2024 Formula Regional Middle East Championship

The 2024 Formula Regional Middle East Championship was a multi-event, Formula Regional open-wheel single seater motor racing championship. The championship featured a mix of professional and amateur drivers, competing in Formula Regional cars. It was the second season of the championship, held in January and February of 2024.

Finnish driver Tuukka Taponen, driving for R-ace GP, won the Rookie Cup after the fourth round at Yas Marina with three races to spare. One race later, after the first encounter of the final weekend, he also won the overall Drivers' Championship, while his team clinched the Teams' Championship.

Teams and drivers

All drivers competed using identical Tatuus-built Formula Regional cars powered by a 270HP turbocharged Alfa Romeo engine and on Giti tires.^[1]

Team No. Driver Status Rounds R-ace GP[2] 1 Tuukka Taponen[3] R All 2 Jesse Carrasquedo Jr.[4] R All 19 Kanato Le[a][5] R 4–5 20 Zachary David[4] R All 34 Martinius Stenshorne[4] 1–3 Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited[6] 3 Ugo Ugochukwu[6] R All 8 Rafael Câmara[6] All 13 James Wharton[6] R All 23 Arvid Lindblad[6] R 1–3 Xcel Motorsport[2] 4 Noah Lisle[b][4] R All 96 Yaroslav Veselaho[4] R All PHM AIX Racing[2][4] 5 Taylor Barnard[7] All 15 Brando Badoer[8] R All 18 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak[9] All 66 Liu Ruiqi[10] R All MP Motorsport[2] 6 Bruno del Pino[4] All 26 Isaac Barashi[c][11] R 3–5 47 Nikhil Bohra[12] All 55 Valerio Rinicella[4] R 1–2 77 Emerson Fittipaldi Jr.[4] All Saintéloc Racing[2] 7 Pedro Clerot[13] R 1–2 Noah Strømsted[14] R 3 14 Matteo De Palo[13] R 1–2 José Garfias[14] 3–5 44 Théophile Naël[13] R All 74 Enzo Peugeot[15] R 4–5 Pinnacle Motorsport[2] 12 Alexander Abkhazava[d][16] R All 64 Mari Boya[16] All 69 Finley Green[16] R All 99 Giovanni Maschio[16] All Evans GP[17] 17 Edgar Pierre[18] R 4–5 27 John Bennett[19] R All 43 Costa Toparis[20] R All R&B Racing[2] 22 Wang Zhongwei[4] All 29 Gao Yujia[4] All

Icon Status R Rookie

Race calendar

The 2024 calendar was officially announced on 21 August 2023. The Kuwait Motor Town rounds that featured in the 2023 season were removed from the calendar, with the championship consisting only of rounds held in the UAE.^[21]

Round		Circuit	Date	Support bill	Map of circuit locations
1	R1	Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island (Corkscrew Circuit)	13 January	Formula 4 UAE Championship Clio Cup Middle East	Yas Marina Dubai
	R2		14 January
	R3
2	R4	Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island (Grand Prix Circuit)	20 January	Middle East Trophy (6H of Abu Dhabi) Formula 4 UAE Championship Gulf Radical Cup Gulf ProCar
	R5
	R6		21 January
3	R7	Dubai Autodrome, Dubai Motor City (Grand Prix Circuit)	3 February	Asian Le Mans Series (4H of Dubai) Formula 4 UAE Championship
	R8
	R9		4 February
4	R10	Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island (Grand Prix Circuit)	9 February	Asian Le Mans Series (4H of Abu Dhabi) Formula 4 UAE Championship Clio Cup Middle East
	R11		10 February
	R12
5	R13	Dubai Autodrome, Dubai Motor City (Grand Prix Circuit)	17 February	Formula 4 UAE Championship Gulf Radical Cup
	R14		18 February
	R15

