FRMET – Dubai: First win of the season for Taito Kato

After a more complicated start to the season than expected in the Middle East Formula Regional series, Taito Kato secured his first victory in the category this year on Saturday morning. Starting from pole position and managing to maintain his lead despite battles between the championship leaders close behind, the Japanese driver held on to win the race. A common thread in the early races with this new generation of Formula Regional cars supplied by Tatuus is that the frontrunner generally seems to enjoy a significant aerodynamic advantage.

Logically, this effect has not yet been reduced. It should be noted that the boost mode, or push-to-pass, which will be introduced this year, is not yet present on this version of the cars. As a reminder, this will allow the driver to benefit from a brief performance boost at the engine level, thus facilitating certain maneuvers.

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Furthermore, the most impressive performance of the morning was achieved by championship leader Rashid Al Dhaheri. Finishing fourth in this first race in Dubai, the Emirati driver was only beaten by Kean Nakmura-Berta (third) and Alexander Abkhazava (second). With these two drivers currently second and third in the championship standings respectively, the gap was managed intelligently by the driver supported by... Mercedes BenzFifth-placed Maksimilan Popov now leads American Alex Powell.

On the French side, Andrea Dupé and Jules Roussel failed to score any more points. Finishing 13th and 17th respectively, they again encountered difficulties in the pack, struggling more than usual to make up ground on the grid.