Al Dhaheri leads Jonsson after thrilling series opener - TOP SPEED SPORTS EVENTS LS LIMITED

Abu Dhabi racer and Swede share honours in two races
Anurag supreme in second race ahead of fraught battle
Three different winners show strong Rookie class

Rashid Al Dhaheri emerged as the leader of the Formula Middle East Trophy after the series took its bow at Dubai Autodrome. The Abu Dhabi racer, fresh from an impressive debut in Formula Regional at the Macau Grand Prix, returned to the Formula 4 machinery in which he has been so successful to take two battling victories on the road with the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons Racing team, only for one of them to be taken away post-race. He also fought his way through from eighth on the reversed grid to take second place at the last gasp in race two.

Al Dhaheri’s main rival in Dubai was Gustav Jonsson. The Swede got the better of the opening skirmishes in both race one and race three to spend a substantial period in the lead with his Pinnacle Motorsport car. Each time he was passed by Al Dhaheri, only for the stewards to determine that the off-track manoeuvre in the final race was illegal, dropping Al Dhaheri to second behind Jonsson in the final classification. That meant that Al Dhaheri and Jonsson each shared a win and a second, with Jonsson also taking seventh in race two.

The podium was completed in the opening race by Mumbai Falcons’ very promising Chinese newcomer Chi Zhenrui, and in the finale by AGI Sport driver James Piszcyk, who only just failed in his last-ditch effort to deprive Jonsson of second place. Piszcyk was also in the podium in race two, taking third position after a hectic late battle with second-placed Al Dhaheri, as Singaporean Kabir Anurag led all the way to take the honours with Xcel Motorsport.

Chi was one of three different winners in the Rookie class, with Mumbai Falcons-run Colombian Salim Hanna taking honours in race two, and British single-seater newcomer Chase Fernandez on top with Xcel in the final race, in which he was fourth overall.

The results mean that Al Dhaheri holds a 12-point lead over Jonsson, with Piszcyk nine points further adrift, as the series heads to its high-profile round supporting the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next weekend, before staying on at the Yas Marina Circuit for the finale in support of the Gulf 12 Hours on 13-14 December.

Race 1

Rashid Al Dhaheri and Gustav Jonsson made up the front row for the opening race, after the Abu Dhabi native pipped his Swedish rival to the fastest time in qualifying–and pole position–by 0.179 seconds.

But it was Jonsson who stole a march at the start, and emerged from the opening battles with a healthy 1.420s lead over Al Dhaheri. On the second lap, Al Dhaheri began significantly eroding this, before the safety car appeared the next time around with Fu Yuhao sidelined from the action. A quick recovery of the Chinese driver’s car preceded a superb race that led to the top five competitors running in close formation to the chequered flag.

Al Dhaheri was on the attack and, however hard Jonsson attempted to resist, he could not prevent the Mumbai Falcons Racing car sweeping past his Pinnacle Motorsport machine at Turn 1 on the eighth lap. In their wheeltracks were Chi Zhenrui, Kai Daryanani and James Piszcyk, once the Australian had demoted Kabir Anurag from fifth position on the first lap after the safety car.

It was close and tense, but there were no further changes among the leading quintet, and Al Dhaheri stretched the gap out to 1.231s at the finish to win from Jonsson and Chi, the impressive Chinese driver also claiming Rookie class honours. Indian Daryanani was fourth in his Evans GP car from Piszcyk.

Anurag fell away from the leading quintet in sixth place, and the Singaporean instead had to keep an eye on his mirrors for Yas Heat Racing Academy’s August Raber. It was close at the finish, but a five-second penalty for a false start relegated Raber to ninth.

Up to seventh in the results therefore came Colombian karting graduate Salim Hanna, and into eighth came Nicolas Stati–a fine recovery from the Australian AGI Sport driver, who had dropped to the very back of the field on the opening lap after becoming a victim of the intense battling. Chase Fernandez completed the top 10, while fellow Briton Ella Lloyd also ran in the points positions before she and Davide Larini were eliminated in a collision on the penultimate lap.

Race 2

Stati’s last-lap pass of Fernandez in the opening race was significant because, with the top eight finishers reversed on the grid for race two, that gave him pole position for the next bout of action, which kicked off the activities at Dubai Autodrome on Sunday.

