Photo: FRMEC
Tuukka Taponen ended his title-winning Formula Regional Middle East season at Dubai Autodrome with a fifth win in the series.
The R-ace GP driver started on pole but lost the lead down the pit straight to PHM Racing’s Brando Badoer, who had the inside line. However when Sainteloc Racing’s Theophile Nael tried squeezing to the inside of Badoer, the leader’s attention switched to defending against him and that enabled Taponen to reclaim first place by the time he entered turn one.
After a safety car period than ran through laps three and four, caused by MP Motorsport’s Nikhil Bohra crashing at turn one on lap two by driving over his own front wing, Taponen pulled away to win the 15-lap encounter by three seconds.
Badoer and Nael provisionally finished second and third, pending an investigation, and Taponen’s team-mate Zachary David rose from sixth to fourth on lap one then held the position.
Mumbai Falcons’ Ugo Ugochukwu led MP’s Bruno del Pino, PHM’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and his own team-mate James Wharton in the battle for fifth on lap two, but after the lap five restart there was a lot of change. Rafael Camara passed Evans GP’s Costa Toparis then cleared Wharton and Inthraphuvasak on lap six, with the latter then ending his race in the pits.
Wharton was 14th by the end of the lap, with Pinnacle Motorsport’s Mari Boya now in fifth ahead of Ugochukwu, del Pino and Camara. Completing the top 10 was Evans GP’s John Bennett and PHM’s championship runner-up Taylor Barnard who had made such a slow launch that he dropped from fifth to 19th at the start but was up to 14th on the restart lap and was in the points by lap seven.
Boya managed to distance himself from Ugochukwu, who had del Pino and Camara chasing but never close enough to attack. Barnard passed Bennett on lap eighth, and challenged Camara towards the end of the race but could progress no further.
In addition to Bohra, there were three other drivers who retired in the first two laps. Pinnacle Motorsport’s Finley Green picked up front-left wheel damage, Xcel Motorsport’s Yaroslav Veselaho spun at turn one and Isaac Barashi had a collision that ended his race on the spot.
Wharton recovered to 11th by passing Toparis late on, but dropped from fourth to sixth in the championship standings behind David and Boya.
Race result (15 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuukka Taponen | R-ace GP | 31m45.966s |
| 2 | Brando Badoer | PHM Racing | +3.004s |
| 3 | Theophile Nael | Sainteloc Racing | +3.683s |
| 4 | Zachary David | R-ace GP | +6.796s |
| 5 | Mari Boya | Pinnacle Motorsport | +8.701s |
| 6 | Ugo Ugochuckwu | Mumbai Falcons | +13.107s |
| 7 | Bruno del Pino | MP Motorsport | +14.480s |
| 8 | Rafael Camara | Mumbai Falcons | +15.199s |
| 9 | Taylor Barnard | PHM Racing | +15.825s |
| 10 | John Bennett | Evans GP | +17.751s |
| 11 | James Wharton | Mumbai Falcons | +19.263s |
| 12 | Costa Toparis | Evans GP | +20.260s |
| 13 | Kanato Le | R-ace GP | +22.048s |
| 14 | Noah Lisle | Xcel Motorsport | +22.649s |
| 15 | Jesse Carrasquedo | R-ace GP | +25.872s |
| 16 | Alexander Abkhazava | Pinnacle Motorsport | +28.063s |
| 17 | Enzo Peugeot | Sainteloc Racing | +28.446s |
| 18 | Jose Garfias | Sainteloc Racing | +29.937s |
| 19 | Emmo Fittipaldi | MP Motorsport | +31.279s |
| 20 | Giovanni Machio | Pinnacle Motorsport | +36.575s |
| 21 | Edgar Pierre | Evans GP | +37.716s |
| 22 | Zhongwei Wang | R&B Racing | +41.127s |
| 23 | Yujia Gao | R&B Racing | +43.023s |
| 24 | Ruiqi Liu | PHM Racing | +43.410s |
| Ret | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | PHM Racing | |
| Ret | Nikhil Bohra | MP Motorsport | |
| Ret | Finley Green | Pinnacle Motorsport | |
| Ret | Yaroslav Veselaho | Xcel Motorsport | |
| Ret | Isaac Barashi | MP Motorsport | |
| Fastest lap: Taponen, 1m56.982s
Championship standings |
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