Home Formula 4F4 Middle East Kean Nakamura Berta quickest in F4 Middle East pre-season testing

Kean Nakamura Berta quickest in F4 Middle East pre-season testing

by Ida Wood

Photo: F4 UAE

Mumbai Falcons’ Kean Nakamura Berta led the way in Formula 4 Middle East pre-season testing at Yas Marina Circuit this week.

There were three sessions on Tuesday and three on Wednesday, and Nakamura began proceedings on top. He set a 1m56.544s in session one to lead Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon by 0.422 seconds, with only six others within a second of him and all of them more than three quarters of a second off the pace.

Prema’s Newman Chi and Yas Heat Academy’s Adam Al Azhari were third and fourth fourth. Evans GP’s Martin Molnar, in seventh, set his best lap of Tuesday in that session.

The pace was slightly slower in session two, which Emanuele Olivieri topped. He set a 1m56.686s to pip Nakamura by 0.087s, with R-ace GP team-mate Alex Powell 0.38s and Wheldon 0.4s behind respectively in third and fourth. Mumbai Falcons’ Salim Hanna Hernandez and Tomass Stolcermanis occupied the next two places, with Evans GP’s Tiago Rodrigues, Xcel Motorsport’s Abdullah Kamel and Chi also within a second of Olivieri.

Olivieri, Kamel, R-ace’s Alexander Savinkov and Pinnacle Motorsport duo Kyuho Kee and Yuzhe Wang all set personal bests for the day in session two.

Nakamura lowered the pace to 1m56.254 in session three, with Yas Heat’s August Raber closest to him. Wheldon and Stolcermais were within 0.3s of the pace in third and fourth, followed by Rodrigues, Olivieri and Hernandez. Powell also broke the 1m57s barrier. Akcel GP’s Hamda Al Qubaisi was absent from proceedings.

Track limits was the big talking point on Wednesday morning, with 48 laps by 18 drivers deleted. Olivieri ended up fastest by 0.593s over Nakamura, and was 0.023s shy of the Tuesday pace. Rodrigues, Hernandez and Wheldon filled the next spots.

Olivieri, Molnar, Savinkov, Xcel’s Yuhao Fu, Al Qubaisi, Taha Hassiba (in a Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation-branded car) and Pinnacle’s Yuta Suzuki all improved.

In session five, 40 laps by 22 drivers were deleted. A 1m55.766s from Nakamura became the new laptime to beat, and he led Wheldon by 0.244s while having a 0.361s gap to Powell and Olivieri. Stolcermanis set a 1m56.178s in fifth, with first to eighth covered by a second. The top 11 and four others improved.

Nakamura was quickest again in session six with a 1m56.046s lap. Al Azhari – who was one of nine improvers – was 0.317s behind in second, with Wheldon and Rodrigues also within half a second of Nakamura’s pace. This time 40 laps by 21 drivers were deleted.

Test results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Kean Nakamura Berta Mumbai Falcons 1m55.766s 86
2 Sebastian Wheldon Prema 1m56.010s +0.244s 93
3 Alex Powell R-ace GP 1m56.127s +0.361s 116
4 Emanuele Olivieri R-ace GP 1m56.127s +0.361s 125
5 Tomass Stolcermanis Mumbai Falcons 1m56.178s +0.412s 95
6 Salim Hanna Hernandez Mumbai Falcons 1m56.345s +0.579s 92
7 Adam Al Azhari Yas Heat 1m56.363s +0.597s 100
8 August Raber Yas Heat 1m56.376s +0.610s 103
9 Newman Chi Prema 1m56.483s +0.717s 83
10 Tiago Rodrigues Evans GP 1m56.508s +0.742s 121
11 Reno Francot Akcel GP 1m56.557s +0.791s 106
12 Sasha Bondarev Prema 1m56.848s +1.082s 85
13 Yuhao Fu Xcel Motorsport 1m56.883s +1.117s 98
14 Cole Hewetson Xcel Motorsport 1m56.945s +1.179s 88
15 Martin Molnar Evans GP 1m57.067s +1.301s 108
16 Arjun Chheda Mumbai Falcons 1m57.153s +1.387s 92
17 Alexander Savinkov R-ace GP 1m57.312s +1.546s 98
18 Tameem Hassiba QMMF 1m57.353s +1.587s 89
19 Taha Hassiba QMMF 1m57.354s +1.588s 89
20 Hamda Al Qubaisi Akcel GP 1m57.393s +1.627s 86
21 Abdullah Kamel Xcel Motorsport 1m57.500s +1.734s 104
22 Seth Gilmore Evans GP 1m57.520s +1.754s 117
23 Kyuho Lee Pinnacle Motorsport 1m57.591s +1.825s 122
24 Bader Al Sulaiti QMMF 1m57.712s +1.946s 114
25 Emily Cotty R-ace GP 1m57.758s +1.992s 83
26 David Cosma Cristofor Akcel GP 1m57.765s +1.999s 94
27 Yuta Suzuki Pinnacle Motorsport 1m57.936s +2.170s 136
28 Yuzhe Wang Pinnacle Motorsport 1m58.266s +2.500s 109