But Stati didn’t enjoy the best of fortunes in the opening corners, and had dropped to fifth by the time the safety car appeared. A clash at Turn 1 between Ella Lloyd, Adam Al Azhari and Cheng Meng left Lloyd stranded, Al Azhari heading for the pits and Cheng retiring later in the race, and forced to a pit-lane start for race three when he was determined by the stewards to be responsible for the incident. Up front it was Kabir Anurag from James Piszcyk, Kai Daryanani and Salim Hanna, and it was this quartet that set off into their own race once the safety car had returned to the pits.

Anurag built his advantage to Piszcyk to over one second within three laps of racing under the green flag, but at this point the Australian F4 champion began to come back at the Singaporean. On the 11th lap of what would be 13, the leading duo’s fighting allowed Daryanani into their midst, along with Al Dhaheri.

From eighth on the grid, the winner of the opening race had got up to sixth on the opening lap, before he and Jonsson then passed Stati straight after the safety car. Al Dhaheri then carved into the gap to the leading quartet, and slipped ahead of team-mate Hanna on the 10th lap.

With the fight now truly on, Al Dhaheri battled his way past Daryanani for third on the penultimate lap, then grabbed second position from Piszcyk on the final lap. Piszcyk fought back and pipped Al Dhaheri to the finish line by a mere 0.008s, but in doing so he went off track at Turn 15 and this was penalised by the stewards, who swapped him back to third behind Al Dhaheri in the final classification. This hectic battle allowed Anurag to eke out a slender winning margin of 0.926s.

Behind fourth-placed Daryanani, Hanna was close at hand in fifth, also taking the Rookie class honours, while Stati repassed Jonsson to take sixth. August Raber emerged from a titanic fight on the edges of the top 10 before pulling away in eighth. Ninth place finally went to Italian Davide Larini, the son of ex-Formula 1 racer Nicola guiding his Pinnacle Motorsport car home ahead of Indian Aryaman Bansal (Xcel) and Chi Zhenrui in a fight that continued to the finish, and lost Nooris Gafoor when the Singapore racer made a quick pit stop to have damage repaired.

Race 3

As had happened in qualifying session for race one, it was Rashid Al Dhaheri who topped the times to take pole position for this race from Gustav Jonsson, the gap between them a little wider this time at 0.266s. And just as had happened in the opening race, once again Al Dhaheri had to fight back from losing time on the first lap to deprive Jonsson of victory.

On this occasion, Al Dhaheri fell to fourth position in the early going as Jonsson set the pace from James Piszcyk, but the local man was soon ahead of Chase Fernandez on the second lap to grab third place. By the end of lap three Al Dhaheri had caught Piszcyk, and on lap five he passed the Australian to move up into second.

This battle had allowed Jonsson to extend a margin of 1.401s at the front, but Al Dhaheri set to work chipping away, and halfway around the ninth lap of what would be 14 in this race, he made his move and got ahead of the Swede to lead the race. With one lap to go, Al Dhaheri was one second to the good, while Piszcyk had been creeping up to Jonsson. On the final lap Piszcyk made his move but, after a great battle, Jonsson just held on. Al Dhaheri had taken advantage of the fight to scamper clear and win by 2.780s.

However, Al Dhaheri had made his move into Turn 10, at the end of the long back straight, after running off track at the Turn 9-left hander that precedes it. Post-race, the stewards decided that Al Dhaheri had gained an advantage from going outside track limits, and switched the leading duo in the results, promoting Jonsson to victory.

Fernandez did an excellent job to finish fourth and win the Rookie class. He came under pressure in the middle of the race from Rookie rival Aryaman Bansal plus Nicolas Stati. But, when Bansal and Stati began fighting, that allowed Fernandez some breathing space and, in turn, Davide Larini latched onto them. Larini’s ultimately successful bid to pass Stati for sixth let fifth-placed Bansal off the hook. Another to pass Stati was Salim Hanna, but the Colombian was given a five-second penalty for incorrect positioning on the grid, and another identical penalty for his move on Stati, in which they made contact at Turn 11, dropping him to 13th.

This should have promoted August Raber to eighth behind Stati, but he also had a five-second penalty, for not taking the correct route back onto the circuit after running wide at Turn 2, and this relegated him to 10th. Up to eighth therefore came Cole Hewetson, the South African newcomer to F4 turning around a challenging debut weekend with Xcel Motorsport to finish off with a solid performance.

Both Kabir Anurag and Kai Daryanani were hugely delayed among the incidents on the opening lap, dropping to 20th and 18th respectively. Daryanani eventually fought through to 11th on the road–and ninth with the imposition of Hanna’s and Raber’s penalties–while Anurag was classified 11th.