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Home Featured Montoya heads Mumbai Falcons 1-2-3 in red-flagged Dubai race

Montoya heads Mumbai Falcons 1-2-3 in red-flagged Dubai race

by Craig Woollard

Photo: FRAC

Sebastian Montoya won the first Formula Regional Asian Championship race of the weekend at Dubai Autodrome as Mumbai Falcons team-mates Arthur Leclerc and Dino Beganovic inherited podium finishes.

Montoya was jumped by Isack Hadjar at the start but was able to reclaim the lead with a move at the first corner.

From there, Hadjar was able to keep with Montoya as the race progressed until red flags were waved as debutant Francesco Braschi’s car spectacularly blew up at the start of the back straight just after the halfway point of the 30-minute race.

The race was resumed with 12 minutes to go via a safety car restart as sunlight reduced. At this point Hitech GP drivers Hadjar and Leonardo Fornaroli, running second and third, had been handed five-second penalties for being out of position at the original start.

Therefore, while Hadjar was able to keep up with Montoya, it was a comfortable win for the Colombian.

Leclerc passed Beganovic on the final lap and then moved up to second with the penalties so extended his points lead.

Pinnacle Motorsport’s Pepe Marti took fourth just ahead of Hadjar, while Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Paul Aron slipped down the order to sixth. Dilano van’t Hoff (Pinnacle), BlackArts Racing’s Pierre Louis Chovet, Fornaroli and Evans GP’s Michael Belov rounded out the top 10, with the latter taking reversed grid pole for race two.

After a dreadful start from third on the grid, Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Jak Crawford was able to recover from towards the back to finish just behind Lorenzo Fluxa in 12th.

Thomas Luedi retired after a collision with Masters classification rival Salih Yoluc on the penultimate lap, but the car was far enough out of the way such that the safety car was not required again.

Race results (13 laps)
Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Sebastian Montoya Mumbai Falcons 27m49.338s
2 Arthur Leclerc Mumbai Falcons +3.263s
3 Dino Beganovic Mumbai Falcons +4.119s
4 Pepe Marti Pinnacle Motorsport +4.853s
5 Isack Hadjar Hitech GP +5.165s
6 Paul Aron Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema +6.487s
7 Dilano van’t Hoff Pinnacle Motorsport +7.035s
8 Pierre-Louis Chovet BlackArts Racing +7.339s
9 Leonardo Fornaroli Hitech GP +7.597s
10 Michael Belov Evans GP +7.766s
11 Lorenzo Fluxa 3Y by R-ace GP +8.234s
12 Jak Crawford Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema +9.095s
13 Patrik Pasma Evans GP +9.427s
14 Nicola Marinangeli Evans GP +10.367s
15 Levente Revesz Evans GP Academy +12.727s
16 Joshua Dufek Hitech GP +13.377s
17 Frederick Lubin Evans GP +14.185s
18 Hamda Al Qubaisi Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema +16.096s
19 Ayato Iwasaki Pinnacle Motorsport +16.577s
20 Owen Tangavelou Hitech GP +18.771s
21 Amna Al Qubaisi Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema +19.750s
22 Khaled Al Qubaisi Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema +23.409s
23 Oliver Goethe 3Y by R-ace GP +24.382s
24 David Morales Evans GP Academy +26.989s
25 Salih Yoluc Pinnacle Motorsport +30.839s
26 Thomas Luedi BlackArts Racing 2 laps
Ret Francesco Braschi 3Y by R-ace GP
Fastest lap: Montoya, 1m56.687s

Championship standings
1
 Leclerc 91   2 Montoya 78   3 Hadjar 71   4 Marti 66   5 Hadrien David 64   6 Beganovic 63   7 Gabriele Mini 55   8 Gabriel Bortoleto 46   9 Crawford 46   10 Fluxa 42