Abkhazava and Bondarev triumph in thrilling Dubai Autodrome climax

2026

Alex Powell was in the enviable position of claiming pole position for both FRME races – this one on the reversed grid for finishing 12th in the Saturday encounter. But his momentum was not ideal away from the start. Powell was immediately swamped by Salim Hanna and the fast-starting Alex Ninovic, up from fourth on the grid. Ninovic then tried to go around the outside of Hanna at Turn 2 to take the lead, but had to tuck in behind the Colombian once again. Meanwhile, Powell was down to fourth after Jan Przyrowski went around his outside at Turn 1.

Just behind the leading quartet, contact between Newman Chi Zhenrui and Emanuele Olivieri at Turn 2 resulted in Olivieri becoming stranded with deranged rear suspension, while Maksimilian Popov had to run wide around the Italian in avoidance, losing several positions. The safety car was called in order to retrieve the R-ace GP car of Olivieri.

On the resumption of the race, things did not improve for Powell, who got onto the kerb at the exit of Turn 12 and was collected by Chi, forcing the Pinnacle Motorsport-run Jamaican-American out of the race. Chi had not only escaped unscathed from his first-lap incident, but also this one, and the CL Motorsport’s Chinese driver was now up to fourth. In his wake was a superb battle between Yuki Sano and points leader Rashid Al Dhaheri. The local racer pulled off a terrific move to take what was now fifth place at Turn 16, but Sano fought back as they passed the pits, only to clip the barrier, forcing his exit from the race - and the finale - with a damaged car. Once again, the safety car emerged.

Hanna again executed the restart well, while Ninovic, Przyrowski, Chi and Al Dhaheri all squabbled over the first of six laps of racing that remained. Eventually they settled in that order. Hanna scored a fine maiden Formula Regional win by 1.370 seconds over Ninovic in second, Przyrowski third and Chi fourth. Al Dhaheri, however, could not hang on to fifth place, with the recovering Popov passing him on the 10th lap of 12 to take the position – Popov was also third Rookie home, behind Hanna and Przyrowski. After the race, Chi was penalised five seconds for his incident with Powell, dropping him to sixth, and elevating the Trident car of Popov to fourth and Al Dhaheri to fifth.

Kean Nakamura-Berta had also run ahead of Popov before he slowed and headed to the pits, and it was G4 Racing’s French youngster Andrea Dupé who crossed the finish line seventh after passing Alexander Abkhazava around the outside of Turn 11 on lap 10. Francisco Macedo had been in the mix in this battle before he spun at Turn 14 in a bid to repass Dupé, so it was Rodin Motorsport-run German Maxim Rehm who came home ninth, while ART Grand Prix’s Singaporean Alpine F1 protégé Kabir Anurag emerged from a fierce battle with Saturday winner Taito Kato and Enea Frey to claim 10th. Dupé was then hit with a five-second battle for running off track at Turn 7 in order to keep ahead of Rehm as they battled. Abkhazava therefore moved up to seventh in the final classification, with Rehm eighth, Anurag ninth and Dupé down to 10th.

The unlucky Alex Powell, who must have so looked forward to his day when he woke up anticipating two pole position starts, could not take up his place on the grid due to the damage incurred in race two. That left Alexander Abkhazava alone on the front row. Kean Nakamura-Berta got a better start and drew alongside on the run to Turn 1, but conceded the corner to the MP Motorsport car. Both then drifted wide, allowing Alex Ninovic, who got a much better exit, to sweep around the outside of Nakamura-Berta at Turn 2 and then claim the inside line for the following Turn 3. Nakamura-Berta fought back and slipstreamed past Ninovic on the back straight to reclaim second place, but this infighting had allowed Abkhazava to extend an advantage of 1.224s by the end of lap one.

Ninovic then lost third place on the second lap to a superb move from Emanuele Olivieri. The Italian newcomer went down the inside at Turn 10, clung on around the outside of Turn 11 and then claimed the position at Turn 12. He now set off in chase of Nakamura-Berta, who was still a second adrift of Abkhazava when the safety car appeared on lap five. Towards the tail of the field, Alceu Feldmann Neto was doing battle with Newman Chi Zhenrui when he made contact with the rear of the Chinese driver as they exited Turn 16 onto the start-finish straight. The two cars squirmed across the track and Feldmann Neto made contact with the pit wall, stranding the Brazilian’s car. Chi was given a time penalty for this, after being adjudged to have made his defensive move too late.

At the restart, Nakamura-Berta anticipated Abkhazava’s getaway almost too well, because he had to lock up at Turn 16 in a bid to arrest the momentum that could have carried him past into the lead while the race was still technically under safety car conditions. He regrouped and made a bid at Turn 10, then another at Turn 12. Scuff marks on the nose of Nakamura-Berta’s car told the story of how close they had come, and another bid around the outside of Turn 14 was also repelled by Abkhazava. Now Olivieri latched on to make it a three-car train, and one lap later he tried an outside move on Nakamura-Berta at Turn 1, which was successfully resisted.

All this had allowed Abkhazava to extend a lead of 1.7s, but Nakamura-Berta, after shrugging off Olivieri, began to bring this gap down. With a lap to go he was within a second, and as they crossed the finish line it was just 0.555s. This was a great Formula Regional race, and one more lap could have changed everything. As it was, Abkhazava took victory, with Nakamura-Berta the Rookie winner and third-placed Olivieri taking runner-up in the Rookie class.

Ninovic ran fourth at the restart, but the first time through Turn 16 he was the victim of contact from Dion Gowda that spun him to the tail of the field. Indian racer Gowda thereafter had a lonely run to fourth in his Van Amersfoort Racing car, and was penalised 10 seconds after the race after being adjudged to be to blame for Ninovic’s misfortune, dropping him to 10th in the final results.

Ninovic’s moment also delayed Sebastian Wheldon, allowing Jan Przyrowski to repass the American. Mumbai Falcons Racing-run Wheldon fought back but the Polish racer held on for what became fourth place after Gowda’s penalty, and third of the Rookies. Wheldon was also given a penalty – five seconds in his case – for running off track at Turn 15 when passing ART Grand Prix’s Japanese Honda junior Taito Kato, relegating him to ninth. Kato, the victor on Saturday, was next home so he was ultimately classified fifth, ahead of Salim Hanna and G4 Racing-run Frenchman Jules Roussel. Portuguese driver Francisco Macedo (Van Amersfoort Racing) passed Andrea Dupé with three laps remaining on his way to a final position of eighth, ahead of the penalised Wheldon and Gowda.