Reno Francot gets his first F4 Middle East win in Abu Dhabi

Photo: F4 ME

Akcel GP by PHM Racing’s Reno Francot claimed his first Formula 4 Middle East win in the reversed-grid race at Yas Marina Circuit.

Francot started on the front row alongside Xcel Motorsport’s Yuhao Fu, and the pair broke clear of the rest of the pack through the first two laps. At the final chicane, Francot dived down the inside of Fu to take the lead, and never looked back.

There was chaos behind, as R-ace GP’s Alexander Savinkov lost his front wing and pitted, Prema’s Sasha Bondarev got into trouble, then R-ace’s points leader Emanuele Olivieri retired in the pits with a problem at the rear of his car on lap two.

Yas Heat Academy’s Adam Al Azhari was soon pit-bound too, and Oliveri’s main title rival Kean Nakamura Berta was sixth until he damaged his front wing, lost several positions on lap 10 then pitted.

Fu also had a downwards trajectory, but it was not a sudden drop. He had a five-second penalty for track limits abuse, which meant maintaining second was a near impossiblity. On lap six, Mumbai Falcons’ Salim Hanna Hernandez pulled off a great move at Turn 16 on him then defended through the rest of the lap to ensure Fu did not get back ahead.

Next up was R-ace’s Alex Powell, who had dived past Prema’s Newman Chi at the chicane on lap four and attacked Fu all through lap seven. He got alongside exiting the hairpin, then had the inside line for the chicane where he completed his move.

Chi was on Fu’s gearbox by lap 11, and he got defensive. That brought Yas Heat’s August Raber and Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon onto their tails, and it was a four-car train until Chi had a big lock-up at Turn 16 on lap 14 and went off. He rejoined without losing a place, and had to work hard to keep Raber behind a few corners later, and that allowed Fu to break clear.

Wheldon got on the inside of the two ahead as they began lap 15, but backed out entering turn one. Raber stayed committed and overtook Chi, but now Fu was out of reach. Once the penalty was applied he dropped to eighth, with Mumbai Falcons’ Arjun Chheda also profiting. He had been busy holding off Evans GP’s Martin Molnar.

Tomass Stolcermanis was was fourth on lap two, but dropped way down the order and had to go on a recovery drive. The Mumbai Falcons driver made it back up to 10th, as he passed R-ace’s Emily Cotty at the final chicane on the last lap.

Race results (16 laps)