2023 Formula Regional Middle East Championship

The 2023 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 inaugural season of the championship, using the venues and dates for what was originally planned to be the Formula Regional Asian Championship, with the Asian Championship then being relaunched in October of the same year.^[1]

The season was held in January and February of 2023. Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the drivers' championship in the penultimate race, and in doing so also became rookie cup winner. His team, Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited, won the teams' title.

Teams and drivers

All drivers competed using identical Tatuus-built Formula Regional cars powered by a 270HP turbocharged Alfa Romeo engine.^[2] The participating teams were announced on 15 November 2022.^[3]

Team No. Driver Status Rounds R&B Racing[N 1] R&B Racing by GRS[N 1] 2 Giovanni Maschio[4] R All 18 Cenyu Han[4] All 22 Zhongwei Wang[4] 1–3 Ruobin Tang[5] R 5 33 Nikola Tsolov[6] R 5 PHM Racing 5 Taylor Barnard[7] R All 13 Joshua Dufek[8] All 15 Nikita Bedrin[N 2][9] R All Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited 7 Lorenzo Fluxá[10] All 8 Rafael Câmara[10] R All 10 Dino Beganovic[10] 1–2 12 Andrea Kimi Antonelli[11][10] R All 28 Kirill Smal[N 2][10] R 3–5 R-ace GP 11 Levente Révész[12] All 34 Francesco Braschi[12] 1–2 Martinius Stenshorne[12] R 3–5 47 Nikhil Bohra[a][12] R All 77 Tim Tramnitz[12] 4–5 88 Matías Zagazeta[12] 1–3 Pinnacle VAR[13] 14 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak[13] R All 23 Pepe Martí[13] 1–2, 4–5 38 Rafael Villagómez[13] 1–4 50 Ayato Iwasaki[14] 3 68 Niels Koolen[13] All Prema Racing 24 Michael Shin[15] R All 57 Aiden Neate[10] R All Hitech Grand Prix 52 Jak Crawford[16] 1 Luke Browning[17] 2–3 53 Gabriele Minì[16] 1–2 54 Daniel Mavlyutov[b][16] R All 55 Sebastián Montoya[16] All Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport[18] 60 Mari Boya[19] All 61 Sami Meguetounif[19] All 62 Brad Benavides[19] All 63 Sebastian Øgaard[19] R 1, 4 Joshua Dürksen[17] 2–3 Owen Tangavelou[20] 5

Icon Status R Rookie

• BlackArts Racing Team and BSR were among the teams announced to participate, but both withdrew their entry.^[21][22]
• Alex Dunne was scheduled to do a part-time campaign driving for Hitech Grand Prix, but did not enter any rounds.^[16]

Race calendar

The 2023 calendar was first announced on 4 August 2022, back when the season still was to be the second season of the Formula Regional Asian Championship.^[23] With the creation of the new Middle Eastern championship, an updated calendar was also announced, replacing the first round in Abu Dhabi with another round at Kuwait Motor Town.^[1]

Round		Circuit	Date	Support bill	Map of circuit locations
1	R1	Dubai Motor City	13 January	24H GT Series (Middle East Trophy) 24H TCE Series (Middle East Trophy) Formula 4 UAE Championship Renault Clio Cup Middle East	Yas Marina Kuwait Dubai
	R2		14 January
	R3
2	R4	Kuwait Motor Town, Ali Sabah Al Salem	27 January	Formula 4 UAE Championship
	R5		28 January
	R6
3	R7	Kuwait Motor Town, Ali Sabah Al Salem	31 January	Formula 4 UAE Championship
	R8		1 February
	R9
4	R10	Dubai Motor City	11 February	Asian Le Mans Series Formula 4 UAE Championship
	R11		12 February
	R12
5	R13	Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island	18 February	Asian Le Mans Series Formula 4 UAE Championship
	R14		19 February
	R15

