Ceetee sent the congratulations. Higosh replied “not yet”, then added: “i think anyways”.
He simply did not know whether the points were enough.
They were.
Pole position and victory at Abu Dhabi gave Higosh 31 points. JDJT3593 started sixth, finished fourth and scored 15. The gap between the Williams drivers grew from 17 to 33, one more than Brazil can offer even with pole and fastest lap.
Higosh is the Season 7 D4 champion. It is his first IMS drivers' title, won on his 15th start at the circuit where his IMS career began.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Grid | Gap | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | Higosh! | Williams | 1st | — | 31 |
| P2 | Zloober | Cadillac | 4th | +3.961s | 24 |
| P3 | McBeth655 | Red Bull | 2nd | +11.634s | 19 |
| P4 | JDJT3593 | Williams | 6th | +24.682s | 15 |
| P5 | L3on Tyl3r2500 | VCARB | 7th | +25.247s | 13 |
| P6 | jazzy-draught9 | Aston Martin | 3rd | +27.103s | 11 |
| P7 | Ceetee19 | Red Bull | 11th | +31.081s | 9 |
| P8 | bigwoottz | Haas | 10th | +32.096s | 7 |
Zloober turns the coronation into a contest
Higosh had promised to put together a controlled weekend, take pole and fight for the win. Pole went exactly to plan. The race made him work harder.
His first question for Zloober after the finish was how the Cadillac's tyres had survived. Zloober said his warning had arrived with about two laps remaining and described it as “a good battle all race”. Higosh's judgement was even more generous: “shame on the spin you would have won today!”
The final classification doesn't do justice to the titanic battle they had on track, lap after lap, a last lap spin denying zloober the chance at a maiden IMS victory against arguably the strongest D4 driver there has ever been. Zloober climbed from fourth to second, took the fastest lap and finished 3.961 seconds away from victory.
This was only his second IMS start. Third at Monza has become second at Abu Dhabi, with a fastest lap added to two podiums from two races. He has not needed long to turn two late-season appearances into one of D4's most interesting runs.
McBeth completed the podium, prompting jazzy to declare that the top three had been “on another planet today”. It was McBeth's seventh D4 podium of the season and eighth in IMS, but the first victory he targeted after taking pole at Monza remains missing. Brazil gives him one more attempt.
Fifty-two behind became 33 ahead
The title looks emphatic now. It did not begin that way.
JD won the first two races and left Austria 52 points clear of Higosh. Even after Silverstone, the gap was still 49. Higosh then began the run that changed the season: first in Las Vegas, Spa and Australia; second in Qatar, Baku and Japan; first again at Monza and Abu Dhabi.
| Checkpoint | Higosh | JD | Championship gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| After Austria | 9 | 61 | JD +52 |
| After Australia | 110 | 108 | Higosh +2 |
| After Japan | 183 | 183 | Level |
| After Monza | 213 | 196 | Higosh +17 |
| After Abu Dhabi | 244 | 211 | Higosh +33 |
Japan was JD's best answer. He waited until the final lap to beat Higosh by 0.125 seconds and drew them level with three rounds remaining. Higosh responded by winning the next two. JD's fifth at Monza and fourth in Abu Dhabi brought 28 points; Higosh took 61.
Qualifying was the difference JD kept trying to overcome. All four of his Season 7 wins came from third or sixth on the grid, while Higosh took eight poles and started Abu Dhabi five places ahead. Hours after the title had gone, JD reduced his regret to five words: “being shit in quali hurt me”.
It did not stop him winning four races or reaching 211 points. It did leave him repeatedly trying to create a race from behind while Higosh had already placed his car at the front.
Fourth place is still exposed to one FIA decision
The championship is settled, but the order immediately behind the podium may move. Jazzy has asked the FIA to remove a three-second penalty he received after running deep and rejoining at the lap-14 chicane. On the recorded times, removing it would lift him from sixth to fourth, ahead of JD and L3on. It could increase Higosh's title margin without reopening the championship.
Ceetee made the largest gain among the top eight, moving from 11th to seventh. Bigwoottz followed him home in eighth after calling the race “mega fun”, while ash2811 gained five places to take the final point in 12th. Geo, Tem and Bailey did not finish.
Brazil will settle those remaining positions, not the D4 crown. Higosh had called Abu Dhabi an iconic circuit because his IMS career began here. It now has a second claim on his story: this is where the fight ran out of points before he ran out of races.
