Al Dhaheri and Bondarev lead the way after action-packed Abu Dhabi season-opener

•      Rashid Al Dhaheri and Christian Ho take victories in dramatic Formula Regional Middle East Trophy races

•      Oleksandr Bondarev takes UAE4 Series points for second place behind inspired Andy Consani

•      Niccolò Maccagnani beats Emily Cotty to win incident-packed second F4 encounter

 

Abu Dhabi, January 18, 2026: A dramatic Sunday brought the first round of the 2026 Formula Regional Middle East Trophy (FRME) and UAE4 Series to a close at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix circuit of Yas Marina, with local hero Rashid Al Dhaheri and Oleksandr Bondarev emerging as the points leaders following the opening salvoes of action.

 

The 17-year-old Abu Dhabi native Al Dhaheri, newly appointed as a junior driver for the Mercedes F1 team, hails from just a few minutes away from Yas Marina. The R-ace GP pilot kept everything neatly under control to take victory in the third race of the weekend from Pinnacle Motorsport’s American talent Alex Powell. Singaporean Christian Ho was third, completing a fine day that began with a win in the second race. Following Alexander Abkhazava’s success on Saturday, that made it two successes out of two for MP Motorsport on its return to FRME after missing 2025. Ho had to pass RPM-run Brazilian Miguel Costa for his victory, with Australian Alex Ninovic taking third in that race for Rodin Motorsport on the team’s first weekend in Formula Regional competition.

 

The results mean that Al Dhaheri, who was second in Saturday’s opener, leads the FRME standings going into next weekend’s second round, also held at Yas Marina. He is nine points ahead of Ho, with Abkhazava a further 11 adrift in third. The Kazakhstani had a tough Sunday, with sixth in race two and a stall at the start of the finale, meaning he finished outside the points. Thanks to consistent scoring, Trident’s Maksimilian Popov leads the Rookie points, although the class victories on Sunday went to Costa and Powell.

 

Bondarev, meanwhile, was unable to impose himself over young French talent Andy Consani in a gripping final UAE4 race of the weekend. The 16-year-old Ukrainian, a Williams F1 protégé who is driving for the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons Racing team, harried the R-ace GP car of 15-year-old, Mercedes F1-backed Consani throughout, but could not find a way through. Third went to another R-ace driver, German Elia Weiss. Honours in an incident-packed race two went to the Ferrari Driver Academy’s new Italian prospect Niccolò Maccagnani with Mumbai Falcons, from R-ace GP’s two young Britons – Emily Cotty and Kenzo Craigie.

 

With his win on Saturday setting his weekend up nicely, Bondarev retains a two-point margin over Consani in the UAE4 table ahead of the second round, with Craigie 22 adrift in third. Mercedes protégé Craigie’s Rookie win in race two has helped him to the top of that division, although it was Prema’s McLaren junior Christian Costoya on top in the finale – each was victorious in their debut weekend in car racing.

 

Formula Middle East now remains at the Yas Marina for round two from January 23-25.

 

Formula Regional Middle East Trophy

Race 2

1st Christian Ho/MP Motorsport

2nd Miguel Ethel Costa/RPM

3rd Alex Ninovic/Rodin Motorsport

 

Race 3

1st Rashid Al Dhaheri/R-ace GP

2nd Alex Powell/Pinnacle Motorsport

3rd Christian Ho/MP Motorsport

 

UAE4 Series

Race 2

1st Niccolo Maccagnani/Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited

2nd Emily Cotty/R-ace GP

3rd Kenzo Craigie/R-ace GP

 

Race 3

1st Andy Consani/R-ace GP

2nd Oleksandr Bondarev/Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited

3rd Rowan Campbell Pilling/Pinnacle Motorsport

 

 

Formula Regional Middle East Trophy

Race 2

The drama started even before the race began, with poleman Andrija Kostić spinning out of the final corner on the formation lap and recovering his position on the reversed grid. As that was happening, Maxim Rehm, who should have started fourth, was on his way into the pits due to a malfunctioning rear light.

