Penultimate Round Brings Wins for Slater and Powell

• Evan Giltaire’s Formula Regional Middle East lead over Freddie Slater is narrowed

• Alex Powell joins Emanuele Olivieri and Kean Nakamura-Berta in F4 Middle East title battle

• Akshay Bohra and Reno Francot break their ducks with reversed-grid victories

UAE, February 16, 2025: Formula Middle East delivered more spectacular action on the final day of the penultimate round at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit, with both series closer at the top at the climax of the event than they were at the start. In the Formula Regional Middle East Championship (FRME), Freddie Slater’s second victory of the weekend in the finale means he has slashed the gap to Evan Giltaire. In the Formula 4 Middle East Championship (F4ME), Emanuele Olivieri could not add to his haul of wins, but is still the clear title favourite with one event to go.

The first action of the day provided a composed performance from 17-year-old American-born Akshay Bohra to take his maiden victory in Formula Regional. The R-ace GP driver, whose older brother Nikhil was a two-time race winner in the series, narrowly fended off the returning two-time FRME race victor Nikita Bedrin after starting on pole position on the reversed grid. Later on it was the turn of Slater, driving for the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons Racing team. The 16-year-old Briton got the better of ART Grand Prix-run Frenchman Giltaire, who in turn only just held off the R-ace GP car of American McLaren Formula 1 protégé Ugo Ugochukwu.

In F4ME, the weekend’s second race ended with 17-year-old Dutchman Reno Francot claiming his first success in the Middle East series at the wheel of his AKCEL GP/PHM Racing car. This was a race full of drama, with neither of the two main title contenders – Olivieri and Kean Nakamura-Berta – scoring points due to damage from incidents. Up to second came Nakamura-Berta’s Mumbai Falcons stablemate Salim Hanna, with Olivieri’s R-ace partner Alex Powell in third. This was a good day for Powell, with the 17-year-old Jamaican-American Mercedes F1-backed driver heading home Latvian Tomass Štolcermanis of Mumbai Falcons and Olivieri in a gripping final race.

As the teams go into the week-and-a-half break before the final round at Qatar’s Lusail International Circuit on February 26-28, Giltaire can reflect upon a reduced advantage in the FRME rankings of 17 points over Slater. Also in mathematical title contention are PHM Racing’s Italian talent Brando Badoer, who is 73 points behind, and Ugochukwu, who faces a deficit of 76. Slater has also pulled out a healthy lead over Rashid Al Dhaheri in the Rookie classification. Olivieri now leads Nakamura-Berta in the F4ME standings by 48 points, with Powell on a surge in third place, 62 points off the summit. Meanwhile, Colombian Hanna has a considerable Rookie lead and could wrap up that title in the first race in Qatar.

Formula Regional Middle East

Race 2

1st Akshay Bohra/R-ace GP
2nd Nikita Bedrin/Sainteloc Racing
3rd Brando Badoer/PHM Racing

Race 3

1st Freddie Slater/Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited
2nd Evan Giltaire/ART Grand Prix
3rd Ugo Ugochukwu/R-ace GP

Formula 4 Middle East
Race 2

1st Reno Francot/AKCEL GP/PHM Racing
2nd Salim Hanna/Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited
3rd Alex Powell/R-ace GP

Race 3

1st Alex Powell/R-race GP
2nd Tomass Stolcermanis/Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited
3rd Emanuele Olivieri/R-race GP

Formula Regional Middle East

Race 2

Akshay Bohra had a golden opportunity to put his stamp upon FRME, with pole position for the reversed-grid race. As the reigning Euro 4 champion, he had been expected to shine this year, but his luck had not been great – including a technical issue in qualifying that meant he would have to start race three from the back of the grid. Bohra got away well from fellow front-row starter Nikita Bedrin, although the race soon went under safety car conditions because of a midfield mix-up on the opening lap. Aditya Kulkarni and James Hedley were stranded out on the circuit, while Jack Beeton, Aaron Cameron and Yaroslav Veselaho all returned to the pits. While Beeton’s car was wheeled into its garage, Cameron and Veselaho at least resumed after repairs.

Bohra made the best of the restart and pushed to re-establish an advantage, but Bedrin never went away. For most of the race the Saintéloc Racing car shadowed the R-ace GP machine, before Bedrin began to get onto terms with the leader with a couple of laps remaining. Although Bedrin challenged, Bohra held on to secure his first Formula Regional race win by a mere 0.152 seconds.

Ernesto Rivera held third initially, but Pinnacle Motorsport’s Mexican Red Bull Junior got boxed in while trying to pass Bedrin at the safety car restart, and Brando Badoer swept around his outside at Turn 9 to grab the position. Two laps later, Kanato Le also went around the outside of Rivera at Turn 9, and for the rest of the race the Japanese ART Grand Prix talent hotly pursued Badoer. For the final five laps, Badoer had to put into practice the ultimate in defensive art, and the McLaren Formula 1 protégé just held on for the final podium position.

