Melbourne racing driver, Dylan Young was back on the pace in Round 3 of the 2017/2017 MRF Challenge Championship at the Yas Marina F1 Circuit in Abu Dhabi from December 14-15.
The 5.554km Yas Marina Circuit hosted the last round of the Formula One World Championship just over two weeks ago and was the scene for Races 9-12 (Round 3) of the 18 car MRF Challenge Championship.
Young, who stood on the podium in Round 1 in Bahrain, struggled with set up issues for Round 2 in Dubai. However he showed that was a weekend to forget when he went 8th quickest in qualifying under the lights in Abu Dhabi for Round 3. Young then scored points in all four races over the weekend.
In Race 1, Young managed to climb one place to finish in 7th in a race which was interrupted by two safety car periods for accidents at the back of the field. Frustratingly for Dylan, he finished just one second behind 6th place and that would have given him pole position for Race 2 which sees the top 6 in reverse order on the grid.
Starting from 7th for Race 2, Young again kept his position until the chequered flag and yet again the race was interrupted by a safety car period.
In Race 3, Young was involved in a fight with a group of cars on Lap 2 when he spun trying to make a dive up the inside under the famous Yas Viceroy hotel section. The spin sent him to the back of the field and by the time he rejoined he was around 10 seconds behind the pack ahead. However, an inspiring drive from Dylan had him chase down the pack ahead and pass cars to finish in 10th place.
The last race of the weekend had Young battling for 6th place with a number of other cars and he would ultimately go on to finish in 7th place yet again. The results over the weekend mean Young now sits 6th in the Championship standings out of 19 drivers.
"I'm glad I was back on the pace in Abu Dhabi and it proved Dubai was a strange glitch in performance," Dylan said.
"It's an amazing circuit to drive under the lights and it was good to bag points in all races. I have some things I need to work on personally in the car to try and insert myself back into the top 5 and back on the podium like in Bahrain but overall I'm really pleased to produce a strong weekend."
"I'll enjoy the break now until Round 4 of the Championship in 6 weeks but it will also be a busy time for me to assess options for 2018!"
The final round (Races 13-16) of the 2017/2018 MRF Challenge Championship will take at the MMRT Circuit in Chennai, India from February 2-4 2018.
Dylan Young is proudly supported throughout his 2017/2018 MRF Challenge campaign by:
Platypus, IntelliTrac, Entourage Finance, Besser + Co Estate Agents, Boost Mobile, Forum Enviro, SKINS, Powertoolz, Vista Eyes, Designsport, Urban Maintenance Systems, SEEK, Hi Voltage Karts, Melbourne Watch Company and Evado Studios.
ENDS