Kato converts pole into victory in FRME’s first Dubai Autodrome race

Photo: Top Speed

ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato converted pole into victory in the opening Formula Regional Middle East race at Dubai Autodrome.

Saturday’s action began with the first of two qualifying sessions, and Kato set a 1m53.167s lap mid-session that would not be beaten. MP Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava got closest, 0.083 seconds off Kato’s pace, and just 0.013s split Kean Nakamura-Berta (Mumbai Falcons), Rashid Al Dhaheri (R-ace GP) and Yuki Sano (R-ace) who were all within 0.17s of pole.

Half a second split the top 11, and a second covered the top 24 on pace. Pinnacle Motorsport’s title outsider Alex Powell qualified 12th.

Kato was immediately defensive when race one began, moving to the inside, to the outside, back to the inside and then to the outside again on the long run to the opening corner. He also weaved down the back straight, but by then he already had a gap to Abkhazava.

His lead stood at 0.9s for several laps, and he began pulling away further on lap five. But it took until lap 10 to be 1.2s clear, and after building a 1.475s gap it was soon reduced back to 0.9s. Kato had the pace advantage again on the final lap, being victorious by 1.335s.

The fight for third was similarly calm after lap one. Al Dhaheri tried the outside into the braking zone at the end of the back straight on lap one, then tried again through the corner before the esses. Nakamura-Berta ran wide at the next hairpin, and Al Dhaheri got past but then went too wide exiting the corner and the extra steering input required after allowed Nakamura-Berta to get back alongside and reclaim third into the final corner.

Nakamura-Berta defended down the straights on lap two, and soon had a 0.8s gap. In the race’s second half he grew it to 1.2s, and in the final two laps pulled away even more.

Trident’s Maximilian Popov climbed from eighth to fifth on lap one, and had to get defensive at the end of the back straight on lap two as both Sano and team-mate Emanuele Olivieri tried passing him on the inside.

Sano began attacking again on lap 13 of 16, making a dive at the same place. It did not work, and there was another attempt on lap 14 but he still could not break Popov’s defenses.

There was more drama outside of the points. Mumbai Falcons’ Sebastian Wheldon and G4 Racing’s Artem Severiukhin collided on lap six, and MP’s Jesse Carrasquedo parked up at the pitlane exit on lap nine after running in 11th place.

Rodin Motorsport’s Reza Seewooruthun also stopped on track, having previously been chasing Powell. Through the rest of the race, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Francisco Macedo was filling his mirrors and repeatedly tried to get past him using the outside line into turn one. Powell held on to finish 12th and take reversed-grid pole for race two.

Race results (16 laps)