DUBAI // Cheered on by his father, legendary Formula One designer Adrian Newey, Harrison Newey pipped Australian Joey Mawson to the finish in an exciting opening race of Round 2 of the MRF Challenge at the Dubai Autodrome on Friday.
Having lost to Mawson in the battle for pole position, Newey, 18, fought back to finish 2.572 seconds ahead of the Australian in Race 1, while Mick Schumacher, son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher, took the chequered flag in third, a further 3.335 seconds adrift.
Mawson had earlier recorded a time of 1:55.945 in qualifying – the fastest lap ever done by the MRF F2000 around the Dubai Autodrome – to claim pole position.
“I was disappointed not to be on pole position today,” said Newey, who is hoping for similar results in the two races on Saturday. “I had a good start and was behind Joey for the first few laps.
“It was a hard but fair battle with Joey, but I managed to get past. I am really happy to win here, but it is important to pick up useful points in every race this weekend.”
In the second race of the day, Juri Vips started in reverse grid pole position alongside Felipe Drugovich, but lost his position to Drugovich on the back straight on lap one. Behind them, Mawson, starting from No 5 on the grid, climbed to third before the end of the first lap and then passed Vips on the second lap.
Drugovich, however, managed to stay ahead despite the pressure from Mawson, and finished 0.712 seconds ahead. Vips finished third, 7.856 seconds adrift, while Schumacher came in fourth, 8.170 seconds behind.
“It feels great to win here today,” said Drugovich. “The pace has been there all weekend, but it was just a matter of putting it together. I got past Vips down the back straight on the first lap and tried to pull away. Joey was really quick and was putting me under real pressure but was able to hold him off.”
Meanwhile in Round 2 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, which is also being held at the Dubai Autodrome this weekend alongside a number of national races, Ireland’s Ryan Cullen raced to victory with an assured drive from pole position in the first race.
Cullen finished 0.563 seconds clear of Qatar-based driver Charlie Frijns for his second win of the season, while Al Faisal Al Zubair of Oman was third.
“I’m really happy, I got a great start and I was quite a bit ahead going into the first corner,” said Cullen. “I saw everybody else fighting behind me, so I just got my head down and pushed to create a bigger gap with the grip I had.
“There was an accident just behind me and when the safety car came out, it took away the lead I had and the hard work I put in. When the race continued, Charlie Frijns was very close to catching me, but I just focused and managed to re-gain a bit of a lead and win the race.
“The main aim was to qualify in first and win the race today, that is what I did, and I am over the moon with the performance.”
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