Race results

Round		Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Rookie winner
1	R1	Yas Marina Circuit	Taylor Barnard	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Taylor Barnard	PHM AIX Racing	Tuukka Taponen
	R2			Taylor Barnard	Arvid Lindblad	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited	Arvid Lindblad
	R3		Taylor Barnard	Martinius Stenshorne	Taylor Barnard[e]	PHM AIX Racing	Ugo Ugochukwu
2	R4	Yas Marina Circuit	Tuukka Taponen	Tuukka Taponen	Tuukka Taponen	R-ace GP	Tuukka Taponen
	R5			Mari Boya	Théophile Naël	Saintéloc Racing	Théophile Naël
	R6		Tuukka Taponen	Tuukka Taponen	Tuukka Taponen	R-ace GP	Tuukka Taponen
3	R7	Dubai Autodrome	Taylor Barnard	Tuukka Taponen	Taylor Barnard	PHM AIX Racing	Tuukka Taponen
	R8			Mari Boya	Nikhil Bohra	MP Motorsport	Brando Badoer
	R9		Rafael Câmara	Rafael Câmara	Rafael Câmara	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited	Tuukka Taponen
4	R10	Yas Marina Circuit	Taylor Barnard	Tuukka Taponen	Taylor Barnard	PHM AIX Racing	Tuukka Taponen
	R11			Rafael Câmara	Rafael Câmara	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited	Ugo Ugochukwu
	R12		Tuukka Taponen	Tuukka Taponen	Tuukka Taponen	R-ace GP	Tuukka Taponen
5	R13	Dubai Autodrome	Tuukka Taponen	Tuukka Taponen	Tuukka Taponen	R-ace GP	Tuukka Taponen
	R14			Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	Taylor Barnard	PHM AIX Racing	James Wharton
	R15		Tuukka Taponen	Tuukka Taponen	Tuukka Taponen	R-ace GP	Tuukka Taponen

Season report

First half

The second season of the Formula Regional Middle East Championship opened up around Yas Marina's Corkscrew Layout with last year's runner-up Taylor Barnard taking a pair of pole positions for PHM AIX Racing.^[22] He held his first place ahead of R-ace GP's Tuukka Taponen all race, taking an unthreatened victory, while Taponen's teammate Martinius Stenshorne rose from seventh to the final podium spot.^[23] The second race saw a very similar outcome, with the top two, Mumbai Falcons's Arvid Lindblad and R-ace GP's Zachary David, holding stationary all race, while Stenshorne once again climbed from eighth to third.^[24] The third race saw a fight for the win for the first time when Stenshorne got past Mumbai Falcons's Ugo Ugochukwu at the start and then attacked Barnard for the lead. After two laps, he managed to get past and led Barnard and Ugochukwu home, before his move was judged to have been made off track. The ensuing penalty gave Barnard his second win, together with a six-point standings lead.^[25][26]

When the championship moved to the circuit's Grand Prix Layout one week later, Taponen was the man to beat, taking two pole positions in qualifying.^[27] The first race saw Saintéloc's Théophile Naël pitch Barnard into a spin at the start. Taponen converted his lead into a win, only threatened during a mid-race safety car restart by Stenshorne, who eventually finished second ahead of Pinnacle's Mari Boya.^[28] Naël's penalty for his move on Barnard moved him up the reverse grid into third, from where he was able to profit off Ugochukwu's poor start to claim the race lead. PHM's Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak moved into second, while Ugochukwu continued dropping down the order, allowing Boya to take another podium. Ugochukwu then collided with his teammate James Wharton and retired.^[29] Taponen was back on top for the final race, resisting pressure amid a last-lap safety car restart to take a second win ahead of Naël and Barnard. This saw him take the championship lead, while two pointless races saw Barnard drop to third.^[30]

After a break weekend, the championship moved to Dubai Autodrome for round three, where Barnard and Mumbai Falcons's Rafael Câmara shared pole positions.^[31] The pair started race one alongside each other, before Taponen overtook Câmara and started pressuring the leader. The pair battled all race, but Barnard held on to win. A similar battle for third between Câmara, Boya and Stenshorne ended with the former coming out on top.^[32] MP Motorsport's Nikhil Bohra took the lead off Naël at the start of race two, with the Frenchman then dropping down the order before eventually retiring. This allowed Inthraphuvasak and PHM's Brando Badoer to take the podium spots.^[33] The third race saw Taponen part of another battle for the lead. While his opponent was Câmara this time, the outcome was much the same. Câmara claimed the win, with Taponen second once again and Badoer in third. With Barnard only managing fourth after an overambitious move for the lead, Taponen extended his championship lead to 32 points.^[34]

Second half

Teams and drivers then returned to Yas Marina, where championship challengers Barnard and Taponen took the pole positions.^[35] The Brit resisted the Fin at the start of the first race and kept a steady gap to him from then on to take his fourth win of the year, with Evans GP's Costa Toparis five seconds back in third.^[36] MP's reverse grid polesitter Bruno del Pino was almost wiped out at a safety car restart during the second race, when others assumed the race had already begun again. His suspension then broke one lap later, resulting in Câmara taking the lead and another safety car. The Brazilian converted this lead into a win, with Ugochukwu coming second and David in third.^[37] The final race also had two safety car phases, but polesitter Taponen was unbothered by them to take another win. Wharton and David also both finished where they started, in second and third.^[38] Barnard was now 50 points behind Taponen, who, with only 75 points still on offer, had already wrapped up the Rookie Cup and all but secured the championship.

