Abkhazava and Bondarev claim first spoils of 2026 season at Yas Marina

•      Alexander Abkhazava beats Rashid Al Dhaheri in historic first race for new Formula Regional car

•      Williams F1-backed Oleksandr Bondarev pulls away to beat Andy Consani in UAE4 Series

•      Rookie honours on first day of action to Maksimilian Popov and Alp Aksoy

Abu Dhabi, January 17, 2026: Alexander Abkhazava and Oleksandr Bondarev top the leaderboards after the first day of competitive action for 2026 in the Formula Regional Middle East Trophy (FRME) and UAE4 Series respectively at Abu Dhabi’s 5.281km Yas Marina Circuit.

 

Abkhazava, the 19-year-old who races under the Kazakhstan flag, led the historic first race for the impressive new Tatuus T-326 Formula Regional car from start to finish from pole position. But he was kept on his toes throughout what was the comeback race in FRME for Dutch team MP Motorsport. Abkhazava was pressured all the way under the floodlights by R-ace GP-run local hero Rashid Al Dhaheri, who lives just a few minutes from the Yas Marina Circuit. Abkhazava held on to win a tense race by just under half a second, while Italian team Trident’s first appearance in FRME was rewarded with a podium for Maksimilian Popov, who fended off Kean Nakamura-Berta for third.

 

Bondarev was much more dominant in UAE4, with the 16-year-old Ukrainian Williams F1 protégé pulling away after starting from pole position to win by over two seconds for the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons Racing squad. French youngster Andy Consani’s first appearance in Middle East racing resulted in a very strong second place with R-ace GP, but he had to dispatch the Prema car of David Cosma-Cristofor in a bold manoeuvre on the first lap after the restart following an early safety car. Romanian Cosma-Cristofor finished third, while Turkish racer Alp Aksoy followed up on his late-2025 Formula Trophy title by claiming Rookie honours.

 

Formula Regional Middle East Trophy

Race 1

1st Alexander Abkhazava/MP Motorsport

2nd Rashid Al Dhaheri/R-race GP

3rd Maksimilian Popov/Trident Motorsport

 

UAE4 Series

Race 1

1st Oleksandr Bondarev/Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited

2nd Andy Consani/R-race GP

3rd David Cosma-Cristofor/Prema Racing

 

Formula Regional Middle East Trophy

Race 1

To say the first qualifying session for the world debut of the brand-new Tatuus T-326 Formula Regional car was close would be a massive understatement. Alexander Abkhazava took pole position at Yas Marina by one thousandth of a second from Rashid Al Dhaheri. And the second-row qualifiers, Maksimilian Popov and Kean Nakamura-Berta, were both within three hundredths of pole.

 

At the start, Abkhazava moved across just in time to prevent Al Dhaheri getting a run up the inside into the first turn, while Popov hung on around the outside of Nakamura-Berta to conserve his third place. Around the first lap it was extremely close, with Al Dhaheri ducking out of Abkhazava’s slipstream on the long straight to Turn 6 to feint to the outside in a fruitless bid for the lead.

 

From then on Abkhazava and Al Dhaheri edged away from the field. While they stayed extremely close throughout, there was no opportunity for the Abu Dhabi racer to make a serious bid for the lead. When he locked up at Turn 5 on the final lap, it was time to settle for second, and Abkhazava held on to win by 0.443s.

 

It was a similar situationbehind. Popov was shadowed all the way by the Mumbai Falcons car of Nakamura-Berta in what was also the battle for honours in the Rookie class. Popov held on from the London-born Japanese-Slovak to complete the overall podium. In their wake, ART Grand Prix’s Japanese Honda protégé Taito Kato wriggled free from Alex Powell and Alex Ninovic to claim fifth. American Powell’s Pinnacle Motorsport car in particular was challenged by Rodin Motorsport-run Australian Ninovic, with Powell holding on for sixth. Powell was also third in the Rookie class.

 

The top 10 was completed by Singaporean Christian Ho (MP Motorsport), German Maxim Rehm (Rodin Motorsport) and Brazilian Miguel Costa (RPM). Just outside the points in 11th and 12th were Rodin-run Briton Reza Seewooruthun and Trident’s Serbian youngster Andrija Kostić, which means they will start Sunday’s reversed-grid race from the front row, with Kostic on pole.

 

Unlucky was Mumbai Falcons’ American talent Sebastian Wheldon. The son of the late IndyCar hero Dan Wheldon was sidelined at the beginning of qualifying by a technical problem, so started from the back of the grid. He made progress through the field before suffering a puncture on the final lap.

UAE4 Series

Race 1

There was no stopping Oleksandr Bondarev on day one of the UAE4 Series. The Ukrainian was fastest in qualifying to outpace closest rival David Cosma-Cristofor by a healthy 0.359 seconds. And then he dominated the race from start to finish to begin his second full season of car racing in perfect style.

 

Bondarev, Cosma-Cristofor and third qualifier Andy Consani all made equally good getaways, with Bondarev able to take the inside line for the first corner. By the end of the first lap he was over a second in front, but that good work was undone by an early safety car to retrieve the stranded machine of Charbel Abi Gebrayel, who was in the barriers at Turn 7.

 

Bondarev made a perfect restart, while Cosma-Cristofor immediately came under attack from Consani, the Frenchman’s R-ace GP car diving down the inside of Turn 6 to snatch second place from the Prema Racing entry. At this point, Consani was 1.8s adrift of Bondarev and, far from closing in on the leader, he was unable to prevent Bondarev establishing a 2.5s margin. While Consani drew ever further away from third-placed Cosma-Cristofor, he fell 2.065s short of the victorious Bondarev at the finish.

 

Cosma-Cristofor had to turn his attentions to the Yas Heat Racing Academy car of Adam Al Azhari, who inched ever closer to the Romanian, but the racer from nearby Dubai had to settle for fourth. There was plenty of action behind too, with Pinnacle Motorsport’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling initially fifth, before the Briton was unstitched by an audacious dive from Mumbai Falcons’ Turkish ace Alp Aksoy into Turn 6 at two-thirds distance. Aksoy took fifth, and also claimed honours in the Rookie class.

 

A superb battle behind was enacted by R-ace GP pair Kenzo Craigie and Elia Weiss. The duo ran side-by-side for half the circuit on the 12th lap of 15, before Briton Craigie, the Mercedes F1 junior taking part in his first ever car race, made the decisive move on his German team-mate at Turn 1. After losing places at the start, another car racing debutant, McLaren F1’s Spanish protégé Christian Costoya, fought through to ninth in his Prema car, with the final point for 10th going to Mumbai Falcons’ first-time car racer, Chinese Kingsley Zheng. Costoya also completed the top three in the Rookie class behind Aksoy and Craigie.

 

Briton Emily Cotty (R-ace) ran in the top 10 before she was demoted by Costoya, but her 11th position puts her on the front row for the reversed-grid race two, with pole going to 12th-placed Italian Ferrari protégé Niccolò Maccagnani (Mumbai Falcons).