
Photo: F4 ME
A last-lap restart set up a photo finish to Formula 4 Middle East’s third race at Yas Marina Circuit, which was won by R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri.
One victory contender was removed immediately as the start, as poleman Alex Powell failed to get going and his team-mate Olivieri swept into the lead ahead of Mumbai Falcons’ Tomass Stolcermanis, Kean Nakamura Berta and Salim Hanna Hernandez.
Ackel GP by PHM Racing’s Reno Francot rose from eighth to fifth, ahead of Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon and Newman Chi, Yas Heat Academy’s Adam Al Azhari and Evans GP’s Martin Molnar before the safety car was called out.
Racing resumed on lap four, and Powell was down in 25th. Stolcermanis almost crashed into the rear of Olivieri at the opening corner, Molnar locked up and Taha Hassiba – in a Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation-branded car – went off.
Olivieri weaved down the back straight, but he did not need to since he ended the lap 1.4 seconds clear of the Mumbai Falcons pair. Stolcermanis appeared to let Nakamura past as they began lap five, and Oliveri’s lead grew to 2.5s over the next two laps.
However the safety car was then summoned on lap eight due to drama at the final chicane on the preceding lap. Powell had completed a triple move (going past two cars down the pit straight then lunging past another under braking) to get into 14th, then seconds later QMMF’s Hassiba crashed into the back of Xcel Motorsport’s Abdullah Kamel.
Racing was set to resume on lap 11, but Hanna broke down and so the safety car had to stay out an extra lap. There was only time for one lap of racing when it did free the field, and Olivieri left it super late to return to racing speed.
The leader then weaved a bit before committing to the inside line, with Nakamura tucking into his tow before drawing alongside through turns one and two. Olivieri kept him at bay, but Nakamura crashed into the back of him before the hotel section. He made a diving move at the hairpin too, then Olivieri’s weaving down the back straight brought Stolcermanis back into play.
Nakamura slipstreamed past, but Olivieri had the inside line for the final chicane. He braked later, locked up but stayed ahead by just 0.071s, with Stolcermanis a further 0.067s behind.
Francot had a similarly aggressive and close fight with Wheldon, which he won by 0.051s, and Al Azhari passed Chi for sixth. Powell recovered to 12th.
Race results (12 laps)
Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Emanuele Olivieri | R-ace GP | 29m59.999s |
2 | Kean Nakamura Berta | Mumbai Falcons | +0.071s |
3 | Tomass Stolcermanis | Mumbai Falcons | +0.138s |
4 | Reno Francot | Akcel GP | +1.010s |
5 | Sebastian Wheldon | Prema | +1.061s |
6 | Adam Al Azhari | Yas Heat Academy | +1.806s |
7 | Newman Chi | Prema | +2.262s |
8 | Martin Molnar | Evans GP | +2.368s |
9 | Kyuho Lee | Pinnacle Motorsport | +2.579s |
10 | Alexander Savinkov | R-ace GP | +2.869s |
11 | Sasha Bondarev | Prema | +3.721s |
12 | Alex Powell | R-ace GP | +3.731s |
13 | David Cosma Cristofor | Akcel GP | +4.715s |
14 | Tiago Rodrigues | Evans GP | +5.034s |
15 | Yuhao Fu | Xcel Motorsport | +5.114s |
16 | Seth Gilmore | Evans GP | +7.073s |
17 | Yuta Suzuki | Pinnacle Motorsport | +7.385s |
18 | Cole Hewetson | Xcel Motorsport | +7.865s |
19 | Bader Al Sulaiti | QMMF | +8.112s |
20 | Yuzhe Wang | Pinnacle Motorsport | +8.884s |
21 | Emily Cotty | R-ace GP | +9.154s |
22 | Tameem Hassiba | QMMF | +10.150s |
23 | Farah Al Yousef | Evans GP | +21.177s |
24 | Salim Hanna Hernandez | Mumbai Falcons | +3 laps |
Ret | Abdullah Kamel | Xcel Motorsport | |
Ret | Taha Hassiba | QMMF | |
Ret | Arjun Chheda | Mumbai Falcons | |
Ret | August Raber | Yas Heat Academy | |
DNS | Hamda Al Qubaisi | Akcel GP | |
Fastest lap: Olivieri, 1m56.142s
Championship standings |