Home Formula 4F4 Middle East Nakamura Berta takes first win in F4 UAE opener at Yas Marina

Nakamura Berta takes first win in F4 UAE opener at Yas Marina

by Steve Whitfield

Photo: F4 UAE

Kean Nakamura Berta claimed his first car racing win in the opening race of the 2024 Formula 4 United Arab Emirates season on Yas Marina Circuit’s Corkscrew layout.

Yas Heat driver Keanu Al Azhari lined up on pole but made a slow start and was swamped by Mumbai Falcons trio Nakamura, Freddie Slater and Alex Powell. Al Azhari recovered to second on the opening lap behind Nakamura, who held a 1.5-second lead.

From there Nakamura continued to edge clear, with the Alpine Academy driver – with just six previous car races in F4 South East Asia under his belt – eventually taking victory by 5.608 seconds in the 30-minute contest which ran under green flags throughout.

Al Azhari pulled two seconds clear of the squabbling Slater and Powell to take runner-up spot. Slater made a late mistake while under pressure from Powell, but edged his team-mate to the final podium spot.

Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri battled Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough for most of the race, making it past in the closing stages to finish fifth. Fairclough then slipped to seventh behind Mumbai Falcons’ Dion Gowda.

Al Dhaheri’s team-mate Doriane Pin snatched eighth late on from Hitech’s Gabriel Stilp, who held off PHM’s Nikita Bedrin to take the chequered flag in ninth, but was carrying a 10s penalty for jumping the start.

Race result
Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Kean Nakamura Berta Mumbai Falcons 17 laps
2 Keanu Al Azhari Yas Heat +5.608s
3 Freddie Slater Mumbai Falcons +7.619s
4 Alex Powell Mumbai Falcons +8.126s
5 Rashid Al Dhaheri Prema +12.653s
6 Dion Gowda Mumbai Falcons +15.701s
7 Deagen Fairclough Hitech GP +18.152s
8 Doriane Pin Prema +18.995s
9 Gabriel Stilp Hitech GP +22.430s
10 Nikita Bedrin PHM Racing +23.365s
11 Alvise Rodella Xcel Motorsport +25.053s
12 Matteo Quintarelli Sainteloc Racing +25.779s
13 Jack Beeton AGI Sport +28.937s
14 Zack Scoular Yas Heat +29.778s
15 Yevan David Sainteloc Racing +30.440s
16 Enzo Yeh R-ace GP +31.647s
17 Jules Caranta R-ace GP +32.229s
18 Raphael Narac R-ace GP +36.050s
19 Seb Murray Hitech GP +36.347s
20 Tiago Rodrigues Xcel Motorsport +40.507s
21 Luka Sammalisto R-ace GP +40.808s
22 Kai Daryanani Pinnacle Motorsport +42.415s
23 Reza Seewooruthun Hitech GP +42.922s
24 Maxi Restrepo Sainteloc Racing +43.592s
25 Peter Bouzinelos AGI Sport +44.964s
26 Maximilian Popov PHM Racing +50.716s
27 Kamal Mrad PHM Racing +51.984s
28 Carrie Schreiner AGI Sport +55.472s
29 Kaishun Liu Xcel Motorsport +56.026s
30 Nicolas Stati AGI Sport +56.431s
31 Everett Stack PHM Racing +57.670s
32 Aurelia Nobels Sainteloc Racing +59.409s
33 Yuhao Fu Pinnacle Motorsport +1m07.890s