Formula Regional Middle East Kuwait Race 1 review - Dino Beganovic wins - full results 29.01.2023: Formula Regional Middle East Championship Certified by FIA (FRMEC) Kuwait Motor Town Sunday January 29th 2023 Joshua Dürksen celebrated his arrival in FRMEC, after missing the opening round, by grabbing a last-ditch pole position for the first

Formula Regional Middle East Championship Certified by FIA (FRMEC)
Kuwait Motor Town
Sunday January 29th 2023




Joshua Dürksen celebrated his arrival in FRMEC, after missing the opening round, by grabbing a last-ditch pole position for the first race from pre-weekend championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Hyderabad Blackbirds with MP Motorsport team was on form, with Dürksen on top in qualifying, Sami Meguetounif third and Mari Boya seventh.



The field raced several cars abreast down towards Turn 2 before a chain-reaction accident eliminated the team’s Dürksen and Brad Benavides along with Boya, and dropped Meguetounif to the rear of the pack. Out also were Lorenzo Fluxá, Gabriele Minì, Nikita Bedrin and Francesco Braschi, as well as the red flags. The incident also sidelined Benavides for the remainder of Round 2, due to the damage sustained to his car.



Somehow, Dino Beganovic had avoided the chaos to storm from ninth on the grid into the lead ahead of Antonelli and Taylor Barnard, while Sebastián Montoya had sensationally risen from 18th to fourth. At the restart, Barnard attacked the two Mumbai Falcons Racing cars ahead of him.



The planned attack didn’t come off and he lost momentum, allowing Montoya to slip down the inside and into third at Turn 3. Antonelli had also tried a move around the outside of Beganovic at Turn 2, but the Swede held on in front.



On the following lap, Barnard repassed Montoya at Turn 2 and now the race settled down among the leading trio. Beganovic and Antonelli pulled away and, just as Antonelli appeared to be closing the gap, the safety car was called. Joshua Dufek had driven a superb race after running wide onto the dust on the first lap after the restart and dropping from fifth to seventh.



He passed Michael Shin, then Aiden Neate, before hunting down the Hitech Grand Prix car of fourth-placed Montoya. Dufek made a good move into Turn 2 and Montoya ran wide – as Montoya attempted to regain the circuit, contact was made, damaging the Red Bull Junior’s suspension and stranding the car just off the circuit.


The safety car pulled into the pits just as the chequered flag was unfurled. Beganovic led home Antonelli and Barnard. But Barnard’s 10-second penalty dropped him from third to 14th place. That promoted Dufek to third, from the Prema Racing pair of Briton Neate and South Korean Shin.



Rafael Villagómez was sixth for Pinnacle VAR ahead of the Hitech car of British newcomer Luke Browning, who was another driver delayed on the opening lap, and Nikhil Bohra. Remarkably, Peruvian Matías Zagazeta was ninth despite having pitted at the end of lap one as a consequence of the early pile-up, with his Hungarian R-ace team-mate Levente Révész claiming the final point for 10th. Antonelli claimed Rookie Cup honours from Neate and Shin.






1 10 Dino Beganovic Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 1 -- 13 laps --
Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited
31:49.993 1:47.894 8 137.41


2 12 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 1 1.107
Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited
31:51.100 1:47.844 7 137.33


3 13 Joshua Dufek Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 2 1.514
PHM Racing
31:51.507 1:49.082 5 137.30


4 57 Aiden Neate Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 2 2.666
Prema racing
31:52.659 1:49.828 5 137.21


5 24 Michael Shin Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 3 3.197
Prema Racing
31:53.190 1:49.766 7 137.18


6 38 Rafael Villagómez Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 3 3.459
Pinnacle VAR
31:53.452 1:49.633 8 137.16


7 52 Luke Browning Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 4 3.880
Hitech Grand Prix
31:53.873 1:49.506 8 137.13


8 47 Nikhil Bohra Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 4 4.203
R-ACE GP
31:54.196 1:50.062 8 137.10


9 88 Matías Zagazeta Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 5 7.820
R-ACE GP
31:57.813 1:49.773 5 136.85


10 11 Levente Révész Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 6 8.511
R-ACE GP
31:58.504 1:50.054 6 136.80


11 2 Giovanni Maschio Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 5 8.912
R&B Racing
31:58.905 1:51.248 8 136.77


12 68 Niels Koolen Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 7 9.576
Pinnacle VAR
31:59.569 1:51.505 8 136.72


13 22 Zhongwei Wang Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 8 11.218
R&B Racing
32:01.211 1:53.724 7 136.60


14 5 Taylor Barnard Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 6 11.231
PHM Racing
32:01.224 1:48.851 8 136.60


15 18 Cenyu Han Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 9 12.260
R&B Racing
32:02.253 1:50.405 8 136.53


16 54 Daniel Mavlyutov Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 7 12.400
Hitech Grand Prix
32:02.393 1:52.045 7 136.52


17 61 Sami Meguetounif Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 10 36.111
Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport
32:26.104 1:50.041 8 134.86


18 8 Rafael Câmara Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 8 -- 10 laps --
Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited
22:58.190 1:50.623 4 146.48




Not Classified Classification limit (75% of 13 Laps) = 9 Laps



DNC 55 Sebastián Montoya Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R -- 8 laps --
Hitech Grand Prix
18:32.109 1:49.819 7 145.22


DNC 23 Pepe Martí Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R -- 1 laps --
Pinnacle VAR
16:56.904 19.85


DNC 63 Joshua Dürksen Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R
Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport


DNC 7 Lorenzo Fluxá Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R
Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited


DNC 60 Mari Boya Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R
Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport


DNC 53 Gabriele Minì Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R
Hitech Grand Prix


DNC 15 Nikita Bedrin Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R
PHM Racing


DNC 34 Francesco Braschi Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R
R-ACE GP


DNC 62 Brad Benavides Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R
Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport




Summary Best Laptimes
Fastest Laptime In Speed
12 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Alf a Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 1:47.844 7 187.20 kph
10 Dino Beganovic Alf a Romeo ATM AR-F3R 1:47.894 8 187.12 kph



The panel of Stew ards decision no 5 car 18 5 seconds time penalty added to race time
The panel of Stewards decision no 6 Car 61 overtake under saf fety Car time penalty 5 seconds
The panel of Stew ards decision no 7 removed the penalty of car 61 f rom decision no 6.
The panel of Stew ards decision no 8 Car 5 10 seconds time penalty added to race time



Fastest time : 1:47.844 in lap 7 by nbr. 12 : Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited) Publication-time



Nikki Kemp - photo FRMEC