Results

Round		Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Rookie winner
1	R1	Dubai Autodrome	Gabriele Minì	Dino Beganovic	Dino Beganovic	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited	Taylor Barnard
	R2			Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Nikhil Bohra	R-ace GP	Nikhil Bohra
	R3		Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mari Boya	Mari Boya	Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport	Andrea Kimi Antonelli
2	R4	Kuwait Motor Town	Joshua Dürksen	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Dino Beganovic	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited	Andrea Kimi Antonelli
	R5			Joshua Dufek	Taylor Barnard[c]	PHM Racing	Taylor Barnard
	R6		Sami Meguetounif	Joshua Dufek	Sami Meguetounif	Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport	Andrea Kimi Antonelli
3	R7	Kuwait Motor Town	Joshua Dürksen	Taylor Barnard	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited	Andrea Kimi Antonelli
	R8			Nikhil Bohra	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited	Andrea Kimi Antonelli
	R9		Sami Meguetounif	Taylor Barnard	Taylor Barnard	PHM Racing	Taylor Barnard
4	R10	Dubai Autodrome	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited	Andrea Kimi Antonelli
	R11			Taylor Barnard	Pepe Martí	Pinnacle VAR	Taylor Barnard
	R12		Nikita Bedrin	Joshua Dufek	Nikita Bedrin	PHM Racing	Nikita Bedrin
5	R13	Yas Marina Circuit	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mari Boya	Mari Boya[d]	Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport	Rafael Câmara
	R14			Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Pepe Martí	Pinnacle VAR	Michael Shin
	R15		Nikita Bedrin	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Nikita Bedrin	PHM Racing	Nikita Bedrin

Season report

First half

The first ever Formula Regional Middle East Championship began in the middle of January at Dubai Autodrome with Gabriele Minì and Andrea Kimi Antonelli sharing poles in qualifying. Minì kept his lead at the start of race one as Antonelli in second was overtaken by Dino Beganovic. The top pair fought for the lead all throughout the race, unbothered by two safety car interventions. A timing glitch meant the "last lap" message was shown one lap too early, and Minì's team relayed that wrong information to him. He kept Beganovic behind as the pair crossed the line, but then slowed in anticipation of the race being over. This dropped him out of contention, promoting Matías Zagazeta to second. Third was Taylor Barnard, who had a remarkable race after starting in 27th. Race two was a much calmer affair, as Nikhil Bohra took a lights-to-flag victory starting from reverse-grid pole. Aiden Neate also finished where he started, in second, and Barnard was once again third, though this time he only had to climb five spots to do so. Antonelli was unable to hold on to his race three pole position, as Mari Boya went right past him on lap one. From then on, he built a gap to Antonelli and controlled the race. The race went ahead without interruptions, and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak completed the podium. Antonelli's consistency allowed him to take the points lead by six points over Rafael Câmara.^[25][26][27]

Up next was the first FR-level race at Kuwait Motor Town, and new arrival Joshua Dürksen started it on pole. The first corner ended with multiple crashes, Brad Benavides getting flipped on his head and riding atop Boya's car, eight retirements with the poleman among them, and a red flag. Beganovic was able to profit off of the chaos, leading the restart in first place and continuing to lead Antonelli home. Behind the pair, Barnard got past Sebastián Montoya to complete the podium. Levente Révész started race two at the front, but was unable to keep his position and soon dropped back. What followed were multiple lead changes, with Rafael Villagómez, Bohra and eventually Joshua Dufek all in the lead for some time. Dufek was able to hold on in the end, but got disqualified for a technical infringement. This promoted Barnard to the win, ahead of Bohra and Câmara. The final race had Sami Meguetounif on pole, who held off a fast-starting Dürksen at the start. Two safety car periods later, Antonelli overtook Dürksen and set off after Meguetounif, but ran out of laps to catch him. While Antonelli still had not won a race, he grew his championship lead anyway, now twelve points ahead of double-winner Beganovic.^[28][29][30]

Just three days later, racing was back on in Kuwait, and qualifying was topped by the same two drivers. Race one began with the top three drivers, all Hyderabad Blackbirds, tripping over each other into the first braking zone. This meant Dürksen lost his second pole and also allowed Antonelli through into second place, before he eventually got past Boya for the lead. He kept him behind until the Spaniard got overtaken by Câmara, and took his first win in the category. Debutant Kirill Smal started race two at the front and had to content with Dufek and Barnard, before the latter then got into the lead and built a gap. This was not to last, however, as his car then started breaking down and he fell down the order. Smal was back in the lead, but Antonelli, who had started tenth and steadily climbed up the order, made short work of his lead, overtook him and claimed another win. Smal then received a penalty, allowing Villagómez and Lorenzo Fluxá to pick up podiums. At the start of race three, Antonelli again picked up the lead, but the move was made off track, so he sped off to build a gap in anticipation of a penalty. That used up too much of his tires too soon, however, and by the end of the race he fell back into the clutches of Barnard, who overtook him to claim the win. The penalty still came for Antonelli, dropping him back behind Câmara and Fluxá. However, his double win meant he now had a 44-point lead over his nearest challenger Barnard.^[31][32][33]

