Photo: F4 SEA

AGI Sport’s Jack Beeton won the Formula 4 South East Asia title in the Sepang season finale.

Prema’s Kean Nakamura Berta topped pre-event testing, practice and qualifying. In Q1 he took pole by a sizeable 0.655s over team-mate Rashid Al Dhaheri, with other team-mate Doriane Pin 0.772s behind in third. Beeton was the only other driver within a second of the pace.

Nakamura Berta went even faster in Q2 to claim race three pole, setting a 2m07.293s. His opposion got closer, with Al Dhaheri 0.287s off pole and Pin 0.52s behind as she qualified third again. Beeton was 3.063s off the pace in 14th, with Asia Racing Team’s Enzo Yeah fourth fastest and 0.903s off pole.

It all went wrong for Nakamura at the start of race one as he stalled, as did AGI’s Peter Bouzinelos from seventh on the grid, and Al Dhaheri swept sharply to the inside to cover off Pin and Beeton.

The top two pulled away while Beeton battled Kai Daryanani for a few corners. Al Dhaheri weaved down the back straight at the end of lap one. Nakamura had fallen to ninth by lap two.

On lap three Beeton passed Pin for second at turn four. Nakamura got into seventh by lap five, and gained another spot on lap six due to Kaishun Liu spinning into retirement.

The safety car came out, eradicating Al Dhaheri’s two-second lead. Racing resumed on lap nine of 12 and Nakamura immediately slipstreamed into fifth. Daryanani locked up at the end of the lap and Nakamura passed him too, but Daryanani took fourth back at turn one next time by and then got defensive.

Nakamura finally passed him at turn four on lap 11 after several near-misses, and in the queue forming behind Bouzinelos overtook three cars. Al Dhaheri won by 3.697s, Beeton resisted Pin’s last-lap attack and Bouzinelos’s recovered from 15th to 10th to earn reversed-grid pole for race two.

Bouzinelos bogged down on the grid the next morning and Kunpeng Xiao squeezed past on his inside to take the lead. He weaved down every straight to try to prevent Bouzinelos from getting back ahead, but exiting turn four on lap the positions changed. A few corners later Daryanani and Nakamura collided, with Al Dhaheri crashing out too.

The safety car led the field until lap five, and Bouzinelos weaved his way down the pit straight. Xaio tried passing him at turn two but made race-ending contact instead. Nicolas Stati inherited the lead over Pin and the safety car returned.

On the next restart, Beeton tried going around the outside of Pin at turn one then she tried getting on the inside of Stati at turn two. They maintained positions, and Stati secured victory when the safety car came out on the penultimate lap due to Yu Zhang crashing out. Beeton became champion in third.

Race three started behind the safety car, and on a dramatic lap two Nakamura dropped behind both of his team-mates and Yuhao Fu rolled out.

The safety car returned and green flags waved again on lap five. Daryanani passed Nakamura for third, then Al Dhaheri and Nakamura fell to the back of the field. It left Pin with a huge lead which she converted into victory over Daryanani and Bouzinelos.

Sepang should have also hosted the Formula Regional Asian Championship finale. FRAC ran from 2018 to 2022, and had a provisional three-round 2023 calendar with a Chinese round in October, followed by visits to Sepang on back-to-back weekends a month later. But only one driver was announced as racing in FRAC, and no events went ahead.

Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Rashid Al Dhaheri Prema 28m54.508s
2 Jack Beeton AGI Sport +3.697s
3 Doriane Pin Prema +4.040s
4 Kean Nakamura Berta +4.652s
5 Kai Daryanani Pinnacle Motorsport +7.923s
6 Enzo Yeh Asia Racing Team +8.633s
7 Nicolas Stati AGI Sport +9.615s
8 Kunpeng Xiao Asia Racing Team +10.155s
9 Yuhao Fu Pinnacle Motorsport +12.305s
10 Peter Bouzinelos AGI Sport +12.395s
Pole: Nakamura, 2m07.764s
Fastest lap: Nakamura, 2m08.912s

