Photo: Top Speed

Mumbai Falcons’ Kean Nakamura-Berta took the Formula Regional Middle East title in a heavily disrupted final round at Losail.

Due to FIA Formula 3 pre-season testing, ART Grand Prix was without Taito Kato so called up its Formula 2 signing Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak.

He was in the cockpit for pre-event testing, which there was only one session of in the first of several schedule revisions. His team-mate Kabir Anurag set the test pace, edging Mumbai Falcons’ Sebastian Wheldon by 0.098 seconds. G4 Racing’s Jules Roussel was third.

A second free practice session was added, and Roussel set a 1m48.132s to lead Pinnacle Motorsport’s Alex Powell by 0.231s in FP1. CL Motorsport’s Reno Francot lowered the pace to 1m48.057s in FP2, pipping MP Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava by 0.046s, Powell by 0.048s and G4’s Artem Severiukhin by 0.072s.

Qualifying had been scheduled for Thursday but was pushed to Friday due to technical issues that also led to race two being cancelled. In Q1, MP’s Jesse Carrasquedo Jr and Abkhazava were the drivers to beat before red flags waved with six minutes to go due to Van Amersfoort Racing’s Yuhao Fu going off.

Powell went quickest after the restart, then Mumbai Falcons’ Kean Nakamura-Berta posted a 1m48.461s on his penultimate lap to snatch race one pole by 0.169s.

Wheldon trailed by 0.332s in third, and Abkhazava was fourth ahead of R-ace GP’s points leader Rashid Al Dhaheri.

Carrasquedo, Abkhazava, Anurag, ART GP’s Matteo Giaccardi, Roussel, Trident’s Maximilian Popov and Powell all spent time on top in Q2 before Nakamura-Berta posted a 1m48.057s.

Red flags waved with three minutes to go due to Abkhazava stopping on track, and after the restart Anurag demoted him to fifth. Nakamura-Berta had beaten Wheldon to race three pole (which became the day’s season-ending second race) by 0.153s, with Powell 0.321s back.

Al Dhaheri qualified eighth and a second covered the top 19 after title outsider Abkhazava had all of his laptimes from both sessions deleted.

Race one started with drama. Powell and Al Dhaheri made poor launches, allowing Wheldon to attack Nakamura-Berta into the opening corner and for Race Performance Motorsport’s Jan Przyrowski to take third. Wheldon stuck alongside his team-mate for two corners after forcing him into defence, then was pressured by Przyrowski later in the lap before the safety car appeared due to Rodin Motorsport’s Maxim Rehm having a airborne crash.

Al Dhaheri had fallen to seventh, but recovered a spot on the lap four restart. The top 11 went unchanged for the 12 laps of green flag action, with Nakamura-Berta winning by 1.827s to reduce Al Dhaheri’s lead to seven points. Anurag finished fifth, and R-ace’s Emanuele Olivieri was seventh. Abkhazava recovered from 32nd to 26th, exiting title contention.

Race two ran at night. Nakamura-Berta was able to break clear on lap one as Powell attacked Wheldon and Anurag attacked Powell. There was contact in the battle for second, then for third too, but it calmed down on lap two.

The safety car was summoned at the end of that lap, and red flags followed. G4’s Andrea Dupe had spun, MP’s Alceu Feldmann Neto had crashed out and Abkhazava had ended his race by colliding with CL Motorsport’s Enea Frey.

Al Dhaheri sat seventh for the restart behind the safety car, having overtaken Carrasquedo. Green flags waved one lap later and both Wheldon and Anurag weaved heavily down the pit straight. The top seven held their positions, while Olivieri overtook Carrasquedo around the outside of turn one on lap seven of 16.

Wheldon never got close enough to Nakamura-Berta to threaten his lead, and the race-winner took the title as Al Dhaheri made no progress.

Severiukhin retired on lap 10 with his car on fire, Roussel got penalised for his engine cover detaching as he left the pits, and Carrasquedo was disqualified.

Results round-up
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Kean Nakamura-Berta Mumbai Falcons 31m13.592s
2 Sebastian Wheldon Mumbai Falcons +1.827s
3 Jan Przyrowski R-P-M +5.448s
4 Alex Powell Pinnacle Motorsport +6.116s
5 Kabir Anurag ART Grand Prix +7.589s
6 Rashid Al Dhaheri R-ace GP +8.108s
7 Emanuele Olivieri R-ace GP +8.689s
8 Yuki Sano R-ace GP +9.640s
9 Maximilian Popov Trident +11.262s
10 Salim Hanna Mumbai Falcons
Pole: Nakamura-Berta, 1m48.461s
Fastest lap: Wheldon, 1m48.832s

Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Nakamura-Berta 44m00.126s
2 Wheldon +0.765s
3 Powell +1.918s
4 Anurag +4.670s
5 Przyrowski +5.390s
6 Hanna +6.208s
7 Al Dhaheri +6.590s
8 Olivieri +7.762s
9 Sano +10.702s
10 Miguel Costa R-P-M +13.219s
P: Nakamura-Berta, 1m48.057s
FL: Olivieri, 1m48.180s

Championship standings
1 Nakamura-Berta 151   2 Al Dhaheri 139   3 Abkhazava 95   4 Powell 76   5 Wheldon 71   6 Przyrowski 71   7 Maximilian Popov 70   8 Alex Ninovic 66   9 Anurag 62   10 Hanna 54

The post Nakamura-Berta steals FRegional Middle East title with Losail double appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Top Speed

Rashid Al Dhaheri’s charge to the Formula Regional Middle East title became less clear-cut in the final race at Dubai Autodrome as he non-scored while Alexander Abkhazava won.

