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Slater storms to first Formula Regional win in Middle East opener

by Peter Allen

Photo: Top Speed

Freddie Slater cruised to a commanding first Formula Regional win in the opening race of the Middle East championship at Yas Marina.

Driving for the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons squad, Slater started from pole position and was able to make a gap at the front when team-mate Rashid Al Dhaheri got past Evan Giltaire for second place exiting the long first corner.

Slater increased his lead above two seconds within the first five laps and, although he eased his pace in the closing stages, he finished up 7.434s clear.

Abu Dhabi native Al Dhaheri, who like Slater had one previous weekend of FRegional racing under his belt from Macau, finished 2.6 seconds clear of ART Grand Prix’s sophomore Giltaire.

McLaren junior Brando Badoer finished fourth for PHM Racing, just 0.072s ahead of Ernesto Rivera, who was the lead FRegional debutant in an impressive first race in the colours of the Red Bull Junior Team. He took fifth after passing another McLaren junior, the Macau Grand Prix winner Ugo Ugochukwu in the middle of the race.

Ugochukwu fell into the clutches of another strong debutant, the Honda-backed French Formula 4 champion Taito Kato, in the closing stages. Kato got ahead on the penultimate lap but Ugochukwu would finish ahead by just 0.098s at the chequered flag.

Enzo Deligny, no longer in the colours of Red Bull, raced well to eighth ahead of Theophile Nael and Kenato Le.

Reza Seewooruthun was running seventh behind Ugochukwu in his first FRegional race until he pitted to retire with 10 minutes remaining.

Race results
Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Freddie Slater Mumbai Falcons 17 laps
2 Rashid Al Dhaheri Mumbai Falcons +7.434s
3 Evan Giltaire ART Grand Prix +10.065s
4 Brando Badoer PHM Racing +11.633s
5 Ernesto Rivera Pinnacle Motorsport +11.705s
6 Ugo Ugochukwu R-ace GP +19.569s
7 Taito Kato ART Grand Prix +19.667s
8 Enzo Deligny R-ace GP +22.702s
9 Theophile Nael Sainteloc Racing +23.389s
10 Kanato Le ART Grand Prix +24.367s
11 Jesse Carrasquedo Pinnacle Motorsport +24.821s
12 Jin Nakamura R-ace GP +35.661s
13 Aaron Cameron Evans GP +37.537s
14 Liu Ruiqi Origine Motorsport +42.447s
15 Akshay Bohra R-ace GP +45.645s
16 Aditya Kulkarni Akcel GP +45.740s
17 Lorenzo Castillo Sainteloc Racing +46.348s
18 Jack Beeton Mumbai Falcons +46.994s
19 Everett Stack PHM Racing +47.259s
20 Giovanni Maschio Pinnacle Motorsport +47.626s
21 Yaroslav Veselaho Sainteloc Racing +49.169s
22 Wang Zhongwei Origine Motorsport +53.719s
23 Jaden Pariat Akcel GP +1m22.979s
24 Finley Green Pinnacle Motorsport +1m25.842s
Ret Kai Daryanani Evans GP
Ret Reza Seewooruthun Mumbai Falcons
Fastest lap: Slater, 1m50.078s