Rashid Al Dhaheri seals two top-10 finishes at Misano in Italian F4 Championship

Emirati teenager is 11th in the overall standings and fifth in rookies' championship

Rashid Al Dhaheri finished in seventh and sixth place at Misano Photo: Supplied

Emirati teenager Rashid Al Dhaheri secured two top-10 finishes in the Formula 4 Italian Championship at Misano at the weekend.

Al Dhaheri, 15, was the youngest driver on the grid during Round 2 in his Huawei, FAB and Yas Heat-backed Prema car.

In Race 1, he turned his ninth place in qualifying into a solid seventh place, 4.050 secs behind the Finn Tuukka Taponen who finished first, with British driver Arvid Lindblad second and James Wharton of Australia third.

Misfortune struck Al Dhaheri ahead of Race 2 when he was involved in a pit-lane collision before the formation lap and had to retire as Lindblad secured a dominant win ahead of Wharton in second and third-placed American Ugo Ugochukwu.

Making up for the earlier disappointment, Al Dhaheri produced a mature drive to seal sixth place in the third and final race, finishing 16.918 secs behind winner Lindblad, with Ugochukwu second and Zachary David of Malta third.

After his first six races in single seaters, Al Dhaheri has produced four top-ten finishes – he was twice seventh at Imola in Round 1 – with two retirements. He is 11th in the overall standings with 26 points, 103 behind leader Lindblad, and fifth in the rookies' championship.

“All weekend it has been amazing weather for us to do what we love … race!” Al Dhaheri said.

“Again, like Imola [In Round 1], it was a weekend of learning and absorbing, developing ways to move forward throughout the weekend to score some solid results, which to be honest … were above our expectations.

“I enjoyed some very tense and exciting battles with other drivers; I felt good overtaking and defending throughout the race in which I learnt so much. Open-wheel racing is very different to karting but each time I go out in the track it feels more and more familiar.”

Next up for Al Dhaheri is the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit – home of the F1 Belgian Grand Prix - for another three-race weekend from the May 26 to 28.

“We’re very proud of our Prema Racing team and the work we’ve been able to do together,” Al Dhaheri added.

“We have two weeks to process the lessons from Misano, and we’ll push forward all the time to get better and better results. Overall, I am happy but, in the end, I am here to work hard to win races. That’s always the goal.”