Finlay McSporran
Published: 15:10, 24th January 2025

The Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi played host to round 2 of the Formula Regional middle-eastern championship this week, with British sensation Freddie Slater coming in as the title leader.

However, a disappointing weekend for the 16-year saw his 26 point advantage over second disappear, as Frenchman Evan Giltaire stood out in round 2.

Round 2 of the championship saw the series return to the Yas Marina circuit for a mid-week race, with qualifying getting underway on Tuesday and the three races being spread across Wednesday and Thursday.

Unlike the first round at at the weekend, which used the traditional Grand Prix layout, round 2 saw the drivers use the cork-screw layout which cuts out the turn four hairpin, and it was Freddie Slater who grabbed pole for race 1 during the first part of qualifying, continuing his great run of form after winning two out of the first three races.

Unfortunately for him, this form would not continue into the second part of qualifying as he could only manage P5 on the grid with his closest championship rival Evan Giltaire taking pole for race 3 and second for race 1.

Things wouldn’t get much better for Slater, as he struggled for pace in race 1 despite a good start, loosing the lead to Giltaire and Rashid Al Dhaheri who quickly pulled away from him as he plummeted down the order, eventually finishing in fifth place with Taito Kato rounding out the podium. PHM driver Brando Badoer (son of F1 driver Luca Badoer) finished 10th earning him the reverse grid pole for race 2 on Thursday.

Race 2 began with drama in the pit lane, as race 1 winner Giltaire failed to make the start due to mechanical issues, presenting an opportunity for Slater to make up for the damage done in Yesterdays race.

A good start for Badoer allowed him to hold the lead as Theophile Nael battled the R-ACE GP due of Nakamura and Macau GP winner Ugochukwu for second.

Their battle continued onto lap two as Nakamura tried to go round the outside of his teammate approaching the W hotel, with Ugochukwu running them both of the road allowing Nael to get after Badoer as the safety car came out for a stranded Lorenzo Castillo.

The safety car came in a few laps later as Badoer and Nael began to break away from Ugochukwu who was coming under pressure from Australian driver Jack Beeton, who passed the American to take P3 and the rookie win in race 2, as Badoer crossed the line 4.5 seconds ahead of Nael to take his first win of the season before he goes to Formula 3 with Prema later this year.

Slater finished race 2 in sixth place where he started, clawing back some points on Giltaire who would be starting race 3 from pole position, leaving Slater with a lot of work to do from fifth on the grid.

However as race 3 got underway, a late-breaking Taito Kato missed his mark while attempting to overtake Enzo Deligny, carrying too much speed into the corner and hitting Slater who was spun round, dropping him out of the points while his championship rival Giltaire lead the race!

In second place was the fast starting Ugochukwu, who overtook two cars around the outside of turn one after starting fourth, and was now looking to get past Giltaire as the safety car came in for the lap one incident.

With just eight minutes to go Ugochukwu took the lead with a late-breaking move into the final corner, and was now extending his lead out in front.

There was more drama to come however, as the camera picked up a car in the barriers and it was none other than race leader Ugochukwu! Unfortunately the cameras never picked up how he went off so it’s unknown if it was a driver or mechanical error.

This was however, great news for Giltaire as it meant that he reclaimed the lead as the race finished under the safety car resulting in a 30-point swing in Giltaires favour, meaning that he now leads the standings going into round 3 in Dubai in two weeks time.

Standings:

#	Drivers	Teams	Points
P1	Evan Giltaire	ART GP	110
P2	Freddie Slater	Mumbai Falcons	98
P3	Brando Badoer	Pinnacle Motorsport	92
P4	Theophile Nael	Sainteloc Racing	84
P5	Rashid Al Dhaheri	Mumbai Falcons	65

Tags:

Formula Regional

Road to F1