True North looked like they would be competitive from the get go, with Norbert Jakab taking pole position, ahead of champion Jose Soriano and Oscar Soltero. Lucas Murno was 4th, with Harry Smith and David Fidock behind them on row 3. FS1 champion elect Mateusz Majka was 7th place for Kings Racing, in what is probably a dry run for 2026.
There was a 50/50 split in the thinking for the race strategy. Half the field were one stopping, with the other half on a two stop strategy, and the consensus was that two medium stints might be faster than one hard stint, but that traffic could potentially be an issue.
Optiminal had a complete disaster. Zsolt Szucs made a move on KV86’s Patrekur Magnusson and span at turn 4’s Descida do Lago corner, ending the Hungarian’s challenge at Brazil on only lap 6. Meanwhile on lap 12, Rouven Meschede was battling with Mateusz Majka through the first 3 corners, and Majka didn’t give him much room on the exit, whilst Meschede tried to stick at it around the outside. Rouven left the track, span on re-entry, and his race was over.
Norbert Jakab was in the leading pack but Soltero, misjudging his braking into turn 1 in the beginning of lap 10, tapped the rear corner of the True North machine and spun Jakab down the field. Jakab lost only a few seconds but it was enough to put him behind Soriano and Lucas Murno, who found himself in the lead of the race.
Behind those three was David Fidock, the Lunarc driver surviving the trouble and trying to track the leaders. Lap 14, and Soltero was in. By lap 16, Jakab and Harry Smith had also pitted, all of them for medium tyres. Lap 20, and so too had Soriano. Clearly, they were thinking 2 stops were the best way. However, Murno, Fidock and Majka waited until lap 21 and put on the hard tyres. Could they get to the end?
And so began the race of the tortoises and the hares. Soriano caught and passed Lucas Murno, Fidock was dropping through the pack. But the hards were holding on, and Murno was able to stabilise the gap at the front of the field, meaning Soriano would need to catch him and pass him in the final stint. After the race, Luke Mitchell would say “One stop was definitely faster but it made for a painful 59 lap experience.”
And so it played out. Once Soriano made his second stop just 18 laps from the end, he was catching by around a second a lap, and was only about 15 seconds behind. But as he caught, the gains reduced. He passed Fidock easily for P2, but then as he caught Murno with around 5 laps to go, it was all about who would have more Push to Pass. Coming into T1 on the final lap, he went for it. But Murno had DRS for the run to T4, and through he went back down the inside. Soriano tried everything he could to pass, trying around the outside at T6, and then had DRS and push to pass on the final run to the line. He got closer, and closer, and closer… but couldn’t do it. The Brazilian took the flag by only 0.148. Race-view had the gap at 0.014. It was so close.
Fidock was close to securing a podium for Lunarc but Soltero made it past him easily. However, David did manage to hold of the charging Norbert Jakab. After the race, Jakab said “After a good pace once again in Qualy, I was on the unlucky side this time, getting spun 2 times. But as we are in a tight fight with Netrex in the team’s standings, we can’t afford to give up this easily. I came back to P5 while my teammate, Lucas could finally get his maiden win in his home race. One final push to go, I know we can do it.”
Harry Smith was P7, and said after the race “I’ve come away from this round a little disappointed. We had great pace in the car and I knew from practice that without damage I could be battling closer to the top.” Dawid Krupa beat Luke Mitchell to the line by 0.001 seconds for P8 in a practical dead heat.
The season comes to a close in Abu Dhabi, but there’s still the team’s championship to be decided, with just 23 points separating Netrex (in first) and True North it’s anyone’s guess as to who will take the title.