Next to pass Rivera was Enzo Deligny, both cars running off track at Turn 6 as they battled mid-race. Frenchman Deligny completed the move over the following corners to take fifth on the road in his R-ace car, but he then was hit with a double penalty after the race. An incident on the first lap where he made contact at Turn 12 with Badoer, which in turn seriously delayed Rashid Al Dhaheri, earned Deligny a one-position drop, and he was also punished with a five-second addition for cutting out Turn 7, relegating him to 11th in the results.

With Deligny past him, Rivera now had to watch out for Freddie Slater. As the Saturday winner, Slater started this race 10th and for much of it was engaged in a fight with championship rival Evan Giltaire. Slater made the move shortly after the safety car, but appeared to have run off track in so doing and handed the position back. Finally he made it stick to take sixth in the results – and a crucial points swing in the championship – from Giltaire at Turn 9 with four laps remaining. Slater’s next task was to chase Rivera, and he drew level with the Pinnacle car as they crossed the finish line, just falling short in his bid for fifth. The fight between this duo was also for second in the Rookie class, which was taken by overall winner Bohra.

Giltaire seemed to struggle for his usual pace but claimed seventh, just ahead of Mumbai Falcons’ local Abu Dhabi racer Al Dhaheri, who passed Ugo Ugochukwu on the final lap. But Al Dhaheri was another hit with a five-second penalty, in his case for an incident with Jack Beeton and James Hedley on his recovery through the field, and this dropped him outside the points.

Behind eighth-placed Ugochukwu, the Japanese pair of Hiyu Yamakoshi (Pinnacle) and Jin Nakamura (R-ace) were classified ninth and 10th, ahead of the penalised Deligny, with another Japanese in the form of Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix) claiming the final point for 12th.

Race 3

Freddie Slater grabbed pole position for this race by topping the second qualifying session on Friday, with Evan Giltaire alongside on the front row. Giltaire looked to have made a slightly better start, but Slater moved across to cover his title rival and led the field into the first corner. Giltaire attempted to hang on around the outside of Turn 9, but ran off track in so doing, and therefore slotted in behind Slater.

By the end of the opening lap, Giltaire was having to turn his attentions to fending off Ugo Ugochukwu, and for the first three tours it was Slater out front from Giltaire, Ugochukwu and Rashid Al Dhaheri. But a collision between Everett Stack and Nikita Bedrin left both cars with significant damage close to the pit entry, meaning the first appearance for the safety car.

Shortly after the restart came news that Slater was to come under investigation for a possible false start, the penalty for which is normally 10 seconds. It was therefore imperative for him to push as hard as possible out front. Within two laps, Slater was getting very close to the points positions should a penalty be applied, but then the safety car appeared again to bunch up the pack. This time, Al Dhaheri had hit the barrier at Turn 13. A few corners further round at Turn 1, Matteo de Palo also skated off the road, potentially as a result of debris picked up from the Al Dhaheri incident, meaning two cars needed recovery.

Formula 4 Middle East

Race 2

Fu Yuhao started from reversed-grid pole position for the second consecutive weekend, this time with Reno Francot alongside. And that was just as well for this duo, since it meant they were clear of the drama that completely shook up the order on the second lap. The Xcel Motorsport car of Fu made a good start to lead from Francot, but the Dutchman appeared to have more pace than the Chinese racer. He bided his time before, at the end of lap two, he executed a textbook overtaking move on Fu into Turn 6 to take the lead.

As this manoeuvre was happening, there was a big mix-up taking place behind the leading duo. Tomass Štolcermanis had grabbed third place from Chi Zhenrui in the corners by the Grand Prix pits, and Chi was then part of a three-abreast battle as they headed into the tight Turn 6. Adam Al Azhari was on the inside line, but unfortunately this put him on a collision course with Štolcermanis, who was turning into the corner. Both Štolcermanis and Al Azhari, who earned a three-place grid penalty for race three for his error, dropped out of the top 20. Meanwhile, championship runner-up Kean Nakamura-Berta picked up damage to his front wing while trying to avoid the collision, although he soldiered on valiantly for several laps in the top six before calling at the pits. Al Azhari had also pitted for repairs, and so too had series leader Emanuele Olivieri and Oleksandr Bondarev. A collision as they started the second lap had given Olivieri a puncture, and damaged Bondarev’s wing.

While Francot extended his lead over Fu, Salim Hanna had avoided everything to vault from sixth to third, and the Colombian had a clear road ahead to zone in on second place. Once he caught Fu, Hanna appeared to have plenty of time to make the move, but did so with an audacious dive on the sixth lap at Turn 16, where overtaking very rarely happens. Fu’s initial attempts to fight back forced Hanna into defensive mode until he wriggled clear, but the gap to Francot was now three seconds. Hanna trimmed this as the race wore on, but Francot – a multiple race winner in Central European F4 in 2023 – kept everything tidy to claim his breakthrough F4ME victory by 1.512 seconds.