Taponen only needed to finish inside the points to deny Barnard any chance at the championship, but he began the final weekend in Dubai with two pole positions in qualifying.^[39] He claimed his championship in dominant fashion with a lights-to-flag victory in the first race, leading his teammate David home to also secure the Teams' Championship for R-ace GP. Ugochukwu came third, passing Badoer who had started second and dropped to fifth through the race.^[40] The penultimate race of the season was then won by Barnard, who thereby took the runner-up position for the second year in a row by starting third, dropping to fifth and fighting his way back into the lead. Inthraphuvasak and Wharton completed the podium.^[41] Taponen ended the season with his fifth win, the same amount as Barnard, by leading Badoer and Naël home in another dominant display. This saw him grow his final championship advantage to 79 points.^[42]

With Barnard returning for a second stab at the FRMEC title after coming second in 2023, many already felt the championship a done deal after his double win in the first round. But when his momentum was then harshly stopped through the second round, Taponen emerged as a serious title contender. While both drivers took five wins each, the same tally as Antonelli the year before, Taponen's consistency saw him never leave the points-paying positions and only finish outside the top five twice. He amassed 255 points, 63 more than Antonelli in 2023, convincingly beating any opposition from the rest of the field.

Championship standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top ten classified drivers.

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver YMC1 YMC2 DUB1 YMC3 DUB2 Pts R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 1 Tuukka Taponen 2 6 4 1 4 1 2 7 2 2 5 1 1 5 1 255 2 Taylor Barnard 1 8 1 16 22† 3 1 8 4 1 14 5 8 1 9 176 3 Rafael Câmara 5 Ret Ret 4 6 13 4 5 1 9 1 6 4 12 8 128 4 Zachary David 8 2 10 6 Ret 10 11 15 Ret 4 3 3 2 6 4 112 5 Mari Boya 6 7 5 3 3 26† 3 6 Ret NC 10 4 7 7 5 112 6 James Wharton 4 24 7 5 Ret 5 28† 12 5 5 4 2 6 3 11 111 7 Ugo Ugochukwu 16 11 3 10 Ret 7 6 4 9 6 2 Ret 3 4 6 105 8 Martinius Stenshorne 3 3 2 2 5 4 5 9 18 100 9 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak 7 5 Ret 9 2 14 8 2 8 15 13 8 9 2 Ret 86 10 Brando Badoer Ret 21 11 11 8 9 7 3 3 Ret 15 7 5 25 2 76 11 Théophile Naël 13 10 6 8 1 2 10 Ret 10 Ret Ret 12 Ret 9 3 75 12 Nikhil Bohra 14 16 13 12 Ret 8 9 1 7 8 6 22† Ret 16 Ret 49 13 Arvid Lindblad 10 1 8 15 9 27† 14 10 24† 33 14 Costa Toparis 21 25 18 14 18 Ret 12 14 21 3 8 9 14 14 12 21 15 Alexander Abkhazava 9 4 16 Ret 15 16 20 17 17 7 Ret 23† 15 Ret 16 20 16 Bruno del Pino 17 9 12 17 12 19 13 13 6 10 Ret 10 26 13 7 18 17 Valerio Rinicella 11 26† 15 13 7 6 14 18 Matteo De Palo 15 14 9 7 16 15 8 19 Noah Lisle 19 12 17 20 10 11 15 11 11 11 7 11 27 24 14 7 20 Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. 20 18 DSQ 26 Ret 12 21 22 12 17 11 15 10 8 19 5 21 Giovanni Maschio 23 20 25† 18 23 17 24 23† 14 12 9 Ret 19 18 20 2 22 Kanato Le 19 Ret Ret 11 10 13 1 23 John Bennett 12 13 19 DNS 13 22 18 24† 19 20 16 Ret 18 15 10 1 24 Enzo Peugeot 16 12 Ret 12 11 17 0 25 Jesse Carrasquedo Jr. 24 19 14 19 11 24 23 19 25 14 DNS 16 13 21 15 0 26 Liu Ruiqi 22 15 21 24 20 18 19 DNS 16 13 21 13 17 Ret 24 0 27 José Garfias 17 Ret 13 25† 17 14 16 19 18 0 28 Pedro Clerot 18 17 Ret 21 14 Ret 0 29 Isaac Barashi 22 Ret 15 18 18 19 21 Ret Ret 0 30 Noah Strømsted 16 16 Ret 0 31 Gao Yujia 26 22 22 22 17 21 25 18 23 21 Ret 17 20 17 23 0 32 Edgar Pierre 22 Ret 18 23 20 21 0 33 Yaroslav Veselaho 25 23 20 23 Ret 25† 27 21 20 24 19 21 22 Ret Ret 0 34 Finley Green DNS Ret 23 27† 19 20 WD WD WD Ret Ret 20 25 22 Ret 0 35 Wang Zhongwei 27 Ret 24† 25 21 23 26 20 22 23 20 Ret 24 23 22 0 Pos Driver R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 Pts YMC1 YMC2 DUB1 YMC3 DUB2