Qualifying two on Saturday set the grid for race three on Sunday, and R-ace GP driver Al Dhaheri may have only been 0.437 seconds off pole but that left him in 11th place.

Pinnacle Motorsport’s Alex Powell was fastest by just 0.082s over R-ace’s Yuki Sano, with MP Motorsport’s Abkhazava 0.179s behind in third.

Kean Nakamura-Berta (Mumbai Falcons) and Alex Ninovic (Rodin Motorsport) were within 0.3s of Powell, and Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace) qualified sixth in his first weekend of FRegional competition. One tenth of a second split him and Al Dhaheri, with Sebastian Wheldon (Mumbai Falcons), Dion Gowda (Van Amersfoort Racing), Jan Przyrowski (Race Performance Motorsport) and Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix) between them.

A second split the top 22, and Trident’s title outsider Maximilian Popov failed to qualify so needed permission to race.

The next day there was more drama before the race, as Powell did not make it to the grid as Pinnacle ran out of time to enact repairs following a crash in race two and Sano withdrew after his team worked extensively on his car following his own race two clash. Abkhazava therefore started from pole position.

He headed to the outside line off the line, forcing Nakamura-Berta beyond track limits but not stopping him from nosing ahead. However Abkhazava braked later into turn one on the inside to reclaim the lead, and with the inside line for turn three Ninovic was able to snatch second place. Nakamura-Berta got back past down the back straight, and when Ninovic slid through turn 12 it put Olivieri on his gearbox.

Olivieri attemped a turn 10 dive on lap two, and remained alongside until getting past at turn 12. The gaps opened up until the safety car was summoned on lap five as MP’s Alceu Feldmann Neto drove into the rear of CL Motorsport’s Newman Chi on the pit straight and crashed out.

Racing resumed on lap eight, and Abkhazava weaved down the back straight as Nakamura-Berta kept close. He dived down the inside at turn 10, Abkhazava forced him off at turn 11, then Nakamura-Berta drove into the rear of the leader at turn 12.

While Nakamura-Berta damaged his nose and broke his front wing, Abkhazava slowed through the next two corners and Nakamura-Berta got alongside at the turn 14 hairpin. Olivieri was getting involved again, while Ninovic spun down the order at the last corner.

On lap nine Nakamura-Berta went for the same attack, then on lap 10 he had to defend against Olivieri down the pit straight. That allowed Abkhazava to break clear, and the top three positions were decided.

Gowda had a lonely race to fourth, but a 10s penalty for causing a collision demoted him to 10th. Wheldon got a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage off-track, and that dropped him from sixth to ninth.

Przyrowski had defended hard against him on lap one, but Wheldon got past after running off at the last corner. Kato made it three-wide as they reached turn one, and Wheldon remained ahead on the outside but cut turn two. Przyrowski lost out to Kato a few corners later, but an off meant Przyrowski reclaimed eighth and G4 Racing’s Jules Roussel attacked.

Kato tried a turn 10 dive on lap three, and Wheldon pressured Gowda on lap eight before being overtaken by Przyrowski. On lap nine Kato also got through, and went for another dive that put him alongside Przyrowski through turn 11.

Al Dhaheri was late off the line and fell from ninth to outside of the top 20, and his recovery to 16th meant his gap to Nakamura-Berta in the title fight was reduced to 24 points. Ninovic’s own recovery only took him to 26th.

Race results (14 laps)

The post Abkhazava win puts energy back into FRegional Middle East title fight appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Top Speed

Mumbai Falcons’ Salim Hanna won the second Formula Regional Middle East race at Dubai Autodrome on Sunday morning.

Having finished 12th in race one, Pinnacle Motorsport’s Alex Powell started on reversed-grid pole ahead of Hanna, Jan Przyrowski (Race Performance Motorsport), Alex Ninovic (Rodin Motorsport) and Newman Chi (CL Motorsport).

Hanna and Ninovic got either side of Powell down the long pit straight when the race began, and under braking Hanna took the lead on the inside line but did have a big lock-up. Ninovic took second, and Przyrowski passed Powell at turn two. R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri was briefly up to fifth there before a crash broke his rear-left suspension.

The safety car was required, and racing resumed on lap three. Chi sat fifth, ahead of Yuki Sano (R-ace), points leader Rashid Al Dhaheri (R-ace), Kean Nakamura-Berta (Mumbai Falcons), Alexander Abkhazava (MP Motorsport), Maximilian Popov (Trident) and Andrea Dupe (G4 Racing).