Alex Powell, up from eighth on the grid, pulled off a good move on the Prema Racing car of Chi at Turn 6 on lap four to take fourth place. On the eighth lap, he did the exact same thing to snatch third from Fu. The gap to the leading duo was too great, but this was the second podium of the weekend for Powell. That came despite collecting a five-second penalty for running off course at Turn 7 while battling Nakamura-Berta, since he was far enough ahead of the cars behind for it not to affect his position.

Fu was hit mid-race with a five-second penalty for track-limits offences, but grimly clung onto fourth on the road. He was aided in this when compatriot Chi, who was chasing him, locked up and ran wide at Turn 16. As a result, Chi was drawn into a battle with Yas Heat Racing Academy’s Swedish-Emirati August Raber and Prema Racing’s American Sebastian Wheldon. All three were side by side with two laps to go, with Raber getting in front to head home Chi in fourth and fifth respectively once Fu’s penalty was applied. Wheldon and Indian Arjun Chheda (Mumbai Falcons), who was eighth on the road, also collected five-second penalties, both of them for bypassing Turn 7 while battling Martin Molnár. Once this had all been sorted out, Fu was classified sixth with Evans GP-run Hungarian Molnár in seventh, Wheldon eighth and Chheda ninth.

Excellent work from Štolcermanis clawed him up the field and he snatched 10th at the final corner of the race from Emily Cotty, the British R-ace GP competitor completing the Rookie podium behind Hanna and Chi. Another position to change on the final lap was for 12th, with Romanian David Cosma (AKCEL GP/PHM) wresting the final point from Macanese Tiago Rodrigues (Evans GP).

Race 3

Just as there was for the first race, there was an R-ace GP car on pole for F4’s weekend finale, but this time it was that of Alex Powell. Team-mate Emanuele Olivieri had just set a quickest sector time when he was pincered at Turn 5 by two Mumbai Falcons machines – coincidentally including main title rival Kean Nakamura-Berta – but it was unintentional and no action was taken. It did leave Olivieri down in third on the grid, alongside Nakamura-Berta, with Tomass Štolcermanis on the front row.

It was Štolcermanis who made the best getaway, but Powell held on superbly around the outside of the first corner – the long Turn 9 left-hander – without going off the circuit, and he was able to then claim the inside for the following right turns and retrieve his lead. Štolcermanis then began to come under pressure from Olivieri, who twice tried a move around the outside of Turn 9 during the early laps. He then attempted a pass at Turn 6, but ended up short-cutting the following Turn 7, and expertly judged the task of letting Štolcermanis back in front without also being passed by the close-following Nakamura-Berta.

On the fifth lap, the safety car appeared – remarkably the first time this had happened all weekend for the F4 series. Both Seth Gilmore, at Turn 6, and Tameem Hassiba, at Turn 16, had gone off and their cars needed rescuing before the action could resume.

Once the restart was given, the F4 field delivered an excellent race. At the end of the first lap after the green flags, Olivieri tried to sweep around the outside into the Turns 6/7 chicane, and Štolcermanis got onto the kerb on the exit. Olivieri inched very slightly in front but was on the outside line for Turn 9, and again Štolcermanis held on. While this was going on, Powell edged away to a one-second advantage, but the chasing duo eroded this late on. Olivieri had one more try to pass Štolcermanis at Turn 6 on the final lap, without success, and Powell, Štolcermanis and Olivieri flashed across the finish line separated by just 0.715 seconds.

Nakamura-Berta seemed not to quite have an answer to the pace of the leading trio, but he shadowed them all the way to secure fourth place in front of a host of Prema-run stablemates: from them, Salim Hanna (Mumbai Falcons) beat Ukrainian Williams F1 junior Oleksandr Bondarev to fifth place and Rookie class honours, with Andretti Global-backed Sebastian Wheldon seventh.

Drivers’ championship standings after Round 4 (top 5)

Formula Regional Middle East

1st Evan Giltaire/ART Grand Prix/227 points

2nd Freddie Slater/Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited/210 points

3rd Brando Badoer/PHM Racing/154 points

4th Ugo Ugochukwu/R-ace GP/151 points

5th Theophile Nael/Sainteloc Racing/125 points

Formula 4 Middle East

1st Emanuele Olivieri/R-ace GP/269 points

2nd Kean Nakamura-Berta/Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited/221 points

3rd Alex Powell/R-ace GP/207 points

3rd Tomass Stolcermanis/Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited/175 points

4th Reno Francot/AXCEL GP/PHM Racing/137 points