Home Featured Mini wins FRegional Asian race three after startline crash

Mini wins FRegional Asian race three after startline crash

by Steve Whitfield

Photo: FRAC

Gabriele Mini dominated the final Formula Regional Asian Championship race of the weekend at Yas Marina Circuit after nasty startline crash delayed proceedings.

Evans GP’s Cem Bolukbasi stalled from 10th on the grid and was collected by Amna Al Qubaisi and Salih Yoluc, who had shared the 12th row of the grid.

After a lengthy red flag period to recover the damaged cars, the race was restarted behind the safety car with 27 minutes remaining.

The safety car was withdrawn after three laps, with Mini leading the field for Hitech GP. The 2020 Italian Formula 4 champion pulled over three seconds clear of Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Jak Crawford. The top two remained the same until the finish, with Mini taking victory by 2.659s and the championship lead.

Isack Hadjar applied early pressure on fellow Red Bull junior Crawford for second.  He tried a move into the turn six chicane, but was passed around the outside of turn nine by race two winner Gabriel Bortoleto. 

After wrestling back third into turn six on the next lap, Hadjar finished 0.5s behind Crawford to complete a double podium for Hitech.

Pinnacle Motorsport’s Pepe Marti and Mumbai Falcons’ Arthur Leclerc both passed Bortoleto in the closing stages to finish fourth and fifth respectively.

Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Paul Aron was seventh for Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema ahead of 3Y Technology by R-ace GP duo Lorenzo Fluxa and Hadrien David.

Race one winner Sebastian Montoya was the final points scorer in 10th for Mumbai Falcons after an exciting scrap with David.

Ten drivers were placed under investigation after the chequered flag fell, including Fluxa, David and Montoya.

Race results (15 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Gabriele Mini Hitech GP
2 Jak Crawford Abu Dhabi Racing by Premaa +2.659s
3 Isack Hadjar Hitech GP +3.121s
4 Pepe Marti Pinnacle Motorsport +4.340s
5 Arthur Leclerc Mumbai Falcons +5.891s
6 Gabriel Bortoleto 3Y by R-ace GP +6.703s
7 Paul Aron Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema +8.638s
8 Lorenzo Fluxa 3Y by R-ace GP +9.217s
9 Hadrien David 3Y by R-ace GP +9.658s
10 Sebastian Montoya Mumbai Falcons +11.605s
11 Dino Beganovic Mumbai Falcons +12.759s
12 Joshua Dufek Hitech GP +19.430s
13 Levente Revesz Evans GP Academy +22.772s
14 Nicola Marinangeli Evans GP +23.032s
15 Hamda Al Qubaisi Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema +24.493s
16 Ayato Iwasake Pinnacle Motorsport +25.551s
17 Brice Morabito BlackArts Racing +31.192s
18 Oliver Goethe 3Y by R-ace GP +46.663s
19 Khaled Al Qubaisi Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema +47.443s
20 Thomas Luedi BlackArts Racing +48.934s
21 Frederick Lubin Evans GP +1 lap
Ret Leonardo Fornaroli Hitech GP
Ret David Morales Evans GP Academy
Ret Cem Bolukbasi Evans GP
Ret Amna Al Qubaisi Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema
Ret Salih Yoluc Pinnacle Motorsport
DNS Dilano van’t Hoff Pinnacle Motorsport
Fastest lap: Marti, 1m52.615s

Championship standings
1 Mini 43   2 Leclerc 40   3 Montoya 38   4 Bortoleto 34   5 Fluxa 30   6 Hadjar 27   7 Crawford 24   8 Fornaroli 14   9 Marti 12   10 Beganovic 10