The top three gapped themselves, and at the end of the back straight Al Dhaheri tried going to the inside of Sano. Another attempt was made later in the lap, then he made it stick into the final corner. Once on the pit straight he cut to the inside, and Sano went into the back of him. Sano’s damaged car then spun, prompting the safety car to return.

Before it did, Popov got back past Dupe who had passed him off-track at the penultimate corner and then used the escape road from turns one to three. They eached had gained a place after Powell stopped on-track.

The next restart was on lap seven, and Abkhazava swept to the inside down the pit straight to defend against Popov. Przyrowski meanwhile went side-by-side with Ninovic through turns two and three, allowing Chi and Al Dhaheri to stick with them. Al Dhaheri and Chi swapped places twice, Przyrowski then had to hold off Chi at the end of the back straight, before Al Dhaheri attacked Chi again.

Hanna broke 1.3 seconds clear, and in the last five laps pulled away further for his maiden FRegional win. The fight for second settled down, but there was still drama behind. Popov attacked Nakamura early in lap eight, before the latter seemed to leave the door open for him to get through. Exiting the corner following the back straight, Nakamura slowed even more and blocked Van Amersfoort Racing’s Francisco Macedo who had just tried passing Abkhazava.

Nakamura fell down the order before pitting, and Macedo lost out to Dupe before spinning. Dupe’s next target was Abkhazava, who he cleared on lap 10, while Al Dhaheri was overtaken by Popov late on but still grew his points lead.

Race results (12 laps)

The post Salim Hanna keeps it cool for first FRegional Middle East win at Dubai appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Top Speed

ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato converted pole into victory in the opening Formula Regional Middle East race at Dubai Autodrome.

Saturday’s action began with the first of two qualifying sessions, and Kato set a 1m53.167s lap mid-session that would not be beaten. MP Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava got closest, 0.083 seconds off Kato’s pace, and just 0.013s split Kean Nakamura-Berta (Mumbai Falcons), Rashid Al Dhaheri (R-ace GP) and Yuki Sano (R-ace) who were all within 0.17s of pole.

Half a second split the top 11, and a second covered the top 24 on pace. Pinnacle Motorsport’s title outsider Alex Powell qualified 12th.

Kato was immediately defensive when race one began, moving to the inside, to the outside, back to the inside and then to the outside again on the long run to the opening corner. He also weaved down the back straight, but by then he already had a gap to Abkhazava.

His lead stood at 0.9s for several laps, and he began pulling away further on lap five. But it took until lap 10 to be 1.2s clear, and after building a 1.475s gap it was soon reduced back to 0.9s. Kato had the pace advantage again on the final lap, being victorious by 1.335s.

The fight for third was similarly calm after lap one. Al Dhaheri tried the outside into the braking zone at the end of the back straight on lap one, then tried again through the corner before the esses. Nakamura-Berta ran wide at the next hairpin, and Al Dhaheri got past but then went too wide exiting the corner and the extra steering input required after allowed Nakamura-Berta to get back alongside and reclaim third into the final corner.

Nakamura-Berta defended down the straights on lap two, and soon had a 0.8s gap. In the race’s second half he grew it to 1.2s, and in the final two laps pulled away even more.

Trident’s Maximilian Popov climbed from eighth to fifth on lap one, and had to get defensive at the end of the back straight on lap two as both Sano and team-mate Emanuele Olivieri tried passing him on the inside.

Sano began attacking again on lap 13 of 16, making a dive at the same place. It did not work, and there was another attempt on lap 14 but he still could not break Popov’s defenses.

There was more drama outside of the points. Mumbai Falcons’ Sebastian Wheldon and G4 Racing’s Artem Severiukhin collided on lap six, and MP’s Jesse Carrasquedo parked up at the pitlane exit on lap nine after running in 11th place.

Rodin Motorsport’s Reza Seewooruthun also stopped on track, having previously been chasing Powell. Through the rest of the race, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Francisco Macedo was filling his mirrors and repeatedly tried to get past him using the outside line into turn one. Powell held on to finish 12th and take reversed-grid pole for race two.

Race results (16 laps)

The post Kato converts pole into victory in FRME’s first Dubai Autodrome race appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

Reno Francot will make his Formula Regional Middle East this weekend at Dubai Autodrome with CL Motorsport.

After Michael Belov departed its line-up following a horror shunt in race three of the campaign, CL has signed Reno Francot to fill its third car for the remaining two rounds at Dubai and Losail.

The 18-year-old Dutchman was 2023 F4 Central European Zone runner-up, 10th in the United Arab Emirates-based Formula Trophy series in 2024, then third in E4 and fifth in F4 Middle East last year. He also made a FRegional cameo in the European championship.

MP Motorsport has also revised its line-up. Christian Ho’s two-round deal has concluded, and he sits seventh in the standings with one win and one other podium at the season’s halfway point. He is replaced this weekend by Jesse Carrasquedo Jr, who will be driving for Van Amersfoort Racing in the FIA Formula 3 Championship later this year.

The 18-year-old Mexican has been racing at the FRegional level since 2023. He has no points from 12 FREC starts, one podium from 23 races in FRME and has had far more success from his 30 races in Eurocup-3. He won as a part-timer in 2024, and was fifth in the 2025 standings with two victories. He was also eighth in its winter series.

