Home Formula 4F4 Middle East Yas Heat Academy’s August Raber wins on home soil in F4 Middle East

Yas Heat Academy’s August Raber wins on home soil in F4 Middle East

by Ida Wood

Photo: F4 ME

Yas Heat Academy’s August Raber won on home soil in the reversed-grid Formula 4 Middle East race on Yas Marina Circuit’s Corkscrew layout.

Raber started on reversed-grid pole, and moved across to the inside off the line to defend from R-ace GP’s Alexander Savinkov. That move helped Prema’s Sasha Bondarev get into a second, and soon Savinkov was behind Akcel GP by PHM Racing’s Reno Francot and Mumbai Falcons’ Kean Nakamura Berta.

A 1.1-second gap was built by Raber, and he had extended that to 1.95 seconds on lap six when the safety car was summoned due to Evans GP’s Seth Gilmore crashing out.

Racing resumed on lap nine and Raber again kept himself away from the battle for second, opening up a lead of 0.8s within a lap. However he would face more opposition thereon.

Francot had dived past Bondarev into the final chicane on lap five, and on the restart Bondarev got on the inside of him down the pit straight. R-ace GP’s Alex Powell then made it three-wide, having passed points-leading team-mate Emanuele Oliveri on lap two then Nakamura on lap five, and at turn one it was Bondarev who conceded.

Powell and Francot remained alongside through to turn two, where Powell ran off the track but was able to rejoin in third. Another three-car battle formed behind, with Oliveri, Nakamura and Bondarev heading into the final chicane together as they were gapped by the cars ahead.

Francot went chasing Raber, and while he was not far behind the only attempt he had at passing the leader was into the final chicane on the last lap and he finished 0.651s behind.

Powell finished 2.5s back in third, with Oliveri on his tail for the final four laps. Tomass Stolcermanis passed Bondarev then tried to stick with his team-mate Nakamura. He succeeded in doing so, and drew alongside him at the finish. R-ace’s Alexander Savinkov followed them home in eighth.

Race results (16 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 August Raber Yas Heat Academy 30m36.877s
2 Reno Francot Akcel GP +0.651s
3 Alex Powell R-ace GP +2.561s
4 Emanuele Olivieri R-ace GP +3.065s
5 Kean Nakamura Berta Mumbai Falcons +3.621s
6 Tomass Stolcermanis Mumbai Falcons +3.787s
7 Sasha Bondarev Prema +7.269s
8 Alexander Savinkov R-ace GP +8.047s
9 Martin Molnar Evans GP +9.520s
10 Newman Chi Prema +10.653s
11 Adam Al Azhari Yas Heat Academy +12.882s
12 Sebastian Wheldon Prema +13.332s
13 Cole Hewetson Xcel Motorsport +16.267s
14 Aqil Alibhai Akcel GP +16.794s
15 Kyuho Lee Pinnacle Motorsport +19.703s
16 Yuhao Fu Xcel Motorsport +20.783s
17 Salim Hanna Hernandez Mumbai Falcons +20.940s
18 Abdullah Kamel Xcel Motorsport +21.695s
19 Tiago Rodrigues Evans GP +22.417s
20 David Cosma Cristofor Akcel GP +22.620s
21 Arjun Chheda Mumbai Falcons +24.960s
22 Yuzhe Wang Pinnacle Motorsport +25.749s
23 Yuta Suzuki Pinnacle Motorsport +29.300s
24 Bader Al Sulaiti QMMF +33.685s
25 Emily Cotty R-ace GP +33.957s
26 Taha Hassiba QMMF +34.159s
27 Tameem Hassiba QMMF +34.383s
28 Farah Al Yousef Evans GP +1 lap
Ret Seth Gilmore Evans GP
Fastest lap: Olivieri, 1m46.687s

Championship standings
1 Oliveri 129   2 Nakamura 96   3 Stolcermanis 86   4 Francot 67   5 Powell 51   6 Al Azhari 40   7 Wheldon 39   8 Raber 33   9 Savinkov 27   10 Chi 25