Kai Daryanani claims inaugural Formula Trophy UAE crown

• Chi Zhenrui pips Salim Hanna in close-fought Rookie title contest

• Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited wins Teams classification

• Wheldon takes remarkable debut win before Anurag triumphs

UAE, December 15, 2024: Honours were very much shared as the Formula Trophy UAE reached its climax at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Sebastian Wheldon, son of the late IndyCar champion Dan Wheldon, provided a sensation on his debut not only in an FIA-certified Formula 4 series but also outside his United States homeland by dominating the opening race. Alpine Formula 1 team protégé Kabir Anurag was then equally supreme in the second and final race. And it was Kai Daryanani who walked away with the championship title after scoring good points in each of the seven races.

The 15-year-old Wheldon has created great excitement in his rookie season in the USF Juniors series – for F4-type cars – and showed exactly why by hunting down and passing early leader Chi Zhenrui, his team-mate in the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited stable. Wheldon then drove away to victory ahead of the Chinese talent, while Evans GP driver Daryanani won out in a hectic battle for third with Anurag.

With pre-weekend points leader Rashid Al Dhaheri absent from the series finale, Daryanani now required a top-three finish in the final race under the Abu Dhabi floodlights in order to overhaul the Emirati’s points tally and claim the title. The Indian started this race from fourth on the grid, so needed to improve – and he did. By the exit of the first corner, Daryanani was second and all he had to do was chase home the Xcel Motorsport car of Singaporean 16-year-old Anurag to the finish. While these two were in a class of their own, the podium was completed by Yas Heat Racing Academy talent August Raber, who rose to third place with a charging opening lap.

Daryanani therefore becomes Formula Trophy UAE champion by six points over Al Dhaheri, with Anurag claiming third place, 22 points adrift. Meanwhile, a grippingly close battle for the Rookie crown ended with Chi – who claimed class honours in the first race – doing just enough to wrest the title by finishing second behind Mumbai Falcons team-mate Salim Hanna in the finale. There was more championship glory for Mumbai Falcons in the Teams’ ranking, with a 52-point margin over Evans GP.

Race 1

Sebastian Wheldon did a superb job to claim pole position by topping qualifying for the opening race. He completed two laps quicker than the best anyone else managed, securing pole position by 0.215 seconds from Chi Zhenrui.

With the starting grid on the far side of the course from the Grand Prix pits, the race away from the line took the field into Turn 9. Wheldon, with experience only of rolling starts in his homeland, unsurprisingly was beaten away at the start, although he made a race of it with Chi before the Chinese driver secured the inside line for the first corner.

Chi then pulled away a little, but by the end of the second lap Wheldon was right on the tail of his Mumbai Falcons team-mate. As he sought a way past, that allowed Kai Daryanani and Kabir Anurag to close in to make it a leading quartet. At the end of the fourth lap, Wheldon locked up as he dived for the inside line at Turn 6 and did well to avoid Chi and hang on around the outside of Turn 7, his momentum carrying him past and into the lead.

Daryanani was now on a quest for Chi’s second position, but his bid into the Turns 6/7 chicane at the end of lap five gave Anurag the momentum to make a move, and the Alpine F1 junior slotted past Daryanani at Turn 9.

Chi then set about consolidating his second place and, although he finished the race 5.577s adrift of the dominant Wheldon, he took a fine victory in the Rookie class. But the battle for third was far from finished. On the 13th lap, Daryanani took a dive down the inside of Anurag into Turn 5 to secure the position. Anurag fought back, overshooting Turn 6 and emerging back in front. On the final lap, Daryanani in turn overshot Turn 6 and got his revenge by beating the Singaporean to the chequered flag. Tucked in right behind them was Salim Hanna – the Colombian held a solid fifth place throughout the race and resisted great pressure from Nicolas Stati.

A five second time penalty was handed to Anurag after the race for not allowing Daryanani enough racing room during his Turn 9 manoeuvre, dropping him to seventh in the results and promoting Hanna to fourth.

A superb start had carried outside title contender Gustav Jonsson from ninth on the grid to sixth, but the Swede appeared to be struggling uncharacteristically for pace. He gradually dropped back to 10th before retiring with a right-rear puncture. First to pass Jonsson was Stati, whose own rocket start from 11th turned out to be too good, and he was penalised 10 seconds. While the Australian AGI Sport driver went on to finish sixth on the road, his time addition relegated him to 10th.

Race 2

This time it was Chi Zhenrui who took a breakthrough pole position by leading the way in qualifying, in this case by 0.107s over Kabir Anurag. And, like Sebastian Wheldon in race one, he couldn’t retain his advantage at the start. Anurag surged in front at lights-out, while Kai Daryanani also got down the inside of Chi at the first corner to move into second place.

With third place all Daryanani needed to become champion, his task was now to simply consolidate his position.

He was helped very much in this by the battle behind him. August Raber was on inspired form, the Emirati passing Wheldon in the early corners and then diving down the inside of Chi into the Turns 6/7 chicane at the end of the opening lap to grab third place. But Anurag and Daryanani were gone. Daryanani had no need to attack Anurag, who duly took his second win of the seven-round series by 3.192s, while the delighted Daryanani claimed the title with second place.

Raber was an equally secure third to the chequered flag, outdistancing a great battle for fourth. Chi had just lost the position to Wheldon on the third lap when he locked up and ran wide, dropping as low as eighth. Now Salim Hanna stepped up to the plate to attack Wheldon. With Wheldon’s family background and his support from the Andretti Global team, and Hanna a protégé of Juan Pablo Montoya, it was a true battle of the IndyCar juniors. A superb move by Hanna around the outside of Turn 6 on the 11th lap of 14 did not quite come off, and it was Wheldon who took fourth, while Hanna held off the fast-recovering Chi for fifth place and Rookie honours.

A sensational battle raged in the lower reaches of the top 10 for the first half of the race, although this lost the unfortunate Gustav Jonsson when the Swede peeled into the pits on the second lap. Nicolas Stati finally wriggled free of the frantic action and went on to depose Dubai talent Adam Al Azhari for seventh position just after half-distance.