Photo: F4 UAE Media
Kirill Smal won twice in round three of the Formula 4 United Arab Emirates season at Dubai Autodrome.
Xcel Motorsport’s points leader Dilano Van’t Hoff set the qualifying pace, and converted that into race one victory over title rival Enzo Trulli.
On lap one a clash between Xcel’s Nikita Bedrin and Abu Dhabi Racing’s Hamda Al Qubaisi led to the latter retiring, but injured Bedrin and meant he skipped the remaining races.
He still finish race one in fifth though, beind Xcel team-mates Smal and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak.
Pepe Marti undid Van’t Hoff’s race two pole advantage, with a frantic opening two laps shuffling the Dutchman down further as Cram Motorsport’s Trulli set himself up in second place.
Trulli was the faster driver, and claimed the lead on lap four of 10. Van’t Hoff and Al Qubaisi were about to make it a four-car battle before the safety car appeared due to Xcel’s Jamie Day spinning.
Van’t Hoff moved up to second on the restart lap, but Marti reclaimed the place as Van’t Hoff went wide a lap later. Smal also crept through for third, but was then passed by Al Qubaisi on the next lap. He got back past with a few corners to go of the race.
Trulli led the start of race three after passing poleman Van’t Hoff into the first corner. It was the same lead quartet as before, and Smal made the most of battling ahead to go from third to first in two corners in the race’s second half.
Al Qubaisi demoted Van’t Hoff to fourth, but he fought back to finish third behind Smal and Trulli.
Race four’s reversed grid had an all-Mucke Motorsport front row, and Francesco Braschi initially held off pressure from Van’t Hoff.
Smal closed in and passed both, and as their battle continued he pulled away to win. Braschi prevailed against Van’t Hoff for second place, while Al Qubaisi only did a few laps with a misfiring engine.
Results round-up
Race 1 (11 laps)
1 Dilano Van’t Hoff Xcel Motorsport
2 Enzo Trulli Cram Motorsport +1.221s
3 Kirill Smal Xcel Motorsport +4.157s
4 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak Xcel Motorsport +7.502s
5 Nikita Bedrin Xcel Motorsport +7.691s
6 Pepe Marti Xcel Motorsport +7.776s
7 Jamie Day Xcel Motorsport +9.708s
8 Alex Partyshev Xcel Motorsport +12.033s
9 Enzo Scionti Cram Motorsport +12.580s
10 Jonas Ried Mucke Motorsport +12.678s
Pole: Van’t Hoff, 1m38.240s
Fastest lap: Van’t Hoff, 1m39.615s
Race 2
1 Trulli 10 laps
2 Marti +3.660s
3 Smal +5.760s
4 Hamda Al Qubaisi Abu Dhabi Racing +6.349s
5 Van’t Hoff +6.634s
6 Braschi +7.636s
7 Inthraphuvasak +7.708s
8 Partyshev +7.888s
9 Scionti +9.226s
10 Ried +9.429s
P: Van’t Hoff, 1m38.403s
FL: Trulli, 1m39.503s
Race 3
1 Smal 12 laps
2 Trulli +0.449s
3 Van’t Hoff +2.201s
4 Al Qubaisi +2.377s
5 Marti +2.805s
6 Partyshev +9.209s
7 Braschi +9.746s
8 Ried +11.147s
9 Inthraphuvasak +11.360s
10 Noam Abramczyk Xcel Motorsport +12.923s
P: Van’t Hoff, 1m38.143s
FL: Al Qubaisi, 1m39.626s
Race 4
1 Smal 12 laps
2 Braschi +3.057s
3 Van’t Hoff +4.966s
4 Trulli +7.084s
5 Day +7.563s
6 Inthraphuvasak +17.230s
7 Partyshev +17.706s
8 Marti +17.817s
9 Ried +18.043s
10 Abramcyzk +18.220s
FL: Braschi, 1m40.031s
Championship standings
1 Van’t Hoff 229 2 Trulli 204 3 Smal 178 4 Al Qubaisi 133 5 Inthraphuvasak 96 6 Braschi 77 7 Bedrin 71 8 Marti 71 9 Day 62 10 Partyshev 37