Abu Dhabi, January 18, 2026: A dramatic Sunday brought the first round of the 2026 Formula Regional Middle East Trophy (FRME) and UAE4 Series to a close at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix circuit of Yas Marina, with local hero Rashid Al Dhaheri and Oleksandr Bondarev emerging as the points leaders following the opening salvoes of action.
The 17-year-old Abu Dhabi native Al Dhaheri, newly appointed as a junior driver for the Mercedes F1 team, hails from just a few minutes away from Yas Marina. The R-ace GP pilot kept everything neatly under control to take victory in the third race of the weekend from Pinnacle Motorsport’s American talent Alex Powell. Singaporean Christian Ho was third, completing a fine day that began with a win in the second race. Following Alexander Abkhazava’s success on Saturday, that made it two successes out of two for MP Motorsport on its return to FRME after missing 2025. Ho had to pass RPM-run Brazilian Miguel Costa for his victory, with Australian Alex Ninovic taking third in that race for Rodin Motorsport on the team’s first weekend in Formula Regional competition.
The results mean that Al Dhaheri, who was second in Saturday’s opener, leads the FRME standings going into next weekend’s second round, also held at Yas Marina. He is nine points ahead of Ho, with Abkhazava a further 11 adrift in third. The Kazakhstani had a tough Sunday, with sixth in race two and a stall at the start of the finale, meaning he finished outside the points. Thanks to consistent scoring, Trident’s Maksimilian Popov leads the Rookie points, although the class victories on Sunday went to Costa and Powell.
Bondarev, meanwhile, was unable to impose himself over young French talent Andy Consani in a gripping final UAE4 race of the weekend. The 16-year-old Ukrainian, a Williams F1 protégé who is driving for the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons Racing team, harried the R-ace GP car of 15-year-old, Mercedes F1-backed Consani throughout, but could not find a way through. Third went to another R-ace driver, German Elia Weiss. Honours in an incident-packed race two went to the Ferrari Driver Academy’s new Italian prospect Niccolò Maccagnani with Mumbai Falcons, from R-ace GP’s two young Britons – Emily Cotty and Kenzo Craigie.
With his win on Saturday setting his weekend up nicely, Bondarev retains a two-point margin over Consani in the UAE4 table ahead of the second round, with Craigie 22 adrift in third. Mercedes protégé Craigie’s Rookie win in race two has helped him to the top of that division, although it was Prema’s McLaren junior Christian Costoya on top in the finale – each was victorious in their debut weekend in car racing.
Formula Middle East now remains at the Yas Marina for round two from January 23-25.
