Photo: FRME
Toyota junior Jin Nakamura resisted Freddie Slater to win Formula Regional Middle East’s reversed-grid race at Dubai Autodrome.
The pair started first and fourth, but a stellar start by Slater meant the Mumbai Falcons driver was already in second by the first corner. R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny attacked ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato for third, and passed him around the outside at the end of the back straight.
Kato lost out to Mumbai Falcons’ Rashid Al Dhaheri in the same place on lap four, then Sainteloc Racing’s Theophile Nael went around the outside of him at turn one on lap five. At that point Slater started to pressure Nakamura, and he had to defend down the back straight a lap later.
Slater’s first attempt at an overtake came there on lap seven, which brought Deligny into play. Al Dhaheri soon joined in too, and attacked Deligny at almost every corner on lap nine before finding a way through in the last sector.
That gave Slater some space behind again, and his next attempt to take first place was a diving move at the end of the back straight on lap 12. Nakamura went off slightly, Slater nosed ahead but Nakamura led on the inside at the next hairpin. Slater had another go later in the lap, but that again made it a four-car fight.
He began lap 13 side-by-side with Nakamura, but could not outpace him and was saved being passed by Al Dhaheri later in the lap thanks to Nael trying to snatch third. They ended up holding position, with Nael gapped on the final lap.
ART GP’s points leader Evan Giltaire was seventh after lap one, and finishing fifth by passing Kato on lap five and fighting his way past Deligny on lap 10. R-ace’s Ugo Ugochukwu swiftly followed him through, and Deligny was overtaken by other team-mate Akshay Bohra on the penultimate lap.
PHM Racing’s Brando Badoer had strong pace late on but finished ninth, so lost second in the standings to Slater. Kato dropped all the way to 12th, and team-mate Kanato Le fell from fifth to 10th.
Race results (16 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jin Nakamura | R-ace GP | 31m39.127s |
| 2 | Freddie Slater | Mumbai Falcons | +0.429s |
| 3 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Mumbai Falcons | +1.021s |
| 4 | Theophile Nael | Sainteloc Racing | +2.307s |
| 5 | Evan Giltaire | ART Grand Prix | +3.404s |
| 6 | Ugo Ugochukwu | R-ace GP | +4.152s |
| 7 | Akshay Bohra | R-ace GP | +7.242s |
| 8 | Enzo Deligny | R-ace GP | +9.285s |
| 9 | Brando Badoer | PHM Racing | +10.159s |
| 10 | Kanato Le | ART Grand Prix | +10.432s |
| 11 | Jack Beeton | Mumbai Falcons | +12.527s |
| 12 | Taito Kato | ART Grand Prix | +15.183s |
| 13 | Ruiqi Liu | Origine Motorsport | +16.235s |
| 14 | Ernesto Rivera | Pinnacle Motorsport | +19.854s |
| 15 | Kai Daryanani | Evans GP | +20.772s |
| 16 | Aditya Kulkarni | Akcel GP | +24.283s |
| 17 | James Hedley | Akcel GP | +24.468s |
| 18 | Yaroslav Veselaho | Sainteloc Racing | +24.837s |
| 19 | Doriane Pin | Mumbai Falcons | +25.038s |
| 20 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | Pinnacle Motorsport | +25.439s |
| 21 | Aaron Cameron | Evans GP | +25.857s |
| 22 | Yuanpu Cui | Pinnacle Motorsport | +26.595s |
| 23 | Jakob Bergmeister | Sainteloc Racing | +30.099s |
| 24 | Finley Green | Pinnacle Motorsport | +32.338s |
| 25 | Everett Stack | PHM Racing | +33.748s |
| 26 | Alex Sawer | Evans GP | +34.195s |
| 27 | Zhongwei Wang | Origine Motorsport | +45.984s |
| Fastest lap: Deligny, 1m57.334s
Championship standings |
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