Race 2 (10 laps)
1 Stati 28m51.546s
2 Pin +0.548s
3 Beeton +1.058s
4 Lincoln Taylor BlackArts Racing +1.597s
5 Anton Inigo BlackArts Racing +2.177s
6 Fu +2.953s
7 Zhongwei Wang R&B Racing +4.098s
8 Kaishun Liu Pinnacle Motorsport +6.472s
9 Bouzinelos +6.090s
10 “Dragon” B-MAX Racing +7.491s
FL: Bouzinelos, 2m10.960s

Race 3 (10 laps)
1 Pin 27m10.398s
2 Daryanani +5.300s
3 Bouzinelos+7.027s
4 Taylor +7.589s
5 Beeton +9.878s
6 Stati +11.851s
7 Liu +13.268s
8 Inigo +14.704s
9 Yeh +15.647s
10 “Dragon” +23.748s
P: Nakamura, 2m07.293s
FL: Al Dhaheri, 2m08.301s

Championship standings
1 Beeton 130   2 Pin 81   3 Hadrien David 75   4 Xiao 51   5 Tiago Rodrigues 51   6 Nakamura Berta 48   7 Yeh 46   8 Fukang Jiang 41   9 Stati 39   10 Daryanani 36

The post Beeton takes F4 SEA title as Al Dhaheri, Stati and Pin share Sepang wins appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

The first signing for this year’s revived Formula Regional Asian Championship has been announced, with Evans GP signing Costa Toparis for the upcoming campaign.

Toparis is currently racing in GB3 for Rodin Carlin, and sits 12th in the standings with three sixth places being his best results.

The 2022 Australian champion for OK-Junior karts started his car racing career late last year, representing his country in the Motorsport Games Formula 4 Cup. He qualified 10th, and finished 13th in the event’s main race.

He then joined Carlin for the non-championship F4 United Arab Emirates Trophy races on the support bill of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and finished the two races in fourth and eighth.

There are three rounds to go of the GB3 season, which concludes on October 22. The first FRAC round is at Zhuhai (or potentially Zhuzhou) in China a week later on October 27-29, with the (still provisional) calendar completed by trips to Sepang on November 24-26 and December 1-3.

After a break of just over a month, Toparis will then drive for Evans GP again in FRegional Middle East which features five rounds in the United Arab Emirates through January and February of next year.

“I am really looking forward to expanding my experience on world class circuits and excited about visiting China for the first time,” said the 16-year-old.  “The prestigious Asian and UAE FRegional series will be great preparation for the 2024 season, and I am thrilled to be working with Evans GP who are a force to race with on the circuit.”

The post Evans GP signs GB3 racer Costa Toparis for two FRegional series appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: SRO

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has undergone surgery on his injured wrist as he aims to get back to testing before his planned Formula Regional debut in the United Arab Emirates next January.

Antonelli broke a scaphoid bone in his left wrist in a collision during qualifying for last month’s Motorsport Games Formula 4 Cup, in which he took the gold medal for Italy despite the pain, which he modestly describes as having “made life a bit tougher”.

Antonelli explained to Formula Scout that “the surgery went super well; they put a screw inside the wrist, because the two bones were not compact so there was a space between the two bones”.

“We decided to make the surgery just to help the recovery and also to be back on track as soon as possible. Without surgery, the recovery would take really long, and I might have not been able to race even in Abu Dhabi,” he says, adding that “the scaphoid bone I broke is a really hard bone to heal”.

With the cast off, “I can start rehab and hopefully can be back on track soon”. Antonelli is a junior driver of the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team, who “are helping me a lot, especially with the rehab, which is gonna be really important to be then ready when I get back in the car”.

Having claimed both the Italian and German F4 titles with Prema this year, Antonelli will stay with the team for the move up to the FIA’s Middle Eastern and European championships for FRegional in 2023.

