Frost claims another podium finish on final day of action in Dubai
Singaporean teen closes out MRF Challenge opening round third overall in the championship
Dubai, UAE, Saturday, 17 November 2018 – The final day of action at the opening round of the 2018/19 MRF Challenge International Winter Series at the Dubai Autodrome produced solid results for Singapore’s Danial Nielsen Frost. With three more races on Saturday’s roster, Frost managed to close out the weekend on a positive after claiming a second podium finish with this third place in Race 5. He also placed eleventh in Race 3 and fourth in Race 4. Coming away with strong results from the weekend that included his maiden race win on Friday and two third place podium-finishes, Frost leaves Dubai with a healthy points haul to place third in the overall championship standing.
A decidedly more challenging start to the day, the third race of the weekend on Saturday morning had seen Frost battle a mechanical issue throughout the 10-lap race. Despite driving a stricken car, Frost still managed to nurse his number #68 racecar to finish in eleventh. With his mechanical problems resolved, Frost managed a strong comeback in Race 4 with a stellar recovery drive that saw him make up considerable ground following another storming start. Making up seven places from eleventh on the grid, he quickly fought his way to fourth place by the third lap. Matching the pace of the front-runners, a valiant effort saw Frost maintain his pace to take the chequered flag in fourth place.
Starting from sixth on the grid for the fifth and final race of the weekend, a decent start did see Frost gain some ground initially though remained in sixth for the bulk of the race. However, a four-way battle for position towards the closing stages saw Frost take the opportunity to pass three drivers to take third position on the track. Maintaining a similar pace to the drivers ahead of him, Frost retained his hard-fought third place through to the flag for another podium finish.
I am really happy to close out the weekend on a positive, as overall it has been an incredible weekend. Coming into today’s races, although we unfortunately had a mechanical issue with the car in Race 3, on a positive note we did manage to gain time in the race to the leaders and more importantly, learned a lot in terms of setup for the next race. After making the necessary changes, the car felt so much better in Race 4. Starting from 11th, we managed to gain a lot of positions right from the start, which we are really pleased about especially as we managed to recover a lot of points from that race finishing in P4. For the fifth and last race of the weekend, we had a decent start from P6 but towards the closing stages, while the guys ahead of me were battling it out, we made the best of a situation that presented itself and managed to move up into P3. Pace-wise, we are really happy, as we are not too far off the leaders. The results from this weekend are definitely a huge boost, particularly as we look forward and prepare for Round 2 in Bahrain next month! I must thank my driver coach, James (Winslow), our engineer and mechanics who have worked tirelessly all weekend. Most importantly, I have to thank my parents who are my pillars of strength!
– Danial Frost