Second half

The penultimate round of the season was held back in Dubai, where Antonelli and Nikita Bedrin shared poles. The former dropped down to third at the start of the first race, but was able to fight back past Barnard and Dufek into the lead through a safety car restart. His teammate Câmara followed him through, before another safety car ended the racing early. Pepe Martí was on reverse grid pole and held onto the lead as Fluxá got past Neate for second. Barnard and Antonelli, starting eighth and tenth, were soon climbing up the order. They ended up inside the top five, before Bedrin in fourth rear-ended Neate in third and both tumbled down the order. This promoted the championship protagonists to third and fourth, before Antonelli was handed a penalty for an unsafe move that dropped him to tenth. Bedrin bounced back from this incident by defending his pole position at the start of race three, while behind him his two teammates Barnard and Dufek battled with Antonelli. Three safety car periods interrupted proceedings, with the third running until the end, guaranteeing Barnard's maiden win in a PHM Racing 1-2-3. Still, Antonelli's advantage grew, albeit only by a single point to 45, with 75 points still to play for.^[34][35][36]

The final round of the championship brought the series to the Yas Marina Circuit, but the polesitters were the same as in Dubai. The two title contenders started alongside each other and had a battle that ended in tears when Antonelli rear-ended Barnard, spun him around and earned himself a ten-second penalty. This promoted Boya into the virtual lead, ahead of Meguetounif and Câmara. A late safety car meant Antonelli's penalty had the maximum effect, and both him and Barnard remained pointless. Barnard needed to score points in race two to keep his title hopes alive, but had a horrible start that dropped him out of the top 20. While he worked to get back up the order, it was Michael Shin on pole that had to contend with Smal and Martí. Eventually, the latter took the lead from Shin and led the trio home. Barnard could only manage 18th place, so Antonelli took the championship despite receiving another penalty and not scoring again. Bedrin put a close to the season by winning the third race lights-to-flag, undeterred by a red-flag disruption. Behind him, multiple fights for the podium places ended in collisions, before Antonelli moved into the lead on the final lap, but had to give the place back as the move was made off track.^[37][38][39]

The championship was dominated by category rookies, who occupied the top three places in the final standings. Antonelli showed remarkable consistency, only finishing outside the top ten when the title was already all but secured. Being already handled as a generational talent after dominating the European F4 scene in 2022, his FRMEC campaign was the best possible preparation for the FRECA season. Barnard also quickly adapted to the car, often matching Antonelli, but his championship challenge was hampered by bad luck, like the disqualification in the first Dubai qualifying, or the mechanical failure in the penultimate Kuwait race. For the championship itself, the transition from the Asian to the Middle Eastern moniker went smoothly, and driver and team interest remained very high, with healthy, deep grids all throughout the season.

Championship standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top ten classified drivers.