 

Then, as the starting lights went out, Reza Seewooruthun was left stranded in his position on the front row. The unfortunate Michael Belov, from 18th on the grid, was left unsighted until the car in front of him jinked out to avoid the stationary Briton. Belov did his best to steer to the left but was unable to avoid contact with Seewooruthun. The fact that both drivers climbed out unscathed proved the impeccable safety standards to which the Tatuus T-326 Formula Regional car, making its competition debut this weekend, was designed.

 

The race was red-flagged while the debris was cleared, and upon its resumption it was Kostić in front from Miguel Costa, Christian Ho and Alex Ninovic. Behind this quartet ran Alex Powell, but he was unlucky to be spun out of contention at Turn 6 at the end of the first lap of green-flag racing. Kean Nakamura-Berta, running in seventh place, dived down the inside of Taito Kato, but was unable to avoid Powell, who was just turning into the corner. Although Powell resumed, Nakamura-Berta was stranded and the safety car emerged once more.

 

Once the race got going again, Kostić steered his Trident car into the pit lane to serve a drive-through penalty assessed for his error on the formation lap, and Costa took the lead. But the Brazilian was in front only for a few seconds, because Ho grabbed the advantage into the first corner. While the Singaporean instantly opened a small advantage, Costa came under attack from Ninovic, only for the Australian to be passed in a superb move at Turn 14 by the opportunistic Kato. Now up to third, the Japanese Honda protégé immediately pressured Costa for second. The ART Grand Prix-run Kato tried a move on the outside of Turn 6, then attempted to sail around the outside of Costa at Turn 9. But as Costa ran wide on the exit, that sent Kato over the kerb and he was launched airborne into the barriers. That meant another appearance for the safety car.

 

Once Kato’s car had been recovered, there was time for four more laps of racing. Ho kept everything composed to win by 1.451 seconds from Costa, who claimed Rookie honours, with Ninovic third.

 

Fourth, and second Rookie, was Colombian Salim Hanna, who showed superb racecraft on his charge from 15th on the grid. Mumbai Falcons racer Hanna emerged from a spectacular four-wide battle with Alexander Abkhazava, Maksimilian Popov and Rashid Al Dhaheri to emerge from this gaggle. Al Dhaheri came back at Hanna, and only narrowly failed to snatch fourth at the finish line. Abkhazava followed up his Saturday win with a sixth place.

 

Seventh was Van Amersfoort Racing’s Portuguese hope Francisco Macedo, while Popov, who lost ground as a result of his earlier battle, recovered for eighth – and third in the Rookie class behind Costa and Hanna – by passing Indian Trident team-mate Kai Daryanani on the final lap. Daryanani was given a five-second penalty after the race for overtaking off-track, so it was Chinese pair Chi Zhenrui (CL Motorsport) and Gerrard Xie (R-ace GP) who took the final two points-scoring positions.

 

Formula Regional Middle East Trophy

 

Race 3

It was Rashid Al Dhaheri who took up the prime grid position on his local circuit, with Alex Ninovic alongside him. But, as with Rodin team-mate Reza Seewooruthun in race one, Ninovic wasn’t going anywhere from second on the grid at the start. He was avoided by the field before getting away and finishing the race outside the points. At least Ninovic was better off than Seewooruthun, Belov and Kato, who were all non-starters in this race owing to the damage inflicted earlier.

 

Up front, Al Dhaheri led from Alex Powell, while Christian Ho quickly demoted Maksimilian Popov to take third. The leading trio appeared to be getting away, before a crash for August Raber at Turn 12 on the fourth lap meant the safety car was called. Raber’s car was quickly recovered, and three more laps of racing were completed before an unfortunate incident between Sebastian Wheldon and Giovanni Maschio on the start-finish straight resulted in Maschio hitting the pit wall. With the amount of debris, the only sensible course of action was to red-flag the race. Once it resumed, there was time for four more laps of racing.

