AGI Sport’s Jack Beeton scored his second podium in the F4 championship. In the first race he went from 11th on the grid to finish sixth. Then in Race 2 he started seventh and finished third. In the last he began out of 12th, dropped to 18th mid-race before he improved to 12th again.
AGI, the Australian race team, fielded just the two cars with Nicolas Stati in the second. Peter Bouzinelos had moved on to do the Spanish Winter Series, a planned move, while German Carrie Schreiner had F1 Academy commitments. For the 15-year-old Perth native, Stati had his best results in F4 to date with a 19th and two 18ths.
Kamal Mrad’s best finish came in Race 1 where the PHM AIX Racing driver finished 14th before he dropped to 19th in the second. He finished 15th in the last outing after he dropped to 27th when involved in the three-car incident that brought out the Safety Car.
In the third round of the Formula Regional Middle East Championship Mumbai Falcons’ James Wharton the fastest of the Australians, and the unluckiest.
While he was a disappointed 11th qualifying, he was in the top 10 when pulled to a halt on the outside of Turn 1 on the penultimate lap. He was classified 28th and started in that position for Race 2. In a charge up the order, he ultimately finished 12th. From grid 10 for the last, he progressed to fifth before the race finished behind the Safety Car.
Excel Motorsport’s Noah Lisle finished the first race 14th before a 5s penalty relegated him a spot. In both the ensuing races, he improved from where he started to be 11th in both. The third Aussie in the field, Con Toparis qualified his Evans GP entry 15th and 19th for Races 1 and 3 respectively. He placed 12th, 14th and 16th but a 5s penalty in the last was costly and dropped him five spots.
AGI wasn’t the only Australian team at the circuit. The new GG Classic Cars squad had its first outing in the LMP3 Ligier JS P320. Team owner George Nakas with Fraser Ross finished fifth in the class after an early setback of avoiding an accident. The class was won by two-time Australian Drivers’ Champion, Brit James Winslow, and Russian Alex Bukhantsov.
Jordan Love together with Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Luca Stolz finished fifth in GT aboard their Triple Eight Race Engineering/JOHOR Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
The three categories will be at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi for the penultimate rounds of the F4 and Formula Regional, and an Asian Le Mans double-header on February 9-11.
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