Photo: F4 UAE
Matteo Nannini took a brace of victories as he pulled clear of his rivals in the penultimate Formula 4 UAE round at Yas Marina.
The Xcel Motorsport took his first win in dominant fashion as he converted pole position to victory in race one and was unchallenged as he won the weekend?s final race by more than 12 seconds.
His two wins, combined with a third and second in races two and three respectively, have moved him 55 points clear of nearest rival Joshua Durksen after a lacklustre weekend for the Paraguayan.
A 10-second penalty for causing a collision dropped him from second to fifth in the opening encounter. An identical time penalty for jumping the start in race three demoted him from a fifth win of the season to third place.
Dragon Racing?s Lucas Roy moved into championship contention with a pair of wins. He held off team-mate Rui Andrade to secure victory in Saturday morning?s opening encounter, before benefiting from Durksen?s penalty to win race three.
Roy moved into third at the expense of Shihab Al Habsi who was hampered by a crash in the second race which dropped him from second to seventh. A second-place finish in race four allowed him to recuperate some points, and now sits 29 points behind the German.
Results round-up
Race 1 (10 laps)
1 Matteo Nannini Xcel Motorsport 22m13.364s
2 Lucas Roy Dragon Racing +7.556s
3 Rui Andrade Dragon Racing +10.684s
4 Rashed Ghanem Dragon Racing +12.976s
5 Joshua Durksen Mucke Motorsport +13.455s
6 Filip Kaminiarz Cram Racing +15.433s
7 Shihab Al Habsi Xcel Motorsport +16.860s
8 Nicola Marinangeli Xcel Motorsport +26.100s
9 Nico Gohler Mucke Motorsport +31.155s
10 Rafa Villanueva Xcel Motorsport +1 lap
Pole: Nannini, 2m11.427s
Fastest lap: Nannini, 2m12.447s
Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Roy 24m29.782s
2 Andrade +2.478s
3 Nannini +4.128s
4 Ghanem +6.119s
5 Kaminiarz +8.397s
6 Durksen +16.375s
7 Villanueva +19.235s
Ret Gohler
Ret Al Habsi
FL: Roy, 2m12.616s
Race 3 (11 laps)
1 Roy 26m35.388s
2 Nannini +6.771s
3 Durksen +9.069s
4 Villanueva +9.602s
5 Gohler +14.946s
6 Ghanem +15.610s
7 Marinangeli +18.247s
8 Kaminiarz +18.822s
9 Andrade +19.895s
Ret Al Habsi
FL: Nannini, 2m12.739s
Race 4 (12 laps)
1 Nannini 26m45.712s
2 Al Habsi +12.001s
3 Andrade +12.789s
4 Durksen +16.066s
5 Villanueva +20.363s
6 Gohler +27.392s
7 Marinangeli +28.777s
8 Kaminiarz +29.473s
9 Roy +30.771s
10 Ghanem +42.132s
FL: Nannini, 2m13.001s
Championship standings
1?Nannini 297? ?2?Durksen 242? ?3?Roy 188? ?4?Al Habsi 188? ?5?Andrade 162? ?6 Tijmen van der Helm 96? ?7?Gohler 93? ?8?Kaminiarz 86? ?9?Villanueva 81? ?10?Ghanem 76