Photo: FRME
Mumbai Falcons’ Arvin Lindblad claimed a comfortable victory from reversed-grid pole in the second race of the Formula Regional Middle East season at Yas Marina Circuit.
R-ace GP’s Zachary David finished in a similarly comfortable second place, being within one second of the Red Bull junior but never coming close to challenging him for the win, while his team-mate Martinius Stenshorne rose from eighth place to finish third and take the points lead.
Lindblad led the way at the end of the opening lap, having fended off Pinnacle Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava into the first corner.
Abkhazava had then to defend from David and PHM Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak. He resisted the first attacks, but eventually ran wide at turn one paving the way for David to move up to second place.
The safety car was out moments later on lap three, as R&B Racing’s Zhongwei Wang found the wall. Pinnacle’s Finley Green also came to a halt with car damage the following lap.
Racing resumed with under 15 minutes remaining in the clock. Lindblad continued to lead unopposed while there were fights for position further down the order.
At turn one, PHM’s Taylor Barnard attempted a move on Pinnacle’s Mari Boya, who had dropped from fifth to ninth place on the opening lap, but ran wide and lost momentum and positions as a consequence.
Stenshorne claimed fourth place by going down the inside of Inthraphuvasak at turn 12, and would then pass Abkhazava to move up to third. The Norwegian’s progression ended up there though, as he was unable to close on David ahead of him.
On lap nine, Mumbai Falcons’ James Wharton dived into the inside of R-ace’s Tuukka Tapponen at turn six. The move did not work out as he hit team-mate Rafael Camara, who was ahead of him and already turning into the corner. Camara was forced to retire, with the incident requiring a post-race investigation.
One lap later, Sainteloc Racing’s Theophile Nael spun MP Motorsport’s Valerio Rinicella as he tapped his rear out of turn six. He finished in eighth place, but will also be investigated.
Having dropped to 13th place halfway through the race, race one winner Barnard recovered to ninth at the chequered flag. MP’s Bruno del Pino rounded out the top 10.
Race result (15 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arvid Lindblad | Mumbai Falcons | 31m15.694s |
| 2 | Zachary David | R-ace GP | +0.879s |
| 3 | Martinius Stenshorne | R-ace GP | +4.275s |
| 4 | Alexander Abkhazava | Pinnacle Motorsport | +8.829s |
| 5 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | PHM Racing | +9.322s |
| 6 | Tuukka Taponen | R-ace GP | +9.677s |
| 7 | Mari Boya | Pinnacle Motorsport | +9.766s |
| 8 | Theophile Nael | Sainteloc Racing | +10.493s |
| 9 | Taylor Barnard | PHM Racing | +11.623s |
| 10 | Bruno del Pino | MP Motorsport | +15.170s |
| 11 | Nikhil Bohra | MP Motorsport | +16.783s |
| 12 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Mumbai Falcons | +16.987s |
| 13 | Noah Lisle | Xcel Motorsport | +17.229s |
| 14 | John Bennett | Evans GP | +19.961s |
| 15 | Matteo De Palo | Sainteloc Racing | +20.155s |
| 16 | Ruiqi Liu | PHM Racing | +21.342s |
| 17 | Pedro Clerot | Sainteloc Racing | +22.036s |
| 18 | Emmo Fittipaldi | MP Motorsport | +27.025s |
| 19 | Jesse Carrasquedo | R-ace GP | +27.520s |
| 20 | Giovanni Maschio | Pinnacle Motorsport | +32.954s |
| 21 | Brando Badoer | PHM Racing | +32.970s |
| 22 | Yujia Gao | R&B Racing | +33.092s |
| 23 | Yaroslav Veselaho | Xcel Motorsport | +33.313s |
| 24 | James Wharton | Mumbai Falcons | +1m07.651s |
| 25 | Costa Toparis | Evans GP | +1 lap |
| 26 | Valerio Rinicella | MP Motorsport | +2 laps |
| Ret | Rafael Camara | Mumbai Falcons | |
| Ret | Finley Green | Pinnacle Motorsport | |
| Ret | Zhongwei Wang | R&B Racing | |
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Fastest lap: Barnard, 1m42.446s Championship standings |
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