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Barnard wins, Antonelli charges to second in F4 UAE

by Craig Woollard

Photo: F4 UAE

Taylor Barnard took his and PHM Racing’s first single-seater win in the fourth race of the opening Formula 4 United Arab Emirates round at Yas Marina Circuit.

The 25-minute partially reversed grid race featured a mixed-up grid with the top 12 from race three reversed before penalties were applied.

Xcel Motorsport’s Ivan Domingues started on pole, but MP Motorsport’s Suleiman Zanfari led the first few corners.

Barnard, starting fifth, worked his way through to lead by the end of lap one. Zanfari was able to initially reclaim first place, bringing Xcel’s Jamie Day into the mix for a while, but once Barnard got back ahead he was unmatched and opened a lead of six seconds before winning by 4.587s.

Day got into second as the race approached its midway point, but Prema’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli from 12th on the grid was charging up the order to go for a podium. His progress looked to be stunted when Sohil Shah crashed under the W Hotel, but he was able to continue.

Having already pulled off a double overtake earlier on, Antonelli passed Day and race three winner Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak with a switchback as the cars came onto the support race pit straight.

There were points where the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior was half a second quicker than anyone else en route to second.

Day just held off Inthraphuvasak for third, and MP’s Miron Pingasov limited the damage from a middling start to take fifth ahead of Prema’s Charlie Wurz.

Ferrari junior James Wharton put on an impressive charge from 24th, rising 10 places on lap one and continued to progress up the order to finish ninth.

Poleman Domingues finished 11th, while Zanfari took 12th after contact with Global Racing Service’s Vladislav Ryabov.

Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Aiden Neate was in the points before retiring with an unknown issue, while AKM Motorsport’s Brando Badoer had his race ruined by opening lap contact. Martinius Stenshorne was penalised 5s for crossing the pit exit lane.

Race results (13 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Taylor Barnard PHM Racing
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Prema +4.587s
3 Jamie Day Xcel Motorsport +7.149s
4 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak MP Motorsport +7.813s
5 Miron Pingasov MP Motorsport +9.601s
6 Charlie Wurz Prema +10.341s
7 Rik Koen MP Motorsport +16.501s
8 Oliver Gray Hitech GP +17.474s
9 James Wharton Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema +17.861s
10 Alex Dunne Hitech GP +17.925s
11 Ivan Domingues Xcel Motorsport +24.714s
12 Suleiman Zanfari MP Motorsport +27.927s
13 Michael Shin JHR Developments +33.257s
14 Nikhil Bohra 3Y by R-ace GP +33.424s
15 Ricardo Escotto Cram-Hitech GP +33.828s
16 Martinius Stenshorne 3Y by R-ace GP +34.555s
17 Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi Xcel Motorsport +35.863s
18 Anshul Gandhi Cram-Hitech GP +36.296s
19 Jonas Ried PHM Racing +37.350s
20 Ismail Akhmedkhodjaev Xcel Motorsport +45.004s
21 Victoria Blokhina 3Y by R-ace GP +49.733s
22 Jules Castro Pinnacle Motorsport +1m05.919s
23 Brando Badoer AKM Motorsport +1m19.562s
Ret Sohil Shah Mumbai Falcons by Xcel
Ret Vladislav Ryabov GRS
Ret Aiden Neate Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema
DBS Nikita Bedrin PHM Racing
Fastest lap: Antonelli, 1m55.629s

Championship standings
1 Antonelli 83   2 Inthraphuvasak 49   3 Neate 48   4 Barnard 37   5 Wurz 36   6 Wharton 27   7 Day 21   8 Koen 20   9 Gray 19   10 Bedrin 16