Taponen takes FRME lead with dominant second victory at Yas Marina

Photo: FRME

R-ace GP’s Tuukka Taponen dominated the third Formula Regional Middle East race in Abu Dhabi, which he won after a one-lap sprint following a late safety car period.

The Ferrari junior took an immediate lead from pole, as race two winner Theophile Nael slotted into second ahead of front row starter Taylor Barnard.

A series of fastest laps in the first three tours allowed Taponen to quickly establish a 2.7-second advantage at the front. He managed both safety car restarts to perfection to take his second win of the weekend and to move into the points lead.

Nael enjoyed an incident-free run to second while behind a race-long battle went on between Barnard and Taponen’s team-mate Martinius Stenshorne. Barnard came out on top by just 0.165s.

Stenshorne got the jump on Mumbai Falcons’ James Wharton at the start, as the Australian had to fend off team-mate Ugo Ugochukwu.

Stenshorne had a run at Barnard into the chicane at the end of lap three, allowing Wharton to dive to the inside of Barnard into turn nine, as MP Motorsport’s Valerio Rinicella unsuccessfully challenged the compromised Stenshorne.

Next time around Barnard attempted to get back past Wharton into the turns six/seven chicane, before cutting back to take the inside line through turn nine. Both ran off as they fought for position, with Barnard emerging ahead.

Before Stenshorne could exploit Wharton’s slow exit from turn five the safety car was called out following an incident between Costa Toparis and Pedro Clerot at turn 12, the scene of much activity during the race.

Stenshorne finally managed to demote Wharton before the safety car was back out on track after a coming-together between Pinnacle Motorsport’s Mari Boya and Mumbai Falcons’ Arvid Lindblad at the turn 12 right-hander before the hotel.

Both drivers retired instantly and were summoned to the stewards after the race.

With the clock running down, the marshals managed to clear the track in order to set up a one-lap dash to the flag. Taponen weaved vigorously down the back straight to get heat into his tyres before executing another late but effective restart.

In the midfield melee Mumbai Falcons’ Rafael Camara’s bad luck continued as he lost his front wing, dropping him out of the points positions.

Barnard managed to hold off a charging Stenshorne, with Wharton, Rinicella and Ugochukwu completing the top six.

Race results (13 laps)