F4 Middle East: R-ace GP stays out in front in Abu Dhabi

17 Feb 2025

15 and 16 February 2025, Abu Dhabi – The penultimate round of the F4 Middle East Championship was a hectic one, but it once again highlighted the performances of R-ace GP. The French team brilliantly secured a double pole position, as well as a win and four podiums, confirming its excellent level despite the challenges encountered over the weekend.

On Friday 13 February, Alex Powell (#41) topped free practice ahead of team-mate Emanuele Olivieri (#68). The following day, both drivers took pole position. Emanuele Olivieri set the fastest time in the first qualifying session at 1:55.571, while Alex Powell was fastest in the second session at 1:55.330.

R-ace GP is the only team to have clocked the fastest times in every qualifying session since the start of the championship

Race 1

Emanuele Olivieri dominated the race from start to finish, but a 10-second jump-start penalty dropped him to third on the podium. Alex Powell, initially third, was promoted to second following his team-mate’s penalty. Emily Cotty (#42) finished 16th and Oleksander Savinkov (#52) 23rd.

Race 2

Alex Powell qualified eighth according to the reverse grid system* and made a fine comeback to finish third. Emily Cotty finished 11th, her best result since the start of the championship, while Oleksander Savinkov finished 23rd. Championship leader Emanuele Olivieri was forced to retire after suffering a puncture at the start of the race following contact.

Race 3

Starting from pole, Alex Powell never lost the lead to his rivals and took his third victory of the season. His Italian team-mate, Emanuele Olivieri, took third place. Oleksander Savinkov finished 17th and Emily Cotty 21st.

R-ace GP still leads the team standings by a large margin of 64 points, as well as the drivers’ standings (with Emanuele Olivieri) with a 48-point lead over its nearest rival. The final will be held in Qatar on 27 and 28 February.

You can follow the races on the championship’s Youtube channel.

* The starting grid is determined by the classification of race 1, according to the reverse grid principle. This principle applies to the top 10 only. The winner therefore starts from 10th place, and the 10th from pole position.

R-ACE GP : TEAM CHAMPION !

22 Feb 2024

It’s now official : Our driver Tuukka TAPONEN is the FRMEC 2024 (Formula Regional Middle East) Championship ! He was also awarded the title of rookie champion ! 🏆

Our team was also crowned the teams championship ! 🥇

Special thanks to Zachary DAVID, Martinius STENSHORNE, Jesse CARRASQUEDO and Kanato LE to have made this happened !

R-ace GP ENTERS ENDURANCE RACING !

22 Feb 2024

The ambition to diversify our activities into Endurance racing will fire up in 2024 with our entry in the Michelin Le Mans Cup in the LMP3 category.

It is a first fundamental and important step towards our ambitious goal which is to shine in the most prestigious international Endurance championships and obviously in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

We are very enthusiastic to start this journey in partnership with Duqueine Automotive and we want to express our special thanks to the ACO for this wonderful opportunity to enter such competitive championship.

R-ace GP driver Oscar Piastri is the 2019 Eurocup champion

26 Oct 2019

Triple crown for R-ace GP who wins the drivers’ title with Oscar Piastri, in addition to the teams’ title and the rookie title. The suspense ended this Saturday in Abu Dhabi after the last race of the season.

At the end of a difficult weekend for the French team, who suffered from Abu Dhabi’s extreme conditions, Australian Piastri wins Formula Renault Eurocup championship with a 7,5 points gap to his main rival. Short summary of this weekend’s two races.

Race 1: It’s another win for Oscar Piastri, who took the lead of the race thanks to a great start. With a lack of pace, Russian Alex Smolyar kept his qualifying position and finished P4. Renault Sport Academy driver Caio Collet managed to gain some positions to take P8, as well as wild card Grégoire Saucy who crossed the finish line in 12th.

Race 2: P2 on the starting grid, Piastri played it safe to get 4th place and win the title. Collet took advantage of the Australian’s battle with Nannini to climb on the third step of the podium, after a great start that helped him get the better of Smolyar. A more difficult race for Swiss Saucy who lost a part of his front wing. He finishes P12.

With 7 wins, Oscar Piastri has done an impressive season and gets ahead of his main opponent, Victor Martins, in the standings. That’s the second drivers’ title in a row for R-ace GP, who confirms its position at the top of Formula Renault. Different car, different drivers, but the same state of mind shared by the whole team: the pursuit of excellence.

Oscar Piastri: “I still need some time to process, I’m sure in the next few hours and days I’ll only get happier. I’m pretty excited that we got the job done and I want to say a massive thank you to R-ace GP for their work the whole year. Driving for this team, I knew that I had a good chance to battle for the championship. We had some really good weekends that defined the rest of our season, like Silverstone, Spa and the Nürburgring. These are moments in the championship where we felt really strong, almost unstoppable.”