Taponen takes maiden FRME win after thrilling Yas Marina battle

Photo: FRME

R-ace GP’s Tuukka Taponen took a deserved victory in the first Formula Regional Middle East race of the weekend after a thrilling battle with team-mate Martinius Stenshorne and Theophile Nael.

A mid-race safety car restart erased Taponen’s early advantage, leading to a fraught lap with the leaders swapping places and running wide as they fought for the lead.

However,  once Taponen had re-established himself in front, he was able to cruise to an unchallenged victory, extending his advantage over Stenshorne to over four seconds at the flag, his first win after stepping up to Formula Regional.

Ferrari junior Taponen had made a perfect start from pole position moving to the inside to block Taylor Barnard. However, the Englishman had been slow to get away, immediately being swallowed up by Pinnacle Motorsport’s Mari Boya and Stenshorne.

As the field filed through the Turn 5 hairpin, Nael appeared to clip Barnard’s left rear wheel, pitching the PHM Racing car into a spin and dropping it to the tail of the field.

Stenshorne ran Boya wide on the exit of Turn 9 as he looked to get on terms with his team-mate, Boya bouncing over the kerb as he rejoined in third.

Out front, Taponen was building a comfortable advantage, extending his lead over Stenshorne to over three seconds at the end of lap three.

Taponen’s lead was extinguished when the safety car was deployed following a spin from Pinnacle Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava on the exit of Turn 16, the right-hander leading onto the Formula 1 start-finish straight.

With Abkhazava facing backwards into the pit wall, the cars filed through the F1 pits until racing resumed at the end of lap seven.

Taponen came under immediate pressure from Stenshorne into Turns 11 and 12 under the hotel, as the Norwegian looked to repeat his move from a week earlier on Barnard.

This time Stenshorne kept his car on the track but had to tuck in behind Taponen but as the Finn defended through T16, the final corner on the F1 layout, he forced his team-mate wide, both running off the track and rejoining the track with Stenshorne ahead.

Taponen moved to the inside as Stenshorne again took to the run-off at Turn 1, emerging in front with Taponen coming under pressure from Nael, while behind Matteo de Palo moved past Boya for fourth.

However, Taponen refused to yield, getting a run at Stenshorne into the Turn 6 chicane, which allowed Nael to get a run on both R-ace GP cars.

The three ran side-by-side down the start-finish straight, with Taponen defending the inside line as Stenshorne tried to go around both through the Turn 9 long left-hander. The Norwegian disposed of Nael but had to drop in behind his team-mate once more.

Boya briefly dropped back behind both Rafael Camara as well as de Palo, before regaining the fourth position he would hold until the flag.

James Wharton was challenging de Palo for fifth, trying an unsuccessful move around the outside at Turn 9 with Camara tucked in behind looking to take advantage of any error.

A lap later, the Australian left his braking for the Turn 6 chicane very late, locking up as he lunged to the inside of de Palo. With Wharton unable to get his car stopped and de Palo unable to turn in neither made the corner, allowing Camara to nip by for fifth, with Zachary David also taking a place from the unfortunate de Palo.

The results remain provisional with the incidents between Taponen and Stenshorne at either end of the F1 main straight coming under scrutiny from the stewards, as is the first lap clash between Nael and Barnard.

Race result (14 laps)