He has not been able to get out on track since the FREC’s post-season Mugello test in October, something he admitted “was quite frustrating because basically I missed all the tests, so I missed also experience with the car”.

“But I think that with the time and especially with the UAE championship I will make enough experience to then be ready for the proper championship.”

After finishing his time in F4 with a tiring run of back-to-back-to-back race weekends, he acknowledges that “on the other hand, there was a positive because I needed a rest, [but] now I rested way too much, to be honest, because it’s been already a month, now I want to be back on track”.

Remaining testing opportunities are limited, as “in December it’s really hard to find a track”. But he adds “hopefully I’ll be ready to drive in Paul Ricard and then to do also Barcelona”, the two yet-to-be-announced pre-season tests happening next March.

The post Frustrated Antonelli in race to get back on track after successful surgery appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FRAC

Formula Regional Asian Championship promoter Top Speed has relaunched its plans for the 2023 season by creating a new championship.

FRAC was launched in 2018 with races in China and Malaysia, and in 2019 added Japan and Thailand to the schedue. China and Japan were swapped out in 2020 for the United Arab Emirates, where the series has raced exclusively ever since.

For next year it had added a round in another Middle Eastern country, Kuwait, but a recent calendar revision has come alongside a relaunching of the series; for 2023 there will be a FRegional Middle East Championship, taking on the set of races that FRAC would have done.

The five-round series’ first official event will be a pre-season test at Dubai Autodrome on January 9/10, with the inaugural FRMEC races taking place at the track on January 13/14.

The change from the original schedule for FRAC is that round two at Yas Marina Circuit on January 21/22 has been swapped out for what will now be the first ever visit to Kuwait Motor Town on January 27/28.

Kuwait appears again on February 1-3, which was originally set to be the first trip to a country which will only hold international car racing for the first time this December, then the season concludes with rounds at Dubai (February 11/12) and Yas Marina (February 18/19).

“We are delighted to announce the creation of the Formula Regional Middle East Championship,” said Davide De Gobbi, general manager of series promoter Top Speed.

“The enormous success of FRAC held here over recent seasons has shown the Middle East is a burgeoning centre for junior single-seater motorsport, and we believe a dedicated championship will further strengthen this position.

“FRAC will resume in Southeast Asia when circumstances permit, and details of the venues and calendar will be announced at that time.”

A full announcement on the relaunched 2023 season from Top Speed is expected soon.

As Formula 4 UAE supports FRMEC at every event, it means it will also be swapping out Abu Dhabi for Kuwait that weekend. It will be getting underway with a non-championship round at Yas Marina supporting the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 18-20.

Swiss team Maffi Racing is one of the European additions to the F4 UAE grid for 2023, while the new Yas Marina-based Yas Heat Racing has announced its line-up.

Yas Heat started off as an Esports squad, and partnered with successful F4 UAE team Xcel Motorsport to run an academy programme and a recent shootout to choose its F4 drivers. The winners of that were Emirati karter Keanu Al Azhari and Italy’s Matteo Quintarelli.

Al Azhari won the fifth running of the Richard Mille Young Talent Academy shootout to earn a paid-for seat in Spanish F4 next year, and half of the funds required for the F4 UAE campaign will be paid for by Yas Heat.

In 2022, the 14-year-old factory Tony Kart driver Al Azhari has raced on OK and KZ2 shifter karts, his rookie year in both, coming 36th in the CIK-FIA European Karting Championship and 43rd in the World championship. Last year he was ninth in the Champions of the Future series on OK-Junior karts and 24th in the European championship.

Quintarelli, aged 15, has spent the majority of his karting career in the Middle East. He was 37th in last year’s IAME Euro Series for X30 Junior karts, then second in the UAE Series in the 2021-22 season.

The post FRegional Middle East series created via rebrand and tweaked calendar appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Kuwait Motor Town

Formula Regional Asian Championship and Formula 4 United Arab Emirates will include races abroad in 2023, as a visit to Kuwait has been added to their calendars.

