
Photo: FRME
ART Grand Prix’s Kanato Le led lights-to-flag from reversed-grid pole in Formula Regional Middle East race two at Yas Marina Circuit.
The race started in sunlight but finished under floodlights, and was light on action after the first few laps. Le made a good start, as team-mate Taiko Kato stalled from fourth on the grid and fell down the order.
Sainteloc Racing’s Theophile Nael and R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny followed Le into turn one, with mixed fortunes for the other R-ace drivers. Ugochukwu moved up to fourth, while Akshay Bohra had a tangle with another driver in the hotel section and ended up spun around and stalled. He got his car going again, but just as Ugochukwu attempted passing Deligny around the outside the final chicane the safety car was summoned.
Racing resumed on lap three without a fuss, and behind the top four were PHM Racing’s Brando Badoer, Mumbai Falcons’ Freddie Slater, ART GP’s Evan Giltaire and Pinnacle Motorsport’s Ernesto Rivera.
There was a battle for ninth place, as Mumbai Falcons’ Rashid Al Dhaheri banged wheels with Pinnacle’s Jesse Carrasquedo jr in the hotel section on lap four. R-ace’s Jin Nakamura then passed Carrasquedo at the hairpin, then almost drove him into the pitwall twice as they concluded the lap.
Carrasquedo went wide at turn one and fell behind Aaron Cameron (Evans GP) and Lorenzo Castillo (Sainteloc), then the safety car was called out again as Finley Green (Pinnacle) and Jack Beeton (Mumbai Falcons) had collided at the final chicane. A further incident involving Carrasquedo then eliminated his team-mate Giovanni Maschio.
Le left it as late as possible to return the field to racing speed for lap eight, and had a peaceful second half of the race to earn his first FRegional win. He made the podium once in the European championship as a rookie last year.
Ugochukwu feinted a move Deligny into turn one on lap nine, and Al Dhaheri thought of attacking Rivera at the hairpin, then Al Dhaheri had to hold off Nakamura at the final chicane on lap 11. Slater maintained the points lead by finishing sixth.
Race results (14 laps)
Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Kanato Le | ART Grand Prix | 31m17.356s |
2 | Theophile Nael | Sainteloc Racing | +1.047s |
3 | Enzo Deligny | R-ace GP | +4.091s |
4 | Ugo Ugochukwu | R-ace GP | +4.735s |
5 | Brando Badoer | PHM Racing | +5.292s |
6 | Freddie Slater | Mumbai Falcons | +6.161s |
7 | Evan Giltaire | ART Grand Prix | +6.944s |
8 | Ernesto Rivera | Pinnacle Motorsport | +8.445s |
9 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Mumbai Falcons | +9.428s |
10 | Jin Nakamura | R-ace GP | +10.170s |
11 | Jesse Carrasquedo Jr | Pinnacle Motorsport | +11.404s |
12 | Taiko Kato | ART Grand Prix | +11.572s |
13 | Aaron Cameron | Evans GP | +12.486s |
14 | Reza Seewooruthun | Mumbai Falcons | +13.160s |
15 | Everett Stack | PHM Racing | +16.856s |
16 | Jaden Pariat | Akcel GP | +17.247s |
17 | Aditya Kulkarni | Akcel GP | +18.009s |
18 | Kai Daryanani | Evans GP | +19.731s |
19 | Yaroslav Veselaho | Sainteloc Racing | +20.882s |
20 | Lorenzo Castillo | Sainteloc Racing | +21.106s |
21 | Zhongwei Wang | Origine Motorsport | +23.743s |
22 | Ruiqi Liu | Origine Motorsport | +2 laps |
Ret | Giovanni Maschio | Pinnacle Motorsport | |
Ret | Finley Green | Pinnacle Motorsport | |
Ret | Jack Beeton | Mumbai Falcons | |
Ret | Akshay Bohra | R-ace GP | |
Fastest lap: Le, 1m50.812s
Championship standings |