Drivers' Championship

Pos Driver DUB1 KUW1 KUW2 DUB2 ABU Pts R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli 4 6 2 2 Ret 2 1 1 4 1 10 4 15 13 2 192 2 Taylor Barnard 3 3 Ret 14 1 Ret 4 24† 1 3 3 2 14 18 4 152 3 Rafael Câmara 5 5 4 18† 3 Ret 2 Ret 2 2 23 16 3 11 3 131 4 Lorenzo Fluxá 8 4 11 Ret 12 4 5 3 3 8 2 5 4 5 11 122 5 Mari Boya 12 13 1 Ret 14 13 3 4 10 6 4 6 1 10 18 107 6 Joshua Dufek 6 15 13 3 DSQ 10 9 7 7 4 6 3 5 4 5 105 7 Pepe Martí 14 9 6 Ret 10 6 10 1 11 6 1 10 79 8 Nikita Bedrin Ret 14 7 Ret 19 8 7 Ret 15 5 19 1 Ret 9 1 78 9 Nikhil Bohra 10 1 10 8 2 11 19 5 11 18 13 8 7 8 Ret 73 10 Sami Meguetounif Ret Ret Ret 17 4 1 25† 12 5 13 18 Ret 2 Ret Ret 65 11 Dino Beganovic 1 Ret 9 1 20 5 62 12 Aiden Neate 9 2 12 4 8 9 8 16 16 9 5 15 Ret 12 8 58 13 Rafael Villagómez 17 11 20 6 5 Ret 6 2 14 Ret 20 13 44 14 Michael Shin 18 18 19 5 11 Ret 18 8 17 17 16 14 10 2 9 35 15 Kirill Smal 10 20 24 12 15 7 8 3 7 32 16 Joshua Dürksen Ret 7 3 26† 15 6 29 17 Matías Zagazeta 2 12 Ret 9 13 7 23 Ret 9 28 18 Martinius Stenshorne 13 11 8 15 9 21† 11 7 6 20 19 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak 16 10 3 DNS 16 12 11 9 21 23 14 10 16 14 20† 19 20 Tim Tramnitz 7 7 9 21 24 Ret 14 21 Sebastián Montoya 15 17 18 Ret Ret 16 12 6 13 14 8 12 12 16 21† 12 22 Gabriele Minì 11 21 5 Ret Ret 19 10 23 Nikola Tsolov 9 6 15 10 24 Sebastian Øgaard 7 8 17 19 17 17 10 25 Levente Révész Ret 25† 14 10 6 17 14 13 12 16 12 20 17 20 Ret 9 26 Luke Browning 7 9 20 15 14 Ret 8 27 Francesco Braschi 13 7 16 Ret 15 18 6 28 Jak Crawford 19 16 8 4 29 Brad Benavides 24 20 15 Ret DNS DNS 16 10 Ret 11 11 22† 18 15 13 1 30 Giovanni Maschio 20 19 24 11 18 15 17 17 18 24† Ret 19 24† Ret 19† 0 31 Niels Koolen 22 22 21 12 21 21 20 21 22 22 Ret 18 20 21 14 0 32 Daniel Mavlyutov 23 23 22 16 22 22 22 19 DSQ 21 22 Ret 22 22 12 0 33 Owen Tangavelou 13 17 Ret 0 34 Zhongwei Wang DNS DNS DNS 13 23 23 24 22 23 0 35 Cenyu Han 21 24 23 15 17 14 21 23 19 20 21 Ret 19 19 17 0 36 Ruobin Tang 23 23 16 0 37 Ayato Iwasaki Ret 18 20 0 Pos Driver R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 Pts DUB1 KUW1 KUW2 DUB2 ABU

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 † – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed more than 75% of the race distance.

Rookie Cup

Pos	Driver	DUB1			KUW1			KUW2			DUB2			ABU			Pts
		R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3
1	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	4	6	2	2	Ret	2	1	1	4	1	10	4	15	13	2	244
2	Taylor Barnard	3	3	Ret	14	1	Ret	4	24	1	3	3	2	14	18	4	190
3	Rafael Câmara	5	5	4	18†	3	Ret	2	Ret	2	2	23	16	3	11	3	163
4	Nikhil Bohra	10	1	10	8	2	11	19	5	11	18	13	8	7	8	Ret	163
5	Aiden Neate	9	2	12	4	8	10	8	16	16	9	5	15	Ret	12	8	147
6	Nikita Bedrin	Ret	15	7	Ret	19	9	7	Ret	15	5	19	1	Ret	9	1	133
7	Michael Shin	18	19	19	5	11	Ret	18	8	17	17	16	14	10	2	9	108
8	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	16	10	3	DNS	16	12	11	9	21	23	14	10	16	14	20†	84
9	Kirill Smal							10	20	24	12	15	7	8	3	7	77
10	Martinius Stenshorne							13	11	8	15	9	21†	11	7	6	77
11	Giovanni Maschio	20	20	24	11	18	15	17	17	18	24†	Ret	19	24†	Ret	19†	36
12	Sebastian Øgaard	7	8	17							19	17	17				30
13	Nikola Tsolov													9	6	15	28
14	Daniel Mavlyutov	23	23	22	16	23	22	22	19	DSQ	21	22	Ret	22	22	12	24
15	Ruobin Tang													23	23	16	0
Pos	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	Pts
		DUB1			KUW1			KUW2			DUB2			ABU

Teams' Championship

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

Pos	Team	Pts
1	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited	338
2	PHM Racing	247
3	Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport	136
4	Pinnacle VAR	124
5	R-ace GP	97
6	Prema Racing	93
7	Hitech Grand Prix	34
8	R&B Racing	10

Notes

References

External links

• Official website