Late move awards Nikita Bedrin victory in F4 UAE race two in Abu Dhabi

Photo: F4 UAE

PHM Racing’s Nikita Bedrin snatched victory away from AGI Sport’s Jack Beeton with a late overtake in Formula 4 United Arab Emirates race two at Yas Marina Circuit.

Reversed-grid polesitter Beeton led the way from the start, but eventually succumbed to the more experienced Bedrin on the penultimate lap then also lost out to Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough to finish third.

Bedrin moved up from fourth to second place at the start, then stuck with Beeton through the early laps.

On lap three, Freddie Slatter pulled off a brilliant overtake on Rashid Al Dhaheri for sixth place. The Briton, who had already moved up from 10th to seventh on lap one, first took the outside line down the start-finish straight of the track’s Grand Prix layout (with the Corkscrew configuration being used by F4) then switched to the inside and got the move done as they exited what is usually the opening corner.

Al Dhaheri lost momentum and fell under attack from Doriane Pin and Keanu Al Azhari on the next straight. The three went wide and Al Dhaheri had to go off at the chicane to avoid contact. Al Azhari overtook Pin, who was then under pressure from the cars behind.

Slater had closed in on Xcel Motorsport’s Alvise Rodella when the safety car appeared as R-ace GP’s Raphael Narac had his damaged car cleared from the run-off area of turn 15.

It took almost 10 minutes before the track went green again. Bedrin tried to go around the outside of Beeton, but the Australian fended him off. Right behind them Fairclough drove past Sainteloc Racing’s Matteo Quintarelli for third place.

R-ace’s Jules Caranta made slight contact with Mumbai Falcons’ Alex Powell heading onto the start-finish straight, enabling Powell’s points-leading team-mate Kean Nakamura Berta to overtake both and move up to eighth. He was then on the back of Al Azhari, and they touched at turn 14. Al Azhari picked up rear-left suspension damage and had to stop while Nakamura dropped behind Caranta.

The safety car was not summoned, so Bedrin continued to challenge Beeton for the victory.

He eventually succeeded when Beeton had a slow exit out of the corkscrew section; Bedrin closed on him and looked to the outside then dived to the inside at turn six to get ahead. Beeton attempted to regain the lead around the outside of turn nine on the last lap of the race but could not make it work, and Fairclough closed in.

The yellow flags were gone in the hotel section of the lap and Hitech driver overtook Beeton at turn 17. Behind them, Slatter took fourth place from Quintarelli as they crossed the finish line.

Race results (15 laps)