Photo: Top Speed
Sasha Bondarev went unbeaten in the Formula 1-supporting second Formula Trophy round at Yas Marina Circuit.
Track action began on Friday, and a second covered the top nine in practice. Prema’s Bondarev was quickest by 0.195 seconds over Pinnacle Motorsport’s Niccolo Maccagnani, with Hitech GP’s Scott Lindblom 0.48s behind in third and 0.007s ahead of X GP’s Jarrett Clark.
Bondarev maintained his advantage into qualifying, setting the pace by 0.153s. Maccagnani was his closest rival, with Yas Heat Academy’s Adam Al Azhari 0.366s off and third fastest. A second covered the top 10, which was completed by Hitech’s points leader Theo Palmer.
Drivers’ second-best laptimes set race two’s grid, and it led to an identical top four. Bondarev clinched pole by 0.159s, with a 0.243s gap to Maccagnani and 0.497s to Rowan Campbell-Pilling in fourth. Palmer was 11th this time, with closest title rival Alp Aksoy Hasan qualifying eighth and 10th for the two races.
Drivers waited until Saturday afternoon for race one, and Bondarev led the field into the opening corner. Maccagnani got in his slipstream down the back straight and he had to get defensive against him.
Later on the safety car was summoned, as Al Azhari had been spun around at turn two by Aksoy and stopped on track. Racing resumed on lap five, and the slipstream effect again helped Maccagnani attack the leader. Behind them, Cosma Cristofor overtook Aksoy for third at turn nine. That fight continued, enabling the top two to break away.
Bondarev maintained a gap of around a second after that to win, while Aksoy reclaimed third by diving into turn seven on lap 11 of 13.
Fifth place was decided on the last lap, with Clark holding off AGI Sport’s Noah Killion who had two moments that dropped him down the order. After a stall and a collision, Lindblom finished a penalised 16th. Palmer was the only retiree, and lost the points lead to Aksoy.
Race two was the next morning, and Bondarev faced the same challenge with Maccagnani in his slipstream. He attempted to go around Bondarev’s outside into turn seven, forcing the leader into locking up but not changing the top two’s order. Yuta Suzuki spun there after contact with Nicholas Stati, triggering a safety car period.
The restart was on lap four, and another turn seven collision involving Sicong Chen and Ben Nguyen led to the safety car being summoned again. Five laps remained following the next restart, and Bondarev kept Maccagnani at bay. Al Azhari finished third, and Lindblom cleared Campbell-Pilling for fourth late on.
Palmer got a point in 10th after Clark was penalised, but he dropped to fourth in the standings while Maccagnani took over top spot.
Results round-up
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Sasha Bondarev Mumbai Falcons 27m17.654s
2 Niccolo Maccagnani Pinnacle Motorsport +0.963s
3 Alp Aksoy Hasan Mumbai Falcons +7.738s
4 David Cosma Cristofor Xcel Motorsport +13.701s
5 Jarrett Clark X GP +17.490s
6 Yuta Suzuki Akcel GP +19.597s
7 Nicholas Stati AGI Sport +20.482s
8 Hunter Salvatore Evans GP +23.399s
9 Noah Killion AGI Sport +24.470s
10 Jaber Al Sabah Xcel Motorsport +25.558s
Pole: Bondarev, 1m56.221s
Fastest lap: Bondarev, 1m57.325s
Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Bondarev 28m27.513s
2 Maccagnani +0.778s
3 Adam Al Azhari Yas Heat Racing +1.623s
4 Scott Lindblom Hitech GP +6.155s
5 Rowan Campbell-Pilling Xcel Motorsport +6.585s
6 Salvatore +6.931s
7 Cosma Cristofor +7.306s
8 Aksoy +8.055s
9 Killion +9.138s
10 Theo Palmer Hitech GP +10.131s
P: Bondarev, 1m56.419s
FL: Bondarev, 1m57.158s
Championship standings
1 Maccagnani 66 2 Aksoy 62 3 Cosma Cristofor 53 4 Palmer 52 5 Bondarev 50 6 Campbell-Pilling 44 7 Al Azhari 40 8 Salvatore 36 9 Payton Westcott 29 10 Lindblom 16