Photo: F4 UAE
Alex Powell and Keanu Al Azhari shared the pole positions in qualifying for the second Formula 4 United Arab Emirates round at Yas Marina Circuit.
Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough and Reza Seewooruthun sat at the top after the first flying laps in Q1, which set the grid for race one, then Mumbai Falcons’ Freddie Slater brought the pace down into the 1m55s.
Yas Heat Academy’s free practice pace-setter Al Azhari slotted into second place, ahead of Kean Nakamura Berta (Mumbai Falcons) and Rashid Al Dhaheri (Prema).
PHM Racing’s Nikita Bedrin bettered Slater by 0.086 seconds with four minutes of the session to go, but a minute later Slater responded with a lap that put him back on top by 0.012s.
His team-mate Powell meanwhile improved his pace to jump up to seventh place, but was down in ninth place with a minute left of Q1 as R-ace GP’s Enzo Yeh and Jules Caranta went sixth and eighth fastest.
Powell was saving his best for last, and when he met the chequered flag he set a 1m55.736s to take pole by 0.055s. Slater failed to improve in second, while Bedrin set the fastest first sector of anyone but a slow sector two meant he abandoned his final lap and returned to the pits.
Prema’s Doriane Pin went sixth fastest to demote her team-mate Al Dhaheri to seventh, with Yeh, Caranta and Hitech’s Gabriel Stilp completing the top 10. Xcel Motorsport’s Alvise Rodella improved at the very end to qualify 11th, knocking Fairclough down to 12th. The top 17 was covered by 0.981s.
Yeh was first to the top in Q2, which set the grid for race three. Xcel’s debuting Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Yuanpu Cui was next to lead the way, but representative laptimes did not come in until a few minutes later and it was Sainteloc Racing’s Matteo Quintarelli who put down a proper benchmark with a 1m56.672s before yellow flags waved between turns five and six.
Once the track was fully green again he improved to 1m56.428s, with Seewooruthun 0.299s behind in second and AGI Sport’s Nicolas Statis 0.547s back in third.
Yeh returned to the top with a 1m56.168s, then with five-and-a-half minutes remaining Bedrin went 0.682s clear with a 1m55.413s and Yas Heat’s Zack Scoular jumped up to second.
A short while later Slater reduced Bedrin’s gap to 0.047s, with Nakamura getting within 0.411s of him and Pin going fourth fastest.
Slater and Nakamura improved their pace but not their positions on their next laps, with Slater just 0.018s off pole, and Powell went fourth fastest. With two minutes to go there was another cut to Bedrin’s margin at the top, with Al Azhari a slim 0.007s off matching his pace.
Al Azhari went even faster on his next lap, snatching pole by 0.09s. The next best driver to improve on a busy track was Fairclough down in 14th.
Powell moved ahead of Nakamura into fourth with his final lap, and Fairclough climbed to 10th with another improvement. Cui qualified 18th.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Alex Powell Mumbai Falcons 1m55.736s
2 Freddie Slater Mumbai Falcons +0.055s
3 Nikita Bedrin PHM Racing +0.067s
4 Keanu Al Azhari Yas Heat +0.180s
5 Kean Nakamura Berta Mumbai Falcons +0.257s
6 Doriane Pin Prema +0.401s
7 Rashid Al Dhaheri Prema +0.411s
8 Enzo Yeh R-ace GP +0.533s
9 Jules Caranta R-ace GP +0.538s
10 Gabriel Stilp Hitech GP +0.697s
Race 3 grid
1 Al Azhari 1m55.323s
2 Bedrin +0.090s
3 Slater +0.108s
4 Powell +0.258s
5 Nakamura +0.342s
6 Pin +0.502s
7 Al Dhaheri +0.503s
8 Caranta +0.636s
9 Alvise Rodella Xcel Motorsport +0.656s
10 Deagen Fairclough Hitech GP +0.694s