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap † – Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 75% of the race distance.

Rookie Cup

Pos	Driver	YMC1			YMC2			DUB1			YMC3			DUB2			Pts
		R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3
1	Tuukka Taponen	1	4	2	1	2	1	1	3	1	1	4	1	1	3	1	315
2	Ugo Ugochukwu	10	6	1	6	Ret	5	2	2	4	5	1	Ret	3	2	5	178
3	James Wharton	2	15	4	2	Ret	3	16	6	3	4	3	2	5	1	7	172
4	Zachary David	3	2	7	3	Ret	7	5	8	Ret	3	2	3	2	4	4	164
5	Théophile Naël	8	5	3	5	1	2	4	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	5	3	135
6	Brando Badoer	Ret	13	8	7	4	6	3	1	2	Ret	8	4	4	14	2	134
7	Arvid Lindblad	5	1	5	10	5	16†	7	4	13†							74
8	Noah Lisle	12	7	12	12	6	8	8	5	6	7	5	6	17	13	10	65
9	Costa Toparis	13	16	13	9	12	Ret	6	7	12	2	6	5	9	8	8	62
10	Alexander Abkhazava	4	3	11	Ret	10	10	12	10	9	6	Ret	14†	10	Ret	12	41
11	Valerio Rinicella	6	17†	10	8	3	4										40
12	John Bennett	7	8	14	DNS	8	13	10	13†	10	13	9	Ret	12	9	6	28
13	Matteo De Palo	9	9	6	4	11	9										26
14	Enzo Peugeot										10	7	Ret	7	7	13	19
15	Kanato Le										12	Ret	Ret	6	6	9	18
16	Jesse Carrasquedo Jr.	15	12	9	11	7	14	14	11	14	9	DNS	9	8	11	11	16
17	Liu Ruiqi	14	10	16	15	14	11	11	Ret	8	8	12	8	11	Ret	15	13
18	Isaac Barashi							13	Ret	7	11	10	11	13	Ret	Ret	7
19	Noah Strømsted							9	9	Ret							4
20	Pedro Clerot	11	11	Ret	13	9	Ret										2
21	Edgar Pierre										14	Ret	10	15	10	14	2
22	Yaroslav Veselaho	16	14	15	14	Ret	15	15	12	11	15	11	13	14	Ret	Ret	0
23	Finley Green	DNS	Ret	17	Ret	13	12	WD	WD	WD	Ret	Ret	12	16	12	Ret	0
Pos	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	Pts
		YMC1			YMC2			DUB1			YMC3			DUB2

Teams' Championship

Ahead of each event, teams nominated two drivers that accumulated teams' points.

Pos	Team	Pts
1	R-ace GP	410
2	PHM AIX Racing	240
3	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited	223
4	Pinnacle Motorsport	118
5	Saintéloc Racing	83
6	MP Motorsport	81
7	Evans GP	22
8	Xcel Motorsport	7
9	R&B Racing	0

Notes

References

External links

• Official website

This page was last edited on 10 March 2024, at 21:16