
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 |