Finlay McSporran
Published: 14:36 19th January 2026
Alexander Abkhazava, Christian Ho, and Rashid Al Dhaheri became the first drivers to take victory in the new machinery.
Three different winners from three races in the first weekend of the newly renamed Formula Regional Middle-eastern Trophy.
Race 1
The first race with the new cars got off to a rather slow start, with multiple cars still in their grid box after the lights went out. Thankfully all the stallers were avoided.
Pole-sitter Alexander Abkhazava, who raced in Eurocup-3 last year, got a good enough start to chop across and cover off local driver Rashid Al Dhaheri, who lives just a few minutes from the track.
Al Dhaheri showed good pace throughout, keeping Abkhazava under pressure in the battle for the lead, but the Kazakhstan driver held on.
Abkhazava crossed the line to become the first winner in the new Tatuus T-326 car, and the first winner of the season, with Al Dhaheri second and Maksimilian Popov in third.
It was a clean and quiet race to start off the new season. Race two however would be different…
Race 2
Multiple drivers once again stalled at the start, including Reza Seewooruthun from the front row.
He was collected by Michael Belov, who was following another car which meant he couldn’t see Seewooruthun until it was too late.
Thankfully everyone escaped without injury, but the collision had left a lot of debris which needed to be cleared, bringing out an early red flag.
Andrija Kostic from Serbia would lead the field as the race resumed with 18 minutes plus a lap to go.
The green flags wouldn’t last long however, as the late-breaking Kean Nakamura-Berta mis-judged his braking and smashed into the side of Alex Powel, bringing out the safety car.
A drive-through penalty was given to race leader Kostic, after he spun on the formation lap, handing the lead to Miguel Ethel Costa.
He wouldn’t stay there for long however, as F3 driver Christian Ho was immediately on the attack, going down the inside of the swooping left-hander of turn one to take the lead.
Another safety car was deployed a few laps later for Taito Kato. The Japanese driver went airborne after hitting the sausage kerb on the outside of turn 1, which sent him flying into the barriers. Thankfully he was unharmed.
Race leader Ho managed the restart well, as the race finally settled down for the last five minutes.
Ho crossed the line in first to give MP Motorsport their second win of the weekend, as Ethel Costa took second and GB3 champion Alex Ninovic third.
Race 3
Race three once again saw some stallers on the grid, including Alex Ninovic who lined up second.
That left pole-sitter Al Dhaheri unchallenged as he lead from Powel and Ho.
There was a brief safety car period after August Raber found the wall, but racing resumed shortly after.
However, a big incident for Giovanni Maschio a couple of laps later brought out the second red flag of the weekend, after the Italian crashed heavily on the start/finish straight while battling with Sebastian Wheldon. He too was unharmed.
After the delay, Al Dhaheri led the field for the restart and controlled it well. He would lead for the remainder of the race, taking a memorable home win, with Powel and Ho joining him on the podium.
Has the new car been a success?
It’s too early to say for certain if the new car is an improvement over the last, but one thing is for sure – these cars are extremely safe.
There were plenty of big incidents throughout the weekend, and the fact that all drivers walked away without injury is testament to that.
Safety is always the number one priority in motorsport, and with the memory of Dilano van ‘t Hoff still in everyone’s mind, is re-assuring to see such a commitment to the safety of drivers.
As for the racing itself, it’s hard to say, but the early signs look okay, with lots of on track battles happening across the weekend.
Thankfully there’s not long to wait until wee see the cars back on track again, as round two kicks off on Friday at Yas Marina once again, this time using the Grand Prix layout.
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