After yet another dominant victory in the last race of the V1 Malta Series held in Imola, Carabott clinched the 2021/22 V1 Malta Series title with an incredible 4 races to spare, and thus taking his second V1 Malta Series title having won the first season held between April and June 2020. Brandon Bonello and Mark Grech for Red Bull and Ferrari respectively completed the podium, with Grech achieving his first podium of the season in only the second race he took part in.
As if Carabott had not dominated the season beforehand, he took pole for this race in a qualifying session that began in the dry but ended in the wet. Bonello qualified on the front row, with Grech taking third on the grid. However, although all the top 3 finished in the same position they started in, that does not really tell the full story of their race.
At the start, Grech got away very well and seemed set to take second place from Bonello, however, Mercedes driver Michael Pace inadvertently ran straight into the back of him going into the first corner, and this left Pace with damage and led to Grech dropping down to 5th place.
The first corner incident rather summed up the race for Pace, who had various mishaps along the way and ended up finishing outside of the points eventually.
Somebody who did make a fantastic start, however, was Haas driver Daryl Pace, who by the beginning of lap 2, moved up into second place at the expense of Bonello, who had Manduca very close behind him. In fact, Manduca then got past Bonello on the beginning of lap 3. Meanwhile, all the battling for second place enabled Carabott to keep on growing his advantage out in front.
The first driver to retire from the race came was Daylziel Tabone in the Alfa Romeo, who did so on lap 9. In the meantime, Manduca had overtaken Pace in the Haas for second place, whilst Grech overtook Bonello for fourth. Grech then made an attempt to get past Pace, however, made contact and had slight wing damage which required a pit stop for repairs.
On lap 14, Daryl Pace and Alpine driver Keith Muscat had an incident which led to the former retiring from the race, and the Safety Car (SC) was deployed as a result. This worked favourably for Carabott in the race lead, who made his pit stop during this time and still managed to re-emerge in first place. During this SC period, Mercedes driver Brendan Buhagiar attempted to unlap himself, however, he got disqualified by the game for doing so. As a result of various pit stops during the SC, the order at this point was: Carabott, Manduca, Bonello, Williams driver Carl Inguanez, McLaren driver Chris Sammut, Grech, Simeon Nechev in the other McLaren.
The SC came into the pits at the end of lap 19, and on the restart, Sammut overtook Inguanez for 4th position, although Inguanez took the position back towards the end of lap 20 with an extremely gutsy move. Carabott quickly began to open up a gap once again out in front, after his lead was destroyed following the SC deployment. During this time, Muscat retired from the race.
Bonello and Grech both moved up into the podium finishes, with Manduca dropping down to fourth position. Inguanez, who usually competes in the V1 Malta Series Tier 2, finished in 5th to score his first ever points in a V1 Malta Series race in what was a truly impressive drive from 14th place up to 5th, whilst Chris Sammut in the McLaren also finished in the points, proving his capability of performing at a high level in the V1 Malta Series.
However, out in front, there was simply no stopping Carabott, who went on take the victory, and with it, the 2021/22 V1 Malta Series Championship. It is a title which Carabott has fully deserved, having taken 10 wins from a possible 12 and having won all of the last 5 consecutive races.
Ryan Carabott’s comment live on the stream –
Re-Watch San Marino Round 12 Championship round
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