Rounds 3 & 4 of the Formula Gulf 1000 championship took place on Yas Marina’s South Circuit on Friday 6th December. Tom Bale pipped Saeed Bintouq to pole position in a two-part qualifying session, halted at mid-distance due to a stalled car.

In Race 1, Bale and Bintouq ran side-by-side into turn one. Bintouq made a lunge to the inside to boldly take the lead, demoting Bale to second. Abdullah Kabbani came from a long way back to also make places, but left his braking too late and clipped the back of Bintouq. Kabbani suffered damage, but Bintouq continued, maintaining the lead. 

Bale turned up the pressure and passed Bintouq to retake the lead on lap seven, and thereafter there was no response to the young Welshman. Even after reducing his pace in the latter stages he crossed the finish line several seconds clear to take a popular victory. Bintouq was second ahead of Abdullah El Khereiji. Adnan Bahrami was fourth and Kabbani fifth. 

Race 2 saw Bale take on Bintouq once more, only this time the latter was able to hold onto his advantage. In what was a nail-biting display, Bale piled the pressure onto the series’ leader but it was to no avail, Bintouq took the spoils in a close run finale that saw only 3 tenths of a second separate the lead brace. Abdullah Al Khereiji fought hard to take third position, after racing closely with Abdullah Kabbani, who was classified fourth. Adnan Bahrami took fifth. Speaking after the race, race-winner Saeed Bintouq said “it was a tough race, because we had a small issue with the car overheating, but otherwise we had a perfect car in a perfect race. Ultimately I finished in first, and I am very happy about that!”