Photo: F4 SEA
Alex Sawer is on the brink of becoming Formula 4 South East Asia champion after winning twice in the penultimate round at Sepang.
In qualifying the first representative laptimes of Q1 appeared with four-and-a-half minutes left of the 15-minute session, with debutant Kareen Kaur leading the way until then.
Inigo Anton posted a 2m10.332s to lead Rishon Rajeev by 0.616 seconds, and Sawer got within 0.011s of him a minute later.
Niccolo Maccagnaini, another debutant, went fastest by 0.102s with two-and-a-half minutes to go and it earned him race one pole. Seth Gilmore later went third fastest as Sawer was demoted to fifth by having his fastest lap deleted, then Kyuho Lee took third at the end.
Joshua Berry was first to the top five minutes into Q2, and the next flying lap came with six minutes remaining as Sawer set a 2m09.08s. But it was deleted, meaning Gilmore then had provisional pole for race three with a 2m10.512s.
Maccagnani soon set a 2m09.749s, leading Anton, but Sawer responded with a 2m09.298s that stuck. Lee again got into third late on.
Berry started race one from the pits, and Maccagnani comfortably led the field into the opening corner. Sawer made one overtake on lap one, then made moves at turn one on laps four and five. He then had 2.07s to make up on Maccagnani, and got onto his tail on lap 11.
Maccagnani tried breaking the tow into turn one, where Sawer attempted a move the next lap. The leader weaved his way down every straight, but a lock-up into turn one on the final lap allowed Sawer through and once ahead he pulled away to win.
Lee took third from Anton into turn one on the last lap too, and Rajeev held off Thomas Lee for sixth and reversed-grid pole for race two. Zhongwei Wang finished ninth after a race-long defence against Ben Nguyen.
Gilmore took race two’s lead into the opening corner but Rajeev got back ahead at turn two, then Gilmore repeated his move on lap two and Kyuho Lee followed him through two corners later.
Sawer was next to demote Rajeev by forcing him off at turn four on lap three, but both fell behind Maccagnani and Anton and Sawer got a five-second penalty.
Fourth place was reclaimed by Sawer into turn one on lap four, and he and Maccagnani hunted down Lee. Sawer overtook Maccagnani around the outside of turn four on lap 11, then Lee at turn six a lap later, but his penalty returned him to fourth.
Rajeev reclaimed a spot on the penultimate lap, Nguyen was eighth despite being spun by Putera Hani Imran between turns seven and eighth late on, and Thomas Lee was disqualified after multiple rule violations.
Maccagnanu was late off the line on race three’s formation lap, but nailed the actual start to take the lead. He built a 1.7s gap, but Sawer closed back in. He was all over him into turn four on lap nine, and Maccagnani locked up into the final corner.
His subsequent weaving did not prevent Sawer from then going down his inside at turn one and pulling away for victory. The top nine finished in the order they started.
Results round-up
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Alex Sawer Evans GP 28m45.917s
2 Niccolo Maccagnani Pinnacle Motorsport +0.820s
3 Kyuho Lee Evans GP +12.761s
4 Inigo Anton BlackArts Racing +14.256s
5 Seth Gilmore Evans GP +15.955s
6 Rishon Rajeev BlackArts Racing +35.916s
7 Thomas Lee Evans GP +36.616s
8 Putera Hani Imran BlackArts Racing +37.061s
9 Zhongwei Wang Origine Motorsport +38.021s
10 Ben Nguyen BlackArts Racing +38.123s
Pole: Maccagnani, 2m10.230s
Fastest lap: Sawer, 2m11.584s
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Gilmore 28m31.253s
2 K Lee +8.937s
3 Maccagnani +9.767s
4 Sawer +11.901s
5 Rajeev +22.831s
6 Anton +26.412s
7 Wang +38.753s
8 Nguyen +47.846s
9 Imran +49.292s
10 Kareen Kaur Pinnacle Motorsport +52.601s
FL: Gilmore, 2m10.287s
Race 3 (13 laps)
1 Sawer 28m23.460s
2 Maccagnani +2.936s
3 K Lee +16.200s
4 Gilmore +17.953s
5 Anton +29.408s
6 Rajeev +32.241s
7 Nguyen +41.406s
8 Imran +42.290s
9 Wang +42.809s
10 T Lee +51.612s
P: Sawer, 2m09.298s
FL: Sawer, 2m10.024s
Championship standings
1 Sawer 295 2 Gilmore 203 3 Rajeev 156 4 Anton 155 5 Ayrton Asdathorn 94 6 Wang 93 7 T Lee 85 8 Nguyen 75 9 Maccagnani 64 10 K Lee 58