After a strong opening to his account at the recently concluded curtain-raiser round of the 2017 MRF Challenge at the Bahrain International Circuit, Singapore’s Danial Nielsen Frost now has his sights on the next rounds.
The upcoming rounds of the challenge features as a double-header with the infamously tricky Dubai Autodrome hosting round 2 from 7 to 9 December and Abu Dhabi’s F1-spec Yas Marina circuit the venue for round 3 the following weekend of 14 and 15 December.
In preparation for the rounds, the Singaporean youngster has been busy working on his fitness as well as putting in the hours on the simulator to learn the layout of both circuits.
The first of the double-header rounds will see take on the challenge of the 5.39 kilometre-long Dubai Autodrome will see Frost face the challenge of the FIA Grade-1 circuit.
Utilising the autodrome’s grand-prix layout, the clockwise circuit is considered to be amongst the more challenging ones on the calendar. With 9-right and 6-left turns, the circuit also features two long straights and a multitude of twisty turns as well as several tight and technical sections.
Following the conclusion of Round 2, the young drivers in this year’s edition of the MRF Challenge will travel southwest of Dubai to take on the 5.55 kilometre-long Yas Marina Circuit the following weekend.
Located at sea level, the high-downforce and anti-clockwise Yas Marina circuit features 21 corners with its unique “underground” tunnel with the pit lane exit that runs underneath turn 1.
Additionally, the circuit also has four main acceleration points including a 1.17 kilometre-long acceleration, which is today the longest of any F1 racetrack in the world. Despite this, the circuit is regarded as a generally “slow-natured” layout.
Frost comments, “After what I consider a positive start to my 2017 MRF Challenge campaign at the Bahrain International Circuit, I am really looking forward to the coming double-header back-to-back rounds at the Dubai Autodrome and the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
While I am familiar with the Abu Dhabi circuit after watching the Formula 1 races there, the Dubai Autodrome is the unknown quality, which is also quite exciting. Actually, I am really excited about both tracks, as both are really different.
Judging from the layout, the GP layout of the Dubai Autodrome already looks tough with some tight and twisty technical sections together with the unique double long straights.
Yas Marina meanwhile, throws a different kind of challenge I think, so you cannot really compare the two tracks. All I know is that I cannot wait to get back into my number 88 MRF race car and go racing!”
The race weekend proceedings for round 2 of the 2017 MRF Challenge at the Dubai Autodrome will commence on Thursday, 7 December with practice sessions followed by qualifying and two races scheduled on Friday, 8 December. Two more races will be held on Saturday, 9 December.
Round 3 at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit is more compressed with practice, qualifying and one race scheduled on Thursday, 14 December with three races on the bill for Friday, 15 December.
