and falling down the field, meaning Powell was the poleman’s closest rival at first as Ho edged his way past Popov for third.
Popov lost out to Nakamura-Berta later in the lap, then to Anurag on lap two. As the latter then tried passing Nakamura-Berta next time by, Popov took his chance to get back alongside briefly but that brought CL’s Newman Chi into play. Their fighting paused on lap four as the safety car appeared due to Pinnacle’s August Raber crashing out.
Racing resumed two laps later and Al Dhaheri instantly gapped Powell. Ho came under pressure for third, and Anurag slid through the final chicane but retained fifth. The safety car and then red flags were needed again by lap eight, as Wheldon had sent R-P-M’s Giovanni Maschio hard into the barriers on the pit straight and debris was littered across the track.
After a 13-minute break, the safety car led the field back out of the pits with 11 minutes of racing left. There was far less than that when Al Dhaheri actually brought the field back to racing speeds with four laps to go, and he once again pulled away to take his maiden FRegional victory and the points lead.
Nakamura-Berta once again attacked Ho at times but could not force a move, and actually lost fourth to Anurag later in the race. The most exciting battles occurred outside of the points positions, with both Ninovic and Rehm pulling off double overtakes.
Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Alexander Abkhazava MP Motorsport 30m59.833s
2 Rashid Al Dhaheri R-ace GP +0.443s
3 Maximilian Popov Trident +2.975s
4 Kean Nakamura-Berta Mumbai Falcons +3.835s
5 Taito Kato ART Grand Prix +6.990s
6 Alex Powell Pinnacle Motorsport +8.573s
7 Alex Ninovic Rodin Motorsport +9.583s
8 Christian Ho MP Motorsport +10.153s
9 Maxim Rehm Rodin Motorsport +13.898s
10 Miguel Costa R-P-M +14.647s
Pole: Abkhazava, 1m48.713s
Fastest lap: Nakamura-Berta, 1m48.781s
Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Ho 28m12.075s
2 Costa +1.451s
3 Ninovic +2.894s
4 Salim Hanna Mumbai Falcons +4.525s
5 Al Dhaheri +4.615s
6 Abkhazava +5.222s
7 Francisco Macedo Van Amersfoort Racing +7.170s
8 Popov +7.724s
9 Newman Chi CL Motorsport +9.845s
10 Gerrard Xie R-ace GP +10.197s
FL: Ho, 1m49.118s
Race 3 (13 laps)
1 Al Dhaheri 30m03.654s
2 Powell +1.365s
3 Ho +2.461s
4 Kabir Anurag ART Grand Prix +3.629s
5 Nakamura-Berta +4.297s
6 Popov +5.118s
7 Chi +5.996s
8 Andrija Kostic Trident +7.904s
9 Artem Severiukhin G4 Racing +8.810s
10 Yuki Sano R-ace GP +9.169s
P: Al Dhaheri, 1m48.148s
FL: Al Dhaheri, 1m48.779s
Championship standings
1 Al Dhaheri 53 2 Ho 44 3 Abkhazava 33 4 Popov 27 5 Powell 26 6 Nakamura-Berta 22 7 Ninovic 21 8 Costa 19 9 Hanna 12 10 Anurag 12