Photo: F4 UAE
Keanu Al Azhari took the poles for round one of the Formula 4 United Arab Emirates season on Yas Marina Circuit’s Corkscrew layout.
The two 15-minute qualifying sessions set the grid for races one and three, and in Q1 there was a queue of 31 drivers who headed out of the pits straight away.
PHM Racing’s Kamal Mrad was first to top the times with a 1m52.789s lap set almost five minutes in, with team-mate Nikita Bedrin 0.286 seconds slower than him in second place.
Bedrin had his laptime deleted, but PHM maintained a one-two as Everett Stack went fastest by 0.173s. He only spent 10s on top though before Pinnacle Motorsport’s Yuhao Fu set a 1m51.110s to hold provisional pole by 1.506s.
Sainteloc Racing’s Matteo Quintarelli reduced his advantage to 0.251s seven minutes into the session, then AGI Sport’s Jack Beeton went top with a 1m48.442s but Xcel Motorsport’s Alvise Rodella went even faster in his slipstream and set a 1m48.330s.
Next to lead the way was Hitech GP’s practice pace-setter Deagen Fairclough, and he improved to 1m47.761s. But it was another short-lived stint at the top as Yas Heat Academy’s Al Azhari posted a 1m47.265s with seven minutes to go.
Just 38s later there was another change, with Mumbai Falcons’ Freddie Slater scrubbing 0.002s off Al Azhari’s benchmark. His team-mate Kean Nakamura Berta was 0.124s slower to slot into third place.
Al Azhari moved back ahead by setting a 1m46.791s, a lap that would prove unbeatable over the last five minutes.
Nakamura got closest, lapping 0.354s off the pole time to qualify second, and he led team-mates Slater, Alex Powell and Dion Gowda. Rashid Al Dhaheri, driving for the Prema team that provides technical support to Mumbai Falcons’ entries, was 0.475s behind in sixth, with Fairclough and Prema’s Doriane Pin the only others within a second of pole.
There was slightly less of a rush at the start of Q2 as 25 drivers headed out as the track went green, and Xcel’s Tiago Rodrigues laid down the first benchmark.
Yas Heat’s Zak Scoular went top when the first representative laptimes came in, setting a 1m48.035s to lead Mrad by 0.577s. A minute later Sainteloc’s Yevan David lowered the pace to 1m47.889s, and Scoular responded by going 0.106s faster than him.
Al Dhaheri then went top with a 1m47.014s, but had that lap deleted for track limits abuse at turn one so Powell inherited first place by setting a 1m47.020s.
He was bettered with six minutes remaining by Slater, who went 0.124s faster to lead a Mumbai Falcons 1-2-3 completed by Nakamura. Bedrin was first to break that up going second fastest, then he was outpaced by Al Dhaheri, who in turn was beaten by Al Azhari but was 0.047s off Slater’s pace.
Al Azhari managed to snatch pole with three-and-a-half minutes to go, setting a 1m46.623s to beat Slater by 0.273s.
The only other change in the top 10 after that was Jules Caranta (R-ace GP) and Gowda swapping places in eighth and ninth.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Keanu Al Azhari Yas Heat 1m46.791s
2 Kean Nakamura Berta Mumbai Falcons +0.354s
3 Freddie Slater Mumbai Falcons +0.363s
4 Alex Powell Mumbai Falcons +0.451s
5 Dion Gowda Mumbai Falcons +0.457s
6 Rashid Al Dhaheri Prema +0.475s
7 Deagen Fairclough Hitech GP +0.726s
8 Doriane Pin Prema +0.761s
9 Alvise Rodella Xcel Motorsport +1.005s
10 Matteo Quintarelli Sainteloc Racing +1.088s
Race 3 grid
1 Al Azhari 1m46.623s
2 Slater +0.273s
3 Al Dhaheri +0.353s
4 Nikita Bedrin PHM Racing +0.385s
5 Powell +0.397s
6 Nakamura +0.516s
7 Fairclough +0.557s
8 Jules Caranta R-ace GP +0.768s
9 Gowda +0.806s
10 Pin +0.929s