F4 UAE has joined FRAC in being promoted by Top Speed, after several years of supporting the series on race weekends, and will run a five-round season at the start of next year and revert back to three races per weekend after including four in 2022.

A non-championship race will feature as a support to this year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 18-20, as has been tradition in recent years, and a pre-season test will occur at Dubai Autodrome on January 9/10 2022.

Dubai will also host the season opener of both series on January 13/14, with a trip to Yas Marina Circuit on January 21/22.

The Kuwait Motor Town circuit in Kuwait makes its calendar debut on February 1-3. The anticlockwise 5.6-kilometre FIA Grade I track is designed by Hermann Tilke and opened in 2019. It is set to host international motorsport for the first time this December when the 24H Series visits for the Kuwait 12 Hours after its planned Sebring 24 Hours round was canned.

Following Kuwait, FRAC and F4 UAE head back to Dubai on February 11/12, then the two series conclude at F1 venue Yas Marina on February 18/19.

At least 28 entries are anticipated for F4 UAE, which was the first series to use a second-generation F4 car at the start of this year and is believed to have attracted several more European teams – including Van Amersfoort Racing – to compete in 2023.

The post FRAC and F4 UAE to race in Kuwait in 2023 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

Dutch junior single-seater team Van Amersfoort Racing has confirmed to Formula Scout it is seriously considering entering the Formula Regional Asia and Formula 4 United Arab Emirates championships in 2023.

VAR expanded into Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 for the first time this year, replacing HWA Racelab. As a result, the team took the view to “keep things as simple as possible” and to skip the UAE’s two winter series run back in January.

However, with strong client interest in the two series already, VAR’s chief executive officer Rob Niessink says that there is “a pretty good chance” that VAR will commit to running in both championships, saying that “we are seriously considering it”.

Being able to run in both “as a combined package makes sense for us”, he explained, adding “we still have the old Alfa engines in the factory”.

Though VAR was not present in the Emirates this year it was able to make sure that some of its contracted drivers gained additional pre-season experience through its good relationship with Pinnacle Motorsport and its team boss John O’Hara.

Robert de Haan and Jeff Machiels, who are both running in Spanish F4 through VAR’s joint venture with Monlau Motorsport, as well as VAR’s Italian F4 driver Jules Castro, took part in selected F4 UAE rounds for Pinnacle.

In addition to placing some of its drivers, VAR also sent some its engineers out to UAE to get experience of working with the new second-generation Tatuus chassis. “The engineers were out there for five weeks in a row,” explained Niessink.

Though VAR was approached by the organisers of the British F4 championship for 2022, which is running the same cars as the ADAC and Italian F4 series for the first time, VAR decided against extending its operations across the channel.

“You can’t do everything at the same time,” explains Niessink before adding that Brexit does add an additional hurdle for continental European teams wishing to compete in Britain.

Interestingly, VAR would also be interested in “looking again” at the Toyota Racing Series which, having been run with a semi-centralised structure in 2021 and cancelled completely in 2022 due to New Zealand’s strict COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, is planning a return to independent teams for 2023.

“The series is getting stronger again,” says Niessink and notes that one of the team’s engineers has already been approached to work with TRS. “However, it is not sensible to do it all. We need to give the guys a break.”

The post VAR eyes FRegional Asia and F4 UAE for next stage in expansion plans appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FRAC

Arthur Leclerc has discussed how he used winter to prepare for his second season in FIA Formula 3, having won the Formula Regional Asian Championship title last month.

The Ferrari junior raced for Mumbai Falcons in FRAC, an operation containing the technical infrastructure of Prema – the team he has raced for since 2020 – but under Indian leadership.

He won four races in the five-round season, before returning to Prema colours for this week’s pre-season F3 test. Leclerc came 10th in F3 last year.

“I worked with my engineer Carlo [Cristofori in FRAC], who worked with me as well last year,” Leclerc told Formula Scout.