Carrasquedo, Francot and R-ace GP’s debutant Emanuele Olivieri got some crucial running at Dubai in FRME’s pre-event test sessions on Thursday and Friday.

Trident’s Maximilian Popov was fastest, setting a 1m53.523s in session two to lead Mumbai Falcons duo Sebastian Wheldon and Kean Nakamura-Berta by 0.051 and 0.094 seconds respectively. Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix), Alex Ninovic (Rodin Motorsport) and Alexander Abkhazava (MP) were also within 0.2s of Popov, and a second covered the top 23 drivers in the expanded 32-car field.

R-ace’s points leader Rashid Al Dhaheri was 0.384s off the pace in eighth place, and fell down to last in the one-hour free practice session on Friday afternoon.

Setting the pace were G4 Racing’s Andrea Dupe and Jules Roussel, after being 22nd and 14th in testing, with the former posting a 1m54.270s late on to claim top spot by 0.026s.

Olivieri trailed by 0.159s in third place, and just 0.026s ahead of Nakamura-Berta whose personal best came before his final set of laps. Artem Severiukhin made it three G4 drivers in the top five, and also in a top eight split by 0.277s were Reza Seewooruthun (Rodin), title contender Alex Powell (Pinnacle Motorsport) and Giovanni Maschio (Race Performance Motorsport).

There were 25 drivers within a second of Dupe, while Al Dhaheri only set eight laps in total (the second least in the field) and was 2.127s off the pace.

Free practice results

The post Francot joins FRegional Middle East field, G4 Racing 1-2 in practice appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Top Speed

Rashid Al Dhaheri extended his Formula Regional Middle East points lead in round two at Yas Marina Circuit last week.

Pre-event testing took place on Friday, and R-ace GP’s Al Dhaheri set a 1m39.957s to be quickest by 0.258 seconds over Mumbai Falcons’ Kean Nakamura-Berta. Alex Powell (Pinnacle Motorsport) was a further 0.048s behind, with Andrea Dupe (G4 Racing) and Sebastian Wheldon (Mumbai Falcons) also lapping sub-1m40.3s. A second covered the top 22.

Practice ended the day, and it was the same top two. This time a 1m39.560s put Al Dhaheri ahead by just 0.028s, with Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic trailing by 0.184s in third. Powell was fourth, and 25 drivers were within a second of Al Dhaheri’s benchmark.

Absent from the action was CL Motorsport’s Michael Belov, as team and driver parted ways ahead of the event following Belov’s horror shunt in round one the week before. While Belov posted on social media that there was “not much to say” about the split, he actually provided some key details about it and his future plans:

“We had a very difficult first round last week, we were on the car developing, but faced mechanical issue. Car has same balance, doesn’t matter what set-up change we did, which is very wierd and compromised a lot. And then in race two had a big accident on the start, crashed into stalled car, wasn’t my fault.

Anyway, Thanks to CL Motorsport for the work. I’m open for offers [to rejoin the grid] and ready to fight.”

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning, and was split into two sessions. In Q1 it was a similar story to the previous day, but this time Nakamura-Berta was ahead. He pipped Al Dhaheri by 0.168s with a 1m39.822s lap, and there was a gap of over 0.33s to Wheldon and Powell in third and fourth. Yuki Sano (R-ace) was 0.531s off pole in fifth, but then the same gap split him from 22nd place.

MP Motorsport’s Christian Ho entered the event as Al Dhaheri’s closest rival in the points table, but faced a steep challenge to maintain that status in race one as he qualified a lowly 18th for it. His team-mate Alexander Abkhazava, third in the standings after round one, was 0.16s faster but that equated to being 11th on the timesheet.

In Q2, Wheldon earned race three pole by a tiny margin. A 1m39.787s that was laid down mid-session got close to being beaten, but Al Dhaheri came 0.024s short on his final lap and Nakamura-Berta was 0.048s shy with his fourth lap of eight.

ART Grand Prix’s Kabir Anurag was 0.373s off pole in fourth, with Powell and Abkhazava within half a second of Wheldon in fifth and sixth. Sano was seventh, and being 0.711s off the pace put Ho in 13th. The top 21 were split by a second.

Race one concluded Saturday in a mostly undramatic fashion. Nakamura-Berta challenged Al Dhaheri at the start, and Powell passed Wheldon before the hotel section on lap one, but the most notable thing about the first seven laps was track limits warnings.

The first overtaking attempt in the top 10 after the opening lap was on lap 12. Wheldon nosed ahead of Powell around the outside of the opening corner, but Powell had the better exit to be third into the hotel section where he ran off-track trying to keep Wheldon at bay. By the time the pair rejoined the circuit, the race had been red flagged due to MP’s Alceu Feldmann Neto being upside down at the final chicane following contact with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Yuhao Fu.

After a 22-minute stoppage, the race restarted with two laps behind the safety car and enough time for four laps of racing following that. Al Dhaheri nailed the return to racing speeds and went unchallenged for his second successive win, and Nakamura-Berta gapped Powell.

