Photo: F4 ME
R-ace GP’s Emanuele Oliveri swept to two pole positions in qualifying for the second Formula 4 Middle East round at Yas Marina Circuit.
The track action kicked off with free practice in the morning, and Mumbai Falcons’ Kean Nakamura Berta set a 1m47.169s to pip Yas Heat Academy’s Adam Al Azhari to top spot by 0.019 seconds.
His team-mate August Raber was 0.179s behind in third, and Nakamura’s team-mate Tomass Stolcermanis trailed by 0.245s in fourth. Reno Francot, driving for the PHM Racing-run Akcel GP team, was fifth fastest ahead of Newman Chi (Prema), Salim Hanna Hernandez (Mumbai Falcons), Sasha Bondarev (Prema) and Olivieri. The top 14 were covered by 0.909s.
The first of two 15-minute qualifying sessions then took place at midday, and Olivieri came to the fore.
He set a 1m47.207s on his penultimate lap that nobody could beat, although Nakamura got within 0.134s of him as he met the chequered flag. Stolcermanis was a further 0.15s slower in third, then Hanna didn’t improve after his fourth lap but still managed to qualify fourth. Just 0.021s split himself, Francot and Al Azhari.
R-ace’s Alex Powell and Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon were both 0.71s off the pace in seventh and eighth, with Raber and Bondarev completing the top 10 of race one’s grid. In total there were 30 laps by 16 deleted due to track limits abuse, while Evans GP’s Farah Al Yousef failed to set a laptime fast enough to qualify and she also failed to do so in practice.
Olivieri lowered the pace in Q2 to clinch his third pole from four attempts this year, setting a 1m46.580s to top the times by almost half a second.
Mumbai Falcons’ drivers were his closest rivals again, with Nakamura, Stolcermanis and Hanna next up. Powell was fifth, and the only other drivers within a second of the pace were Francot and Wheldon. This time Al Yousef did qualifying, but was 10.563s slower than Olivieri. Track limits remained an issue, with 18 guilty drivers and 27 deletions.
Absent from Akcel GP’s line-up was Hamda Al Qubaisi, with Indian F4 champion Aqil Alibhai replacing her.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Emanuele Olivieri R-ace GP 1m47.207s
2 Kean Nakamura Berta Mumbai Falcons +0.134s
3 Tomass Stolcermanis Mumbai Falcons +0.284s
4 Salim Hanna Hernandez Mumbai Falcons +0.476s
5 Reno Francot Akcel GP +04.81s
6 Adam Al Azhari Yas Heat Academy +0.497s
7 Alex Powell R-ace GP +0.711s
8 Sebastian Wheldon Prema +0.716s
9 August Raber Yas Heat Academy +0.826s
10 Sasha Bondarev Prema +0.837s
Race 3 grid
1 Olivieri 1m46.580s
2 Nakamura +0.493s
3 Stolcermanis +0.557s
4 Hanna +0.631s
5 Powell +0.791s
6 Francot +0.916s
7 Wheldon +0.942s
8 Newman Chi Prema +1.013s
9 Alexander Savinkov R-ace GP +1.112s
10 Al Azhari +1.120s