“We will do this season together in F3. Of course I knew him already so the relationship is already really close and to have done FRAC and won it together is a good way to start for F3.”

For FRAC rounds three and four on Dubai Autodrome’s Grand Prix layout he was engineered by Pedro Matos, and it was a return to FRegional for both as Matos ran Frederik Vesti to the 2019 European title and Leclerc came second there in 2020.

“The car is completely different to F3. The tyres as well, so it wasn’t easy in the very beginning to understand fully the car and the tyres but we worked really hard with the team to quickly get up to speed,” Leclerc added.

“Even though the cars are not the same, it’s still a race weekend with qualifying and races, so we really worked on how to approach the weekend, and reflect the speed we had each race and it paid off, so it was a good preparation for F3.

“What I liked in Mumbai Falcons, and it’s the same with Prema, is they really love the sport and you can clearly see it’s a passion for them. Every session they were on it, and this determination and passion at the same time is not something you feel everywhere.”

Also among the Prema drivers in FRAC were Ollie Bearman and Jak Crawford; Leclerc’s new F3 team-mates.

“First I really appreciate them, there is a really good atmosphere in the team and that’s putting everyone in good condition to work. Other than that, they are really strong drivers.

“The top 10 of the F3 grid I think it will be really close this season. Teams are getting closer and closer each year and all the drivers have a really good background so it will be interesting.”

Prema drivers including Leclerc have also prepared for F3 by testing old GP3 cars.

“It’s not the same car [as F3], but it’s always good to learn and drive. But in my case, we found it more useful [this year] to do a championship with race weekends to prepare.

“At the end of last year we did a comparison with other drivers on the grid and we were one with the least races in single-seaters, so we found it more interesting to put our focus on race weekends than testing alone with GP3.”

The post FRAC champion Leclerc reflects on 2022 F3 preparations appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Isack Hadjar jumped to third in the Formula Regional Asian Championship points in the final race of the season last weekend, but says his “luck was laughable” in the series.

The new Red Bull junior and Hitech GP driver won two races, including the season finale at Yas Marina Circuit from pole, and made the podium in four of the five rounds.

It was his second year in the series, having come sixth in a part-time 2021 campaign, and followed up his FRegional Europe season where he also claimed two wins. The 17-year-old thought more should have come from his FRAC return though.

“Q1 was not that good [last weekend], was struggling a bit with the balance,” he said. “But then in Q2 we nailed the set-up and the lap I did was very good. So that put us on pole by almost four tenths.

“So that was quite positive, the first pole of the season and to end the last qualifying session of the series P1 felt quite good.

“Then the races, race one was OK, I had an average start and I was fighting with Jak [Crawford, Red Bull stablemate] for most of the race but he defended well so I had to back up for P4. That was OK, that was great points.

“Race two was a mess, I was so unlucky, it was crazy. My luck was laughable to be honest. I had a mega first lap, from seventh to P4, by overtaking on track with great moves. With great speed, like before the first safety car I had the fastest lap.

“At the second safety car restart someone brake tested me at the restart. So I had big front wing damage and had to box to change the nose. Went back on track last and set the fastest lap. So it’s a shame because we had the pace to win this one. A bad race.

“Then, race three was more under control. It was quite hard because I had to restart twice the race, because of the safety cars. But the pace was there and I was confident with what I was doing so it’s good to finish on a great note.

“To be honest in these five weeks I learnt much more than I thought I would and I tried many things to learn what I don’t want to do anymore in the FIA Formula 3. So I am feeling quite ready and very happy to work with this team.”

Hadjar will make his FIA F3 Championship debut with Hitech at Bahrain in just under a month’s time, and will be one of three Red Bull junior on the grid. Crawford will race for Prema, after coming a winless sixth in FRAC with the team, and Jonny Edgar will join Trident.

The post Red Bull junior Hadjar: “My luck was laughable” in FRAC appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FRAC

Isack Hadjar held off Hitech GP team-mate Gabriele Mini to take his second Formula Regional Asian Championship win and, with it, third in the final standings.

