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- Team Abu Dhabi driver keeps fifth F2 crown in his sights as Riabko grabs slender championship lead
Klaipeda, Lithuania: Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al-Qemzi lost his lead in the 2024 UIM F2 World Championship today but stayed well in the hunt for a record fifth driver’s title as Sweden’s Mathilda Wiberg won the Grand Prix of Lithuania.
Third place in the third round of the championship was enough to give Lithuania’s Edgaras Riabko a narrow two-point lead in the title race from Al-Qemzi, who finished fourth on a dramatic day in Klaipeda.
But with the three remaining rounds to come next month in Italy and Portugal, two of his favorite race venues, the Emirati driver has put himself in a strong position to retain his F2 world title after a disappointing qualifying session on Friday.
While Al-Qemzi rose three places on the day, his Abu Dhabi teammate, Mansoor Al-Mansoori, made a bigger move, climbing from 17th at the start to finish among the championship points in ninth place.
Wiberg’s first F2 Grand Prix win arrived courtesy of agonizing exits for the first-round winner in Italy, Britain’s Matthew Palfreyman, and Finland’s Jarno Vilmunen.
After a perfect start from pole position, Palfreyman looked to be in complete control and on course for the championship lead before his timing belt snapped and put him out halfway through the 38-lap race.
That seemed to have presented Vilmunen with a clear path to victory, but he went out two laps from the finish after running out of fuel, leaving Wiberg to secure the win ahead of Frenchman Nelson Morin.
More drama arrived after the Grand Prix had ended when Monaco’s Giacomo Sacchi, originally placed fourth, picked up a one-lap penalty for a race infringement.
Team Abu Dhabi will be looking for better fortunes in two weeks’ time when the fourth round of the championship takes place in San Nazzaro, which has become their regular European training base under team manager Guido Cappellini.
The back-to-back Grand Prix race weekends which then round off the series in Portugal next month will suit Al-Qemzi in particular as he looks to add to his four F2 world crowns.
His five career race victories in Portugal included a start-to-finish win from pole position in the final round last year at Peso da Regua, after he had already clinched the world title a week earlier with second place at Vila Velha de Rodao.