Dubai MRF Challenge: Fittipaldi wins final race, Newey disqualified
Championship leader Pietro Fittipaldi extended his lead with a win in the final race of the MRF Challenge's third round, after race leader Harrison Newey was disqualified.
Photo by: MRF Racing
Sean Walkinshaw started on pole alongside Newey for the fourth and final race of the weekend, with Tatiana Calderon and Fittipaldi on the second row.
At the start, Newey took the lead of the race from Walkinshaw, with Fittipaldi slotting in second and Alessio Picariello moving up ahead of Nikita Troitskiy.
Race leader Newey was then penalised for a false start, which dropped him to second-to-last at the end of the third lap and handed Fittipaldi the lead.
Picariello caught up with Calderon and passed her to slot himself in second, as the Colombian then lost another place to Troitskiy.
It just wasn't Newey's day, with his father Adrian Newey looking on from the garage, as the British driver was shown the black flag with two laps to go.
At the front, Fittipaldi maintained a healthy lead to take victory from Picariello, who clocked the fastest lap with a 1m59.372s.
Troitskiy kept Calderon at bay to take the final spot on the podium, as fellow Russian Nerses Isaakyan finished a strong fifth.
There was further drama with the coming together of Tarun Reddy, Giuliano Alesi and Max Fewtrell, who were fighting for fifth.
Fewtrell retired while Reddy dropped positions, ultimately finishing 11th and Alesi 13th. Reddy and Fewtrell are under investigation.
Debutant Rik Breukers finished a fine sixth ahead of Laura Tillett, Dylan Young, Jose Abadin and Walkinshaw, who steadily dropped back from pole.
Pos. | Drivers | Total Time/Gap |
1 | Pietro FITTIPALDI | 20m08.316s |
2 | Alessio PICARIELLO | 1.086 |
3 | Nikita TROITSKIY | 4.561 |
4 | Tatiana CALDERON | 5.629 |
5 | Nerses ISAAKYAN | 15.757 |
6 | Rik BREUKERS | 23.937 |
7 | Laura TILLETT | 28.653 |
8 | Dylan YOUNG | 29.641 |
9 | Jose-Luis ABADIN | 30.398 |
10 | Sean WALKINSHAW | 31.466 |
11 | Tarun REDDY | 35.807 |
12 | Arjun NARENDREN | 36.121 |
13 | Giuliano ALESI | 45.931 |
DNF | Max FEWTRELL | |
DNF | Matthew DRAPER | |
DQ | Harrison NEWEY |
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