Emirati Al Qubaisi denied Formula 4 UAE double after first-lap collision
Amna Al Qubaisi’s reign of supremacy in the Formula 4 UAE event came to a dramatic close yesterday after a smash with fellow driver Nicola Marangeli in the first lap of the final race.
The Abu Dhabi Racing driver cut across the car of her Xcel Motorsport competitor after trying to retake the lead, resulting in an impact of such force that it jammed her rear wheel up into an angle 90 degrees away from where it should have been.
The incident ended Al Qubaisi’s race and her chances of back-to-back victories following Saturday’s win at Yas Marina Circuit, when the Emirati led from start to finish.
Marangeli continued initially, but the crash forced her out of contention, leaving her to finish 12th.
In a scrappy race, the spoils were left to Xcel Motorsport’s Alex Connor, who had finished third in Saturday’s race.
Manaf Hijjawi of Dragon Racing was second, having pressed Connor hard throughout.
Connor’s teammate, Tijmen van der Helm, secured the final podium slot. Goehler held on to finish fourth ahead of Rodrigo Almeida in fifth and Saudi Arabia’s Reema Juffali in sixth.
Xcel Motorsport drivers Ivan Peklin and Mehrbod Shameli followed in seventh and eighth with Logan Hannah and Constantin Reisch completing the top 10. Amna’s sister, Hamda, finished down in 11th after her car suffered a broken front wing mid race.
Luca Ghiotto eased to victory in the final Formula 2 sprint race of 2019. The Italian passed early leader Guiliano Alesi
heading into Turn 11 and had the pace to keep the field at bay, crossing the finish line more than seven seconds clear.
Nicholas Latifi attempted to close down the UNI-Virtuosi driver in the closing laps, but two quick-fire Virtual Safety Cars ended the Canadian’s hopes as he settled for second in his final race before moving to F1 in 2020 with Williams.
The winner of Saturday’s feature race, Sergio Sette Camara, produced a brilliant drive to move up from eighth on the grid to third to secure a double podium for the DAMS marque. He would pass Ferrari Academy driver Callum Ilott for that place on the penultimate lap, with the Briton in fourth.
After struggling with high tyre wear for much of the race, Alesi
would ultimately drop from pole down to fifth place ahead of Louis Deletraz.
Nobuhara Matsushita followed in seventh, with Jack Aitken coming through to claim the final point in eighth, passing Mick Schumacher on the final lap.
After finishing on the podium on Saturday, Guanya Zhou failed to repeat that performance yesterday as the Renault junior rounded out the top 10 to finish.
The incident ended her chances of back-toback victories following Saturday’s win