Formula Regional Middle East Kuwait Race 3 review - Sami Meguetounif's win and full results 29.01.2023: Formula Regional Middle East Championship Certified by FIA (FRMEC) Kuwait Motor Town Sunday January 29th 2023 In contrast to the races that had gone before, the weekend finale for the Formula Regional field resulted in a lights-to-flag winner fro

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



In contrast to the races that had gone before, the weekend finale for the Formula Regional field resulted in a lights-to-flag winner from pole position. Sami Meguetounif led all the way, but he had to stay calm under sustained pressure from Andrea Kimi Antonelli.


Antonelli appeared to have snatched pole position at the last gasp, but the lap was deleted for a track-limits offence and he lined up fourth, behind Meguetounif, Taylor Barnard and Joshua Dürksen. At the start, Meguetounif led a Hyderabad Blackbirds with MP Motorsport 1-2 from Dürksen, while Antonelli squeezed ahead of Barnard during the opening corners for third.


Barnard now came under pressure from Rafael Câmara before they tangled at Turn 12. With Rafael Villagómez and Michael Shin colliding at Turn 2, there were four cars stranded and the safety car was called out.


Once the race restarted, Antonelli mounted his attack on Dürksen for second place. On the sixth lap, he tried a move to the outside of Turn 2. This didn’t come off, but he battled his way through in the following corners, both cars running off track as they fought for position.


 Antonelli then began slashing the gap to Meguetounif but, once he got to within a second of the leader, he found it very difficult to make further inroads and the Frenchman held on for victory by 1.093 seconds. Dürksen was a comfortable third.



Pepe Martí got past the Mumbai Falcons car of fellow Spaniard Lorenzo Fluxá for fourth at the restart, but Fluxá fought back and pulled off an audacious pass around the outside of Turn 12 on lap seven. Next to demote Martí was Dino Beganovic, who had fought through from 19th on the grid, his lowly position due to track-limits offences in qualifying.


A fine fifth was his race result, while Josh Dufek recovered from an earlier collision with Luke Browning and Aiden Neate to finish sixth, only for a 10-second penalty to be applied for the incident, dropping him to 10th.



Behind sixth-placed Martí, Matías Zagazeta was seventh, and PHM Racing’s Nikita Bedrin, from the very back of the 27-car grid (due to electrical problems in qualifying), passed Neate for eighth on the final lap. That manoeuvre also secured Bedrin second in the Rookie Cup class behind Antonelli.



Final result Race 3



1 61 Sami Meguetounif Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 1 -- 14 laps --
Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport
29:51.105 1:48.312 12 157.80


2 12 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 1 1.093
Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited
29:52.198 1:48.271 13 157.70


3 63 Joshua Dürksen Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 2 4.256
Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport
29:55.361 1:48.399 13 157.42


4 7 Lorenzo Fluxá Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 3 7.104
Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited
29:58.209 1:48.480 11 157.18


5 10 Dino Beganovic Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 4 7.772
Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited
29:58.877 1:48.566 12 157.12


6 23 Pepe Martí Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 5 15.907
Pinnacle VAR
30:07.012 1:49.224 10 156.41


7 88 Matías Zagazeta Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 6 16.502
R-ACE GP
30:07.607 1:49.484 11 156.36


8 15 Nikita Bedrin Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 2 17.555
PHM Racing
30:08.660 1:49.295 8 156.27


9 57 Aiden Neate Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 3 18.640
Prema racing
30:09.745 1:49.360 11 156.17


10 13 Joshua Dufek Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 7 19.119
PHM Racing
30:10.224 1:47.983 11 156.13


11 47 Nikhil Bohra Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 4 20.998
R-ACE GP
30:12.103 1:49.533 8 155.97


12 14 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 5 21.434
Pinnacle VAR
30:12.539 1:49.414 12 155.93


13 60 Mari Boya Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 8 28.051
Hyderabad Blackbirds by MP Motorsport
30:19.156 1:49.897 14 155.37


14 18 Cenyu Han Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 9 29.825
R&B Racing
30:20.930 1:50.104 11 155.21


15 2 Giovanni Maschio Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 6 31.121
R&B Racing
30:22.226 1:49.979 12 155.10


16 55 Sebastián Montoya Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 10 32.836
Hitech Grand Prix
30:23.941 1:50.099 13 154.96


17 11 Levente Révész Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 11 33.035
R-ACE GP
30:24.140 1:50.037 8 154.94


18 34 Francesco Braschi Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 12 34.998
R-ACE GP
30:26.103 1:49.749 10 154.77


19 53 Gabriele Minì Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 13 36.431
Hitech Grand Prix
30:27.536 1:51.074 10 154.65


20 52 Luke Browning Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 14 36.825
Hitech Grand Prix
30:27.930 1:50.602 9 154.62


21 68 Niels Koolen Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 15 48.832
Pinnacle VAR
30:39.937 1:51.517 14 153.61


22 54 Daniel Mavlyutov Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 7 54.489
Hitech Grand Prix
30:45.594 1:52.660 11 153.14


23 22 Zhongwei Wang Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R 16 54.816
R&B Racing
30:45.921 1:52.482 12 153.11




Not Classified Classification limit (75% of 14 Laps) = 10 Laps



DNC 5 Taylor Barnard Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R
PHM Racing


DNC 8 Rafael Câmara Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R
Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited


DNC 38 Rafael Villagómez Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R
Pinnacle VAR


DNC 24 Michael Shin Alfa Romeo ATM AR-F3R R
Prema Racing



Summary Best Laptimes
Fastest Laptime In Speed
13 Joshua Dufek Alf a Romeo ATM AR-F3R 1:47.983 11 186.96 kph
12 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Alf a Romeo ATM AR-F3R R 1:48.271 13 186.47 kph


The panel of Stewards decision no 21, Car 13 10 seconds time penalty added to the race time
The panel of Stewards decision no 22, Car 5 a drop of 3 position of the grid for drivers next race.
The panel of Stewards decision no 23, Car 55 a drop of 3 position of the grid for drivers next race


Fastest time : 1:47.983 in lap 11 by nbr. 13 : Joshua Dufek (PHM Racing)




Nikki Kemp - photo FRMEC