Home Formula 4F4 Middle East Olivieri dominates F4 Middle East opener after Powell falters

Olivieri dominates F4 Middle East opener after Powell falters

by Peter Allen

Photo: Top Speed

Emanuele Olivieri won the first race of the Formula 4 Middle East season at Yas Marina for R-ace GP after faster-starting team-mate Alex Powell hit trouble.

Mercedes junior driver Powell seemed to get the better launch from alongside polesitter Olivieri to nose ahead, only to then suddenly slow and fall through the field as it approached the first turn. Powell would pit under a subsequent safety car, when the team briefly removed his engine cover before he rejoined, and went on to set the fastest lap before an incident with Bader Al Sulaiti that caused both to retire.

Olivieri led from Kean Nakamura-Berta and Tomass Stolcermanis, who leapt up from seventh on the grid. The safety car was required after Fu Yuhao found the barriers entering the hotel section, where an incident involving he and Reno Francot was placed under investigation.

Follwoing the restart, Olivieri – who came 17th in Italian F4 with AKM Motorsport last year – opened up a second’s lead over Nakamura-Berta within the first three laps of racing, then doubled it inside another three laps. He would finished up 6.571 seconds clear as he sealed his first single-seater win in style.

Stolcermanis struggled even more to hold the pace and dropped into the clutches of the battle behind him, headed by Sebastian Wheldon. At the scene of his Formula Trophy win on his Prema debut last month, Wheldon would quickly dispose of Stolcermanis to round out the podium, followed by fellow Prema-run rookies Salim Hanna and Newman Chi.

Francot recovered from the clash with Fu to take sixth for the Akcel GP team run by PHM Racing, in front of R-ace GP’s Oleksandr Savinkov while Stolcermanis slumped to eighth by the flag.

Race results
Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Emanuele Olivieri R-ace GP 14 laps
2 Kean Nakamura-Berta Mumbai Falcons +6.571s
3 Sebastian Wheldon Prema +11.058s
4 Salim Hanna Mumbai Falcons +14.640s
5 Newman Chi Prema +18.484s
6 Reno Francot Akcel GP +23.075s
7 Oleksandr Savinkov R-ace GP +24.197s
8 Tomass Stolcermanis Mumbai Falcons +25.128s
9 Adam Al Azhari Yas Heat +25.223s
10 Cole Hewetson Xcel Motorsport +25.251s
11 Martin Molnar Evans GP +25.780s
12 Tiago Rodrigues Evans GP +26.504s
13 Arjun Chheda Mumbai Falcons +27.445s
14 Seth Gilmore Evans GP +29.052s
15 Yuta Suzuki Pinnacle Motorsport +30.397s
16 Oleksandr Bondarev Prema +30.866s
17 Emily Cotty R-ace GP +32.371s
18 August Raber Yas Heat +33.046s
19 Kyuho Lee Pinnacle Motorsport +34.633s
20 Hamda Al Qubaisi Akcel GP +37.108s
21 Taha Hassiba QMMF +39.194s
22 Wang Yuzhe Pinnacle Motorsport +43.333s
23 David Cosma Akcel GP +43.698s
24 Abdullah Ayman Kamel Xcel Motorsport +44.019s
25 Tameem Hassiba QMMF +51.042s
Ret Bader Al Sulaiti QMMF
Ret Alex Powell R-ace GP
Ret Farah Al Yousef Evans GP
Ret Fu Yuhao Xcel Motorsport
Fastest lap: Powell, 1m55.942s