Michelangelo Amendola from Belgium completed a dream week with three wins out of five races as the first round of the FIA-approved MRF Challenge international series concluded at the Dubai Autodrome on Saturday.
Also notching up maiden wins were Australia’s Dylan Young and Indian-American Yuven Sundaramoorthy.
The 17-year old Amendola dominated the entire round, being quickest in free practice and qualifying sessions before winning both races on Friday and another on Saturday besides finishing second in the other two outings, to give himself a great start in the championship stakes.
Young (30), in his seventh appearance in the MRF Challenge, finally got the monkey off his back by notching up his first win, while 16-year-old debutant Sundaramoorthy, whose family hails from Madurai, reaped rewards for his persistence.
Amendola was satisfied with his performance. “It’s been a great week and feels good to win three of five races. That was my target coming here. I had to fend off others early in the last race, but after that, it was fairly comfortable as I opened up a good lead.
The results (10 laps unless mentioned): Race 3: 1. Dylan Young (Aus); 2. Michelangelo Amendola (Bel); 3. Joshua Mason (GBr).
Race 4: 1. Yuven Sundaramoorthy (USA); 2. Amendola; 3. Valdemar Eriksen (Den). Race 5: 1. Amendola; 2. Mason; 3. Young.