A five-second penalty for track limits abuse demoted Wheldon from fourth to seventh, behind Sano, Artem Severiukhin (G4) and Anurag.

Abkhazava scored a point in 10th after Trident’s Andrija Kostic was disqualified from eighth on-the-road, Ho finished 17th, and the race ended with Rodin’s Reza Seewooruthun ploughing into the barriers.

Finishing 12th put Ninovic on reversed-grid pole for race two on Sunday, which took place on a wet track. There was a mix of slicks and wet tyres chosen by drivers for their route to the grid, albeit Kato in 14th and Race Performance Motorsport’s Giovanni Maschio in 19th were the highest-placed starters on slicks after Ninovic made a late change to wets while waiting.

The safety car led the field through lap one, with Pinnacle’s August Raber pitting from 20th for slicks at the end of the formation lap and Kostic doing the same from the rear of the grid.

There was lots of spray once the field got up to racing speeds on lap two, and Ninovic slid through the first corner so lost the lead to fellow front row starter Jan Przyrowski (R-P-M). Severiukhin lost his front wing by driving into the back of Francisco Macedo (VAR) and had to pit, and Przyrowski initially pulled away.

He was 1.8s clear by lap four, as Trident’s Maximilian Popov occupied fourth place behind Abkhazava and fifth place was disputed by Nakamura-Berta and Wheldon. Soon Abkhazava was dropping back, and ended lap five in seventh.

Ninovic took the lead from Przyrowski into turn one of the grand prix layout that lap, Wheldon made a bold pass on Abkhazava into the hotel section and was soon followed through by Anurag. Next to overtake Abkhazava was Sano, and he then began trading places with Anurag for several laps.

Abkhazava got involved in a crash on lap eight then pulled off to retire on lap nine, while Ho pitted to change tyres, weakening their title challenges.

Feldmann had another dramatic crash on lap 10, which led to the safety car coming out and Ninovic’s 2.33s lead being eradicated. However with Enea Frey (CL) also stopping on track it meant there was no restart and it ensured Ninovic won. Powell finished 28th, copping a penalty for causing a collision, and down in 15th Al Dhaheri had his points lead reduced by Nakamura-Berta who came home fifth.

Race three was fully dry, and despite two safety car interruptions ran for 15 laps and was a relatively easy win for Al Dhaheri. He made a better start than Wheldon and passed him on the inside into the opening corner, and when Wheldon went off entering the next turn he lost another position to Nakamura-Berta.

Popov crashing out on lap one caused the first safety car period, and Dion Gowda (VAR) crashing out mid-race triggered the next.

Al Dhaheri’s winning margin was 0.927s, with Nakamura-Berta usually able to match his pace while Wheldon was left behind until late on when he pressured his team-mate. Abkhazava took fourth by overtaking Anurag off track on lap one, and Powell held off attacks from Sano early on for sixth.

Ho went points-free again in 11th, dropping to seventh in the standings, finishing just ahead of Salim Hanna (Mumbai Falcons) and Ninovic.

Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Rashid Al Dhaheri R-ace GP 31m19.022s
2 Kean Nakamura-Berta Mumbai Falcons +1.609s
3 Alex Powell Pinnacle Motorsport +4.009s
4 Yuki Sano R-ace GP +5.054s
5 Artem Severiukhin G4 Racing +6.129s
6 Kabir Anurag ART Grand Prix +7.044s
7 Sebastian Wheldon Mumbai Falcons +9.536s
8 Maximilian Popov Trident +9.593s
9 Francisco Macedo Van Amersfoort Racing +10.994s
10 Alexander Abhazava MP Motorsport +11.321s
Pole: Nakamura-Berta, 1m39.822s
Fastest lap: Al Dhaheri, 1m40.480s

Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Alex Ninovic Rodin Motorsport 32m17.205s
2 Jan Przyrowski R-P-M +0.217s
3 Popov +0.654s
4 Wheldon +1.0797s
5 Nakamura-Berta +1.607s
6 Anurag +1.932s
7 Miguel Costa R-P-M +2.807s
8 Sano +4.080s
9 Reza Seewooruthun Rodin Motorsport +4.338s
10 Jules Roussel G4 Racing +5.910s
FL: Powell, 1m50.711s

Race 3 (15 laps)
1 Al Dhaheri 30m59.602s
2 Nakamura-Berta +0.927s
3 Wheldon +1.582s
4 Abkhazava +2.785s
5 Anurag +4.274s
6 Powell +5.999s
7 Sano +6.070s
8 Taito Kato ART Grand Prix +6.886s
9 Severiukhin +7.416s
10 Costa +7.885s
P: Wheldon, 1m39.787s
FL: Al Dhaheri, 1m41.698s

Championship standings
1 Al Dhaheri 103   2 Nakamura-Berta 68   3 Powell 49   4 Abkhazava 46   5 Popov 46   6 Ninovic 46   7 Christian Ho 44   8 Anurag 38   9 Wheldon 33   10 Costa 26

The post Al Dhaheri pulls away in FRegional Middle East title fight with two wins appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Top Speed

Local talent Rashid Al Dhaheri emerged from the opening Formula Regional Middle East round, the first ever event using second-generation FRegional machinery, as points leader.