 

Al Dhaheri remained unflustered, the R-ace GP driver keeping the Pinnacle Motorsport car of Powell at arm’s length to take an emotional triumph on his home asphalt by 1.365 seconds. Ho remained close at hand to finish third.

 

Kean Nakamura-Berta had challenged Ho for spells during this race, but the London-born Japanese Slovak, newly recruited to the Williams F1 team’s academy, eventually had to give best to Singaporean Alpine F1 junior Kabir Anurag – a good fourth-place finish to turn around what had been a tough weekend for the ART Grand Prix driver. The Mumbai Falcons car of Nakamura-Berta was fifth, and third in the Rookie class behind Powell and Anurag. Popov came home in sixth.

 

Newman Chi Zhenrui continued his good progress to end up seventh, while Andrija Kostić atoned for his second race with eighth. The G4 Racing squad was in the points, Artem Severiukhin taking ninth, with Toyota-backed Japanese Yuki Sano (R-ace GP) rising to 10th after the red-flag stoppage.

 

 

UAE4 Series

 

Race 2

Niccolò Maccagnani held his nerve through a delayed start and no fewer than three safety-car periods, before the reversed-grid race was finally red-flagged during the last lap. The Ferrari junior judged each restart well to take victory after leading all the way from pole position.

 

From the front row, it was Emily Cotty who proved to be the closest challenger to Maccagnani, and she took second place ahead of R-ace GP team-mate Kenzo Craigie. Mercedes F1 protégé Craigie pulled off a fine manoeuvre at Turn 9 on the first restart to pass fellow car-racing debutant Kingsley Zheng for third, with Mumbai Falcons’ Chinese racer going on to take fourth ahead of his team-mate, Turkish talent Alp Aksoy. Craigie also took Rookie class honours ahead of Zheng and Aksoy.

 

One battle to watch was that between the top two from the first race: Oleksandr Bondarev and Andy Consani. After the second restart, Consani’s bid to pass Aksoy for fifth at Turn 9 left him vulnerable to Bondarev, and the Ukrainian audaciously swept around the outside of the Frenchman at Turn 12 to grab sixth position and complete a Mumbai Falcons 3-4-5-6 ahead of the R-ace car of Consani.

 

Red Bull Junior Scott Kin Lindblom continued his fine charge. The Swede qualified fourth, but was excluded from both sessions for a technical infringement. Lindblom’s charge from 38th and last on the grid to 14th was a feature of race one, and he carried on that progress to take eighth in his Hitech car this time out, ahead of Prema Racing’s Romanian David Cosma-Cristofor and Yas Heat Racing Academy’s Adam Al Azhari from nearby Dubai.

 

The first safety car was caused by a spectacular incident at the first corner. Rowan Campbell-Pilling, from seventh on the grid, clipped the car of Elia Weiss, and this launched him onto the rear end of the machine of Christian Costoya. Campbell-Pilling was out on the spot, Costoya retired to the pits, but Weiss continued. The second came to clear up Payton Westcott’s car from the barriers at Turn 9, with Platon Kostin also stranded on the Formula 1 start-finish straight. This was legacy of a collision shortly before between the duo, for which Westcott was adjudged to be at fault and issued with a grid penalty for race three.

 

The third caution occurred due to Brock Burton being apparently stricken at Turn 7 after contact from Edoardo Iacobucci – but no sooner had the race gone under caution than the Australian finally managed to get going. The red flags appeared after an incident towards the rear of the field as they prepared for the final restart, when contact from Ryusho Nakazato sent Kaylee Countryman into the barriers on the approach to Turn 6. Iacobucci and Nakazato were both given grid penalties for race three for their errors.

 

UAE4 Series

 

Race 3

There was more drama in this race, including a captivating battle for the lead. Andy Consani had taken pole position in the second qualifying session, with Elia Weiss making it two R-ace GP drivers on the front row. Oleksandr Bondarev, winner of the first race, just got a lap in at the chequered flag to put his Mumbai Falcons car in third place.

