Mumbai Falcons wins a race at the Dubai Autodrome | 2022 FR Asian Championship Round 2 Rundown

The second round of the 2022 Formula Regional Asian Championship has come to an end and it gave us three spectacular races over the weekend. The main dilemma for the grid was tyre life in this circuit as the nature of the track was quite abrasive. Regardless, over the weekend, Mumbai Falcons drivers Sebastian Montoya was able to finish P3 in Race 1, Arthur Leclerc was able to take the victory in Race 2 with teammate Dino Beganovic finishing just behind Leclerc in the same race. This allowed the Indian team to bag three podium finishes, including a race win from the three races. With that said, let us now look at how the weekend unfolded for the Mumbai Falcons team and its drivers.

Race 1

The first race started with Sebastian starting from pole with Dino in P5 and Arthur in P9. All three drivers had a great start off the line and were able to make up a few places on the opening lap. However, the places gained by Dino and Arthur were being challenged by the drivers behind with immense pressure.

With a few laps in, Hadrien David from R-ace GP team was all over the back of Montoya’s car. Both were wheel to wheel for quite a few laps, but somehow Montoya was able to keep him behind. But with 23 minutes to go in the race, Hadrien made a move around the outside of Montoya and was able to take the lead of the race.

Dino and Arthur were having a steady race and were somehow managing to defend their position from the onslaught of late divers and overtakers. Montoya started to lose pace towards the end of the race, but he was saved by the safety car, behind which the race ended.

Montoya finished the race in P3, with Dino in P5 and Arthur in P9.

Race 2

Arthur started from P2 on the grid for the race as the starting order was a reverse grid of the first race. He had a great start off the line and took the lead of the race in the first turn. Moreover, he was able to build a gap on the rest of the grid by the end of the first lap.

Beganovic was awarded two places on the first safety car period when rivals ahead of him crashed out. He ended up in P4 in that period. But that didn’t stop him there. In the next few laps, Dino was able to climb up the order and secure P2 by the end of the race.

Montoya had a disappointing race. He started from P7 and was able to stay inside the top 10 for most of the race but towards the end of the race, he mysteriously dropped down the order, and retired from the race. It turned out that Sebastian had run wide in a corner, hit a marker board, spun off the road and had to retire from the race.

Arthur ended up winning the race with Dino in P2 and Montoya facing a retirement.

Race 3

The third race was quite intense when compared to the two previous races. The reason for that is that the drivers get two tyres for the three races and the qualifying sessions. This meant that most of the drivers were on used tyres and battles started spooling up in the grid, trying the edge over one another.

All the three Mumbai Falcon drivers were one behind the other in the race, but Dino and Arthur clearly had a better pace than teammate Montoya. A fight between Montoya and Arthur led both of losing time as they pushed each other off the track while trying to overtake each other.

Towards the end of the race, Montoya started facing difficulties in his car and started to fall down the order. It was pointed out that he was not able to manage his tyre life towards the end of the race and fell drastically down the order.

Doni finished Race 3 in P5 with Arthur in P7 and Montoya in P14.

Round 3 of the 2022 Formula Regional Asian Championship will be held at the Dubai Autodrome starting from February 5. The round will host three races. Arthur Leclerc is the leader of the driver's championship and Mumbai Falcons are the leaders of the team championship. For more news and updates from the world of motorsports, stay tuned to evo India.