A new era began at Yas Marina Circuit last Saturday, in two ways for FRME as it swapped championship for FIA regional trophy status, and Pinnacle Motorsport’s Alex Powell set the pace in free practice. A 1m48.178s put him 0.127 seconds ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Kabir Anurag, as a second covered the top 25 in the 32-car field.

Two qualifying sessions followed, and MP Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava denied R-ace GP’s Al Dhaheri race one pole by a tiny 0.001s in Q1. Trident’s Maximilian Popov and Mumbai Falcons’ Kean Nakamura-Berta trailed by 0.019s and 0.029s respectively, with ART GP’s Taito Kato 0.102s off the pace and edging Powell to fifth by 0.005s.

Half a second split the top 10, and 26 drivers were within a second of pole.

Al Dhaheri lowered the pace in Q2, earning race three pole by 0.109s over Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic who was 0.001s ahead of Nakamura-Berta. Powell was 0.208s behind in fourth, with Popov a further 0.029s slower. Abkhazava was 0.499s off in 11th, a second split the top 26, while Sebastian Wheldon (Mumbai Falcons) and Jules Roussel (G4 Racing) failed to set any laptimes in both sessions.

Race one concluded the day, and Abkhazava held off Al Dhaheri for victory. There were several stallers on the formation lap, then on the actual start (which took place on the South circuit’s pit straight) the poleman swept across and Al Dhaheri was briefly beyond track limits due to it.

He kept with the leader, and tried the outside into the final chicane. Abkhazava’s defence allowed Al Dhaheri to draw alongside as they began lap two, but there was still no change of position and Al Dhaheri remained in Abkhazava’s mirrors for the rest of the race’s 17-lap duration. His only other overtaking opportunity was into the last chicane on lap five.

The top six starters actually all held their positions, although several came close to track limits penalties. Powell was all over Kato on lap nine but his attempt to get alongside instead set up Ninovic to attack him. Ninovic had pressured Powell on lap four, having overtaken MP’s Christian Ho on lap one.

The race’s biggest moment of drama was a crash for MP’s Alceu Feldmann Neto, who was a lapped 32nd place after pitting.

Trident’s Andrija Kostic finished 12th, earning him reversed-grid pole for race two on Sunday. He packed in drama before the start, as he spun at the final corner of the formation lap and was handed a drive-through penalty as a result.

Rodin’s Maxim Rehm was due to start fourth but a technical issue meant he pitted at the end of the formation lap. It meant he avoided a huge crash at the start, as team-mate Reza Seewooruthun stalled from second place and was hit from behind by CL Motorsport’s Michael Belov (who had no time to avoid an impact) in a horror crash. Two wheels were instantly ripped off and sent skywards, eventually landing without hitting either driver, and further damage left Belov’s chassis as a wreck.

Kostic had swept across off the line and had his advantage removed by red flags, with a stoppage lasting over 26 minutes before the race restarted from the pitlane, behind the safety car and with the clock reset to 25 minutes remaining.

The field actually began racing on lap three, and Race Performance Motorsport’s Miguel Costa in second was instantly defensive against Ho. The top three pulled away, as Nakamura-Berta smashed into Powell at the chicane.

This helped Ninovic move up to fourth ahead of Kato, Popov, Abkhazava and Al Dhaheri. Just behind them were Artem Severiukhin (G4 Racing) and Jan Przyrowski (R-P-M) but they collided and spun at the first corner of lap four and the safety car was summoned.

Racing resumed on lap six, and Costa led the way as Kostic went to serve his penalty. Ho quickly took the lead from him and pulled away, Kato overtook Ninovic into the hotel section and Al Dhaheri cleared Popov at the hairpin. Kato ended the lap attempting to go around Costa’s outside at the chicane, and on the next lap he got alongside again but rode kerbs that sent him skyward and then hard into the barriers once his front wheels were back on the ground.

The safety car was needed once more, with Ninovic and Mumbai Falcons’ Salim Hanna now completing the top four.

Green flags waved again on lap nine, and Ho pulled away over the four laps that remained to win by 1.45s. Al Dhaheri attacked Hanna down the circuit’s regular pit straight on the restart lap, then had a huge lock-up into the hairpin and lost out to Abkhazava.

He swept across to defend down the next straight, almost pushing Al Dhaheri off, but they traded fifth place again on lap 10.

Al Dhaheri’s best performance was in race three, which he led lights-to-flag. Ninovic lurched forward before stalling and falling down the field, meaning Powell was the poleman’s closest rival at first as Ho edged his way past Popov for third.

Popov lost out to Nakamura-Berta later in the lap, then to Anurag on lap two. As the latter then tried passing Nakamura-Berta next time by, Popov took his chance to get back alongside briefly but that brought CL’s Newman Chi into play. Their fighting paused on lap four as the safety car appeared due to Pinnacle’s August Raber crashing out.

Racing resumed two laps later and Al Dhaheri instantly gapped Powell. Ho came under pressure for third, and Anurag slid through the final chicane but retained fifth. The safety car and then red flags were needed again by lap eight, as Wheldon had sent R-P-M’s Giovanni Maschio hard into the barriers on the pit straight and debris was littered across the track.