 

Consani led away at the start, with Weiss and Bondarev chasing. Then Bondarev got a run out of Turn 5, slipstreaming Weiss along the long straight to grab second place into Turn 6. At this point Consani had a healthy lead of 1.8 seconds, but an incident for Brock Burton at Turn 9 resulted in the safety car emerging, and that brought Bondarev onto Consani’s tail.

 

Mercedes F1 junior Consani dropped the hammer in style at the restart to lead his Williams counterpart Bondarev, but at the end of that first lap on the resumption of racing he ran too deep into Turn 6, and had to take an awkward line into the following Turn 7. That allowed Bondarev right onto his tail, and the Ukrainian made a bid for the lead around the outside of Turn 9. But he ran wide on the exit, allowing Consani to open some daylight once more.

 

A few laps later there was another safety car, again Consani made an effective restart, and once more Bondarev was right with him at the end of the first restart lap. Once again he made a bid around the outside of Turn 9, but the steadfast Consani remained in front. Bondarev remained all over the rear of Consani until the third and final safety car interruption, which allowed time for just one more lap of racing. Bondarev slipstreamed Consani on the run to the Turns 6/7 complex, and Consani again was very late on the brakes in his defence, but just about held on to the chequered flag. This greeted only the top 22 finishers, before red flags were waved, meaning results were taken at the point the third safety-car period started.

 

The reason for the red flag was a battle behind the leading duo, which initially centred upon Weiss, David Cosma-Cristofor and Adam Al Azhari – the last-named of whom had emerged unscathed from first-lap contact at Turn 16 that removed Alp Aksoy from contention. After the first restart, Al Azhari got down the inside of Cosma-Cristofor into Turn 6, only for the Romanian to skip wide and bypass Turn 7, emerging in front once again. Half a lap later, he appeared to let Al Azhari past at Turn 15.

 

Following the second safety car, Al Azhari made a spectacular move on Weiss for third at Turn 12, but ran wide on the exit and sustained a puncture, sending him to the pits. The battle for third resumed for the final-lap sprint, with Cosma-Cristofor attacking Weiss. This ended with Cosma-Cristofor rolling into the barriers on the exit of the final corner, Weiss heading for the pits, and Christian Costoya suddenly leaping into third place. But the results countback due to the red flag gave Weiss third from Cosma-Cristofor, Rowan Campbell-Pilling and McLaren F1 protégé Costoya. The Pinnacle Motorsport and Prema teams of Brit Campbell-Pilling and Spaniard Costoya respectively had done a wonderful job repairing their cars following their incident in race two, and Costoya also rewarded Prema with victory in the Rookie class.

 

Campbell-Pilling and Costoya gained further reward after the race when they were promoted to third and fourth respectively. Weiss was held responsible for the late incident and penalised 30s by the stewards, while Cosma-Cristofor was given a cumulative 10s for two instances of gaining an advantage by going off the track: one for not giving the position back to Al Azhari within the prescribed time; and one for passing Weiss earlier in the race by going off track on the outside of Turn 1. Each dropped outside the points.

 

Emily Cotty and Kenzo Craigie were classified fifth and sixth, with Craigie the Rookie runner-up. Craigie rose from 18th on the grid, while the driver behind him – Scott Kin Lindblom – stormed to seventh from 38th and last following his qualifying exclusion. Eighth place was taken by Qatari Bader Al Sulaiti (QMMF by Hitech). He got the better of PHM Racing’s Iacopo Martinese in the closing stages, the Italian claiming ninth, and third in the Rookie class, with Evans GP-run Danish Ferrari protégée Alba Larsen completing the top 10. After his victory in race two, Niccolò Maccagnani was out of luck on this occasion, a second-lap incident with Jarrett Clark as they battled for seventh sending them both to the pits for damage to be repaired