Hadjar made an excellent start to the final race at Yas Marina Circuit from pole position and managed to control it from the front despite two lengthy safety car periods.

Mini had a look into the first corner at the first restart but had to settle for second, 0.835 seconds behind his 2021 FRegional European Championship rookie rival.

Paul Aron had made a quick getaway, taking to the run-off at the first corner to sweep past Mini for second. However, he was ordered to give the place back to the Sicilian, which he duly did under the initial safety car.

Conversely, Jak Crawford made a poor start from the front row, dropping him behind both Mini and Aron. Though he was able to put Aron under pressure, including attempting a move on lap 10, the Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema driver held him off to the finish.

The front four pulled out a comfortable gap on their battling pursuers, headed for most of the race by series runner-up Pepe Marti ahead of Patrik Pasma, Dino Beganovic and Lorenzo Fluxa.

Both Pasma and Beganovic managed to get ahead of Marti in the final stages, although the Spaniard was able to repass Beganovic through the chicane before the support race start-finish line to regain sixth.

Beganovic’s Mumbai Falcons team-mates endured difficult races. A lap one spin dropped newly-crowned champion Arthur Leclerc to the back of the field although he subsequently recovered to take 14th.

Ollie Bearman could only finish one place ahead of his team-mate, having been involved in close battles with Pierre-Louis Chovet and Mikhael Belov as he tried to come through from 16th on the grid, having been given a five-place grid penalty. Post-race he, Sami Meguetounif and Vlad Lomko were then handed 10s penalties.

The Al Qubaisi family caused both safety car periods with similar spins at the same corner for Amna on lap two and her father Khaled four laps later.

Race result (14 laps)

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Photo: FRAC

Gabriele Mini beat Dino Beganovic by just a tenth of a second to win a chaotic penultimate Formula Regional Asian Championship race at Yas Marina Circuit.

Pierre-Louis Chovet started the 30-minute race from pole and performed an excellent start to lead initially but Mini launched over the kerbs as he held it around the outside.

There was three-wide and even four-wide racing throughout the field, before Mumbai Falcons’ Beganovic scrapping with Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Jak Crawford over eighth went wrong and Crawford ended up stopped in an awkward position.

The safety car came out for just a lap, and Chovet’s small lead over a rapidly closing in Mini was cut. He waited until the last moment to bolt on the restart, and Mini once more ran wide and held it around the outside, and this time overtook Chovet.

Just behind the pair, Paul Aron collided with Ollie Bearman while squabbling over third. Both were eliminated and the safety car returned.

Mini was told by future F1 and current FRAC race director Eduardo Freitas to cede the position, which he duly did behind the safety car.

The restart came with just over a third of the race to go and Isack Hadjar rear-ended Patrik Pasma as they came back up to speed. That didn’t deter the Red Bull junior from lunging Chovet into the fast turn one, forcing the long-time leader off the racing line and well down the order.

This allowed Beganovic to lead new champion Arthur Leclerc as they pursued Mini.

Mini weaved down the back straight on the final lap, and Beganovic got a good switchback as the pair came onto the curved pit straight. A second win of the season went to Mini, just.

Leclerc was third, ahead of top rookie Pepe Marti who is close to securing the title runner-up spot.

Dilano van’t Hoff, who started on the front row but didn’t get a great start, was only able to recover to fifth just ahead of Michael Belov.

Sami Meguetounif survived contact with Francesco Braschi late-on to take seventh ahead of long-time leader Chovet, while Lorenzo Fluxa and Oliver Goethe rounded out the points positions.

Braschi dropped down to 16th after his brash move, while Hadjar and Pasma both finished well down the order, with the latter pitting late on with what seemed like damage from the incident with Hadjar on the second restart.

In the Masters’ classification, a spin for Thomas Luedi cost him victory Khaled Al Qubaisi, who seals the title there.

Race result (14 laps)

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