After a 13-minute break, the safety car led the field back out of the pits with 11 minutes of racing left. There was far less than that when Al Dhaheri actually brought the field back to racing speeds with four laps to go, and he once again pulled away to take his maiden FRegional victory and the points lead.

Nakamura-Berta once again attacked Ho at times but could not force a move, and actually lost fourth to Anurag later in the race. The most exciting battles occurred outside of the points positions, with both Ninovic and Rehm pulling off double overtakes.

Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Alexander Abkhazava MP Motorsport 30m59.833s
2 Rashid Al Dhaheri R-ace GP +0.443s
3 Maximilian Popov Trident +2.975s
4 Kean Nakamura-Berta Mumbai Falcons +3.835s
5 Taito Kato ART Grand Prix +6.990s
6 Alex Powell Pinnacle Motorsport +8.573s
7 Alex Ninovic Rodin Motorsport +9.583s
8 Christian Ho MP Motorsport +10.153s
9 Maxim Rehm Rodin Motorsport +13.898s
10 Miguel Costa R-P-M +14.647s
Pole: Abkhazava, 1m48.713s
Fastest lap: Nakamura-Berta, 1m48.781s

Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Ho 28m12.075s
2 Costa +1.451s
3 Ninovic +2.894s
4 Salim Hanna Mumbai Falcons +4.525s
5 Al Dhaheri +4.615s
6 Abkhazava +5.222s
7 Francisco Macedo Van Amersfoort Racing +7.170s
8 Popov +7.724s
9 Newman Chi CL Motorsport +9.845s
10 Gerrard Xie R-ace GP +10.197s
FL: Ho, 1m49.118s

Race 3 (13 laps)
1 Al Dhaheri 30m03.654s
2 Powell +1.365s
3 Ho +2.461s
4 Kabir Anurag ART Grand Prix +3.629s
5 Nakamura-Berta +4.297s
6 Popov +5.118s
7 Chi +5.996s
8 Andrija Kostic Trident +7.904s
9 Artem Severiukhin G4 Racing +8.810s
10 Yuki Sano R-ace GP +9.169s
P: Al Dhaheri, 1m48.148s
FL: Al Dhaheri, 1m48.779s

Championship standings
1 Al Dhaheri 53   2 Ho 44   3 Abkhazava 33   4 Popov 27   5 Powell 26   6 Nakamura-Berta 22   7 Ninovic 21   8 Costa 19   9 Hanna 12   10 Anurag 12

The post FRegional’s Gen2 era starts with three victors and big crash in Abu Dhabi appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FRME

ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato topped Formula Regional Middle East pre-season testing at Yas Marina Circuit this week as the grid grew ahead of this weekend’s opening round.

Kean Nakamura-Berta led Mumbai Falcons team-mate Sebastian Wheldon in session one on Tuesday, with Pinnacle Motorsport’s Alex Powell beating Wheldon by 0.053 seconds to top the slower session two.

Wheldon pipped Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dion Gowda by 0.016s in session three, but did not improve on his previous best laptime.

Kato concluded Tuesday by lowering the pace to 1m48.053s in session four, leading MP Motorsport’s Christian Ho by 0.11s and Powell by 0.137s.

Powell set a 1m48.519s to top session five by 0.105s over Trident’s Maximilian Popov, with a 0.285s gap to MP’s third-placed Alexander Abkhazava.

ART GP’s Kabir Anurag was 22nd, but jumped to first in session six with a 1m48.857s, topping the timesheet by 0.184s over Kato while Race Performance Motorsport’s Jan Przyrowski trailed by 0.485s in third.

Anurag improved to 1m48.829s in session seven, denying Wheldon top spot by 0.01s and Ho by 0.027s. Kato was fourth, 0.137s behind.

VAR’s Francisco Macedo set a 1m48.358s to top session eight by 0.212s over Powell and 0.229s to Ho, with a second splitting the top 22.

During testing, nine drivers were announced as joining FRME’s grid. R-ace GP’s line-up now exceeds its car count, as Gerrard Xie will race in rounds one and two then Emanuele Olivieri will contest rounds three and four.

Euroformula and GB3 race-winner Xie spent 2025 in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, and last year R-ace ran Olivieri to the Formula 4 Middle East title and second in the FIA F4 World Cup.

The Prema-run Mumbai Falcons team has promoted Salim Hanna, new Williams Formula 1 junior Nakamura-Berta and Wheldon from its F4 squad. Wheldon came third in Italian F4 and fourth in E4 last year, while Hanna was fourth and seventh.

Macedo, who was 14th in Eurocup-3 last year, has joined VAR for FRME and the FRegional European Championship while Trident has told Formula Scout that Luka Sammalisto has left its 2026 FREC line-up but not shared why.

CL Motorsport will run Michael Belov, Newman Chi and Enea Frey in FRME after fielding them part-time in FREC last year.

