Photo: F4 UAE
Mucke Motorsport driver William Alatalo overshadowed the Formula 4 UAE title battle at Yas Marina, winning twice in his second weekend in the championship.
It was series leader Charles Weerts who won the first race, beating title rival and poleman David Schumacher by 0.419 seconds.
Weerts took the lead on the first lap, and gradually pulled away until a late safety car caused by Alatalo’s Mucke team-mate Niklas Krutten crashing.
One lap of action was left after that, with Weerts just holding off Schumacher. Amaury Cordeel finished third, ahead of Alatalo and Tom Beckhauser, who moved from Cram Motorsport to Rasgaria with US Racing prior to the weekend.
Cordeel dominated the second race after an error by Beckhauser handed him the lead, with Schumacher and Weerts fighting through to second and third. Lucas Petersson and Lucas Alecco Roy completed the top five.
Schumacher and Weerts continued their battle in the third race from the front, with a baulked start meaning Weerts didn’t make it into the lead this time round.
The Belgian dropped down the order, with Alatalo and Cordeel moving up to chase Schumacher.
Alatalo eventually made it past Schumacher, and pulled away to take his first victory in single-seaters. Weerts eventually reclaimed third, ahead of Krutten and Beckhauser, who failed to start the final race of the weekend due to technical repairs on his car after the third race being incomplete.
Petersson started on pole for the final race, but stalled almost immediately and conceded the lead to Krutten. Weerts slipped into second, just ahead of Schumacher and Alatalo.
Alatalo was the strongest of the bunch though, and picked off one after the other until he had a commanding lead, eventually crossing the line with over four seconds in hand.
Krutten maintained second, with Schumacher a lonely third and Weerts just beating Cordeel to fourth.
Weerts goes into the final round of the season with a 13-point lead over Schumacher, with 100 points available available in the four races at Dubai Autodrome next month. This means theoretically both Beckhauser and Petersson are still in contention, at 72 and 79 points back apiece.
Results round-up
Race 1 (14 laps)
1 Charles Weerts Dragon with Motopark 32m12.141s
2 David Schumacher Rasgaria with US Racing +0.419s
3 Amaury Cordeel Dragon with Motopark +1.325s
4 William Alatalo Mucke Motorsport +1.895s
5 Tom Beckhauser Rasgaria with US Racing +2.715s
6 Lucas Alecco Roy Dragon with Motopark +3.809s
7 Lucas Petersson Energy Dubai +4.928s
Ret Niklas Krutten Mucke Motorsport
Pole: Schumacher, 2m11.525s
Fastest Lap: Weerts, 2m12.280s
Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Cordeel 31m20.233s
2 Schumacher +14.383s
3 Weerts +17.156s
4 Petersson +19.266s
5 Roy +25.903s
6 Beckhauser +25.972s
7 Krutten +26.831s
8 Alatalo +2m49.602s
FL: Cordeel, 2m13.704s
Race 3 (14 laps)
1 Alatalo 31m07.428s
2 Schumacher +1.492s
3 Weerts +3.050s
4 Krutten +10.866s
5 Beckhauser +21.474s
6 Petersson +24.250s
7 Cordeel +24.688s
8 Roy +41.816s
P: Schumacher, 2m11.715s
FL: Schumacher, 2m12.178s
Race 4 (14 laps)
1 Alatalo 31m14.892s
2 Krutten +4.474s
3 Schumacher +7.702s
4 Weerts +13.427s
5 Cordeel +13.617s
6 Petersson +21.679s
7 Roy +31.015s
FL: Krutten, 2m12.219s
Championship Standings
1 Weerts 277? ?2 Schumacher 264? ?3 Beckhauser 205? ?4 Petersson 198? ?5 Collet 124? ?6 Caldwell 123? ?7 Roy 113? ?8 Alatalo 104? ?9 Cordeel 102? ?10 Peter Ptacek 72