Formula 4 UAE
The Australian team AGI Sport again fielded three homegrown talents in Jack Beeton, Peter Bouzinelos and Nicolas Stati along with German Carrie Schreiner while Kamal Mrad was with PHM AIX Racing.
Beeton was quickest of the Aussies in qualifying for Race 1 but only 22nd, admitting that traffic and mistakes hampered improvement. Theoretically he was fast in each sector but just couldn’t get them all together on one lap. He improved several places to finish 17th in the opener.
In the second outing he was black flagged and forced to the pits to replace the damaged front wing before he rejoined and finished 17th. In the third race he went up five places before his race finished because of contact from Sebastian Murray that also caught out Dion Gowda at Turn 6.
Bouzinelos started with a 20th in Race 1 before he was taken out in an incident in Race 2 at Turns 6/7 which brought out the Safety Car, and before a 20th in the last. Stati was never in the hunt in the first due to a pitstop to replace the front wing. He followed up with a top 20 in the second and a 24th in Race 3. There were two 21st places for Schreiner which included a spin in Race 2, and she finished with 25th in the last.
Mrad was just 0.03s off Beeton in Q1 and 0.3s fastest than him in Q2 where he was 15th. In Race 1 he finished just behind Beeton. Mrad climbed up the Race 2 order to be 10th with less than 3mins to go. However, he plummeted down the order and came into the pits with the leaders on the penultimate lap. In the last Mrad was 10th before he went into the tyre barrier due to contact with Alvise Rodella and after the Safety Car for the Beeton incident.
Brit Freddie Slater won the first race, Keanu Al Azhari the second and the third before the teams have next weekend off and head to the Dubai Autodrome.
Formula Regional Middle East Championship
Of the three Aussies racing, Mumbai Falcons driver James Wharton was the frontrunner. He finished sixth in the first race before he was elevated to fifth with a penalty issued to Theophile Nael. Costa Toparis of Evans GP finished 14th while Noah Lisle (Xcel Motorsport) also picked up place with a rival penalised and placed 30th.
Wharton picked up two places in the second race, held under lights, and was battling for third with his teammate American Ugo Ugochukwu when they tangled. Neither were able to finish as a result. Toparis and Lisle ran together and crossed the line 10th and 11th before the latter was penalised for contact with Nikhil Bohra. The penalty gave Lisle his first points in the series.
There were two safety cars and a one-lap dash to the flag in Race 3. Wharton was third early, then fourth before he finished in fifth. Toparis was a DNF after a collision with Pedro Clerot while the drive of the race went to Lisle who qualified 24th and finished 11th.
The round belonged to Finland’s Tuukka Taponen who won two races and finished fourth in the reverse top ten second race.
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