The ultra-experienced Belov came seventh in FREC’s 2022 season, 11th in FRME predecessor the FRegional Asian Championship and 13th in the FRegional-spec Formula Renault Eurocup back in 2020, and last year was 15th in both FREC and the FRegional-based Eurocup-3.

His 2026 team-mates primarily spent 2025 in F4. Chi came fifth in Italian F4 and ninth in F4 Middle East, while Frey was ninth in Formula Winter Series and 14th in E4.

Test results

The post Kato tops FRME testing in new car as grid grows before round one appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

MP Motorsport has announced the three-driver line-up it will start the 2026 Formula Regional Middle East season with.

Alexander Abkhazava and Alceu Feldmann Neto will do the full four-round campaign, which begins this weekend, while Christian Ho is contesting the first half of the season at Yas Marina Circuit only.

This year is Abkhazava’s third at the FRegional level, and second with MP. In 2024 he raced for Pinnacle Motorsport in FRME, coming 15th in the standings. He then joined Sainteloc Racing for Eurocup-3, where he took one win en route to ninth in the championship, and the FIA FRegional World Cup-awarding Macau Grand Prix which he finished ninth in.

At the start of 2025 the now 19-year-old Kazakh [pictured top] joined MP for Eurocup-3, which was using FRegional chassis at the time. He came 15th in the winter series then 12th in the main championship with two podiums.

“It’s great to remain part of the MP family and head to the Middle East for the FRegional Trophy,” said Abkhazava. “It’s always helpful to get some mileage in before the regular season. It also allows the team to get an early start on the new [Tatuus T-326] FRegional chassis and engine.”

Feldmann heads to FRME after two years in his home championship Brazilian Formula 4 and one year in Eurocup-3. In the former he came 14th in his half-season as a rookie, then was fifth last year with two wins, four other podiums and two poles. Racing in the latter he was a points-free 29th in the winter series and 32nd in the main championship with Palou Motorsport.

Ho, who is 19 and hails from Singapore, will be stepping down the single-seater ladder to race in FRME. He was 2023 Spanish F4 runner-up, 2024 Eurocup-3 champion and was 22nd in the FIA Formula 3 Championship last year. His FRME outings are to warm up for a second season in Formula 1’s support paddock, where he will switch from DAMS to Rodin Motorsport.

MP already knows him well, having run him as a car racing rookie in F4 United Arab Emirates and Spanish F4 back in 2022.

French team R-ace GP now has two FRME drivers, as Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Rashid Al Dhaheri joins its line-up. The 17-year-old Emirati ends a three-year association with Prema, with whom he was sixth in FRME and eighth in the FRegional European Championship last year after being Formula Trophy runner-up and fourth in F4 UAE in 2024.

Yuki Sano had already been announced as Al Dhaheri’s team-mate, while Euroformula race-winner and FIA F3 points-scorer Gerrard Xie has been driving one of R-ace’s cars in pre-season testing.

The post MP Motorsport and R-ace GP announce FRegional Middle East line-ups appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: F4 ME

G4 Racing and Pinnacle Motorsport have each announced a fleet of drivers for the upcoming Formula Regional Middle East season.

The star name among the two line-ups is Alex Powell, who will be racing for Pinnacle and has recently dropped off the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team’s junior driver roster.

Now 18 years old, the Miami-born Jamaican had been a Mercedes junior since 2019 when he was in mini karting. He concluded his karting career in 2023 with the Champions of the Future title and third in the CIK-FIA European championship on OK class karts, and the runner-up spot in the FIA World Cup for KZ2 shifter karts.

At the end of that year he joined Prema in Formula 4, an alliance that led to coming fifth in Italian F4 and winning races in E4 and F4 United Arab Emirates. For 2025 he switched to R-ace GP, and was F4 Middle East runner-up before E4 and Italian F4 campaigns that led to further race wins. He also reunited with Prema for a FRegional European Championship cameo.

In FRME he will be team-mate to 16-year-old Emirati-Swedish racer August Raber. He came 21st in British F4 then 11th in Formula Trophy as a single-seater rookie in 2024, then was a race-winning seventh in British F4 and eighth in F4 Middle East last year as well as getting FRegional-level experience by doing two rounds in GB3.

Over at G4, the team’s former karting protege Andrea Dupe, Jules Roussel and Artem Severiukhin have been signed.

Dupe raced for three teams last year, starting off his car racing career with AS Motorsport. He came 17th in Formula Winter Series with the team, then joined PHM Racing in Italian F4 before switching to Prema mid-campaign. That also led to the 17-year-old Frenchman doing two E4 rounds in the latter’s line-up, and he was outside of the top 20 in the standings of both championship.

Roussel, also French but two years older, graduates to FRegional after two seasons in the centrally-run French F4 championship. He won two races as a sophomore, putting him third in the points, and capped off 2025 by winning the centrally-run FIA F4 World Cup in Macau.

Severiukhin hails from Russia, and the 18-year-old steps up to FRME with one year of F4 experience. He came 10th in the FWinter Series and 13th in Italian F4 with Jenzer Motorsport, and made a Spanish F4 cameo with Drivex School.

The post Alex Powell headed to FRME as G4 Racing and Pinnacle grow line-ups appeared first on Formula Scout.