Photo: Saudi Arabian F4
Saudi Arabian Formula 4 crowned its 2025 champion Kit Belofsky in this weekend’s season finale in Jeddah.
In free practice one on Friday, Ary Bansal set a 2m07.873s to lead Kit Belofsky by 0.209 seconds and Abdullah Kamel by 0.821s.
Joining the field but off the pace were Payton Westcott, fresh from becoming a Formula Trophy race-winner last week, and the Spanish F4-experienced Christopher Feghali. He replaced fellow Red Bull junior Scott Lindblom, who along with Adam Al Azhari exited title contention by being absent. That meant Belofsky was crowned on Friday morning.
In qualifying a few hours later, Bansal posted a 2m07.021s mid-session that earned him pole by 0.237s. Belofsky improved on his last lap to be second, Kamel was 0.585s off in third, Thibaut Ramaekers trailed by 0.645s and just 0.02s split Feghali and Esmee Kosterman in fifth and sixth. Rachel Robertson also qualified within a second of pole.
Bansal was initially able to keep Belofsky at bay in race one. Belofsky looked to Bansal’s outside at turn one on lap two, and was in his slipstream down the pit straight every time until lap five when he took the lead on the inside into turn one.
Once ahead, Belofsky frequently weaved down the pit straight until he had a one-second gap late on.
Feghali overtook Ramaekers on lap one, and on lap six forced Kamel into defending at turn one then slipped by at the final corner. Kamel tried getting back past when they reached turn one but cut turn two after running alongside and then had Ramaekers going wheel-to-wheel with him through the esses.
On lap eight, Ramaekers went around Kamel’s outside at turn one but cut turn two. His overtake stood, while Kamel got a five-second penalty for track limits abuse that dropped him from fifth to ninth. Nina Gademan inherited fifth after a lengthy fight with Kosterman, and Robertson retired after an early puncture.
In FP2 on Saturday, 0.041s split Belofsky and Bansal at the top. Feghali was only 0.166s behind in third, and the field looked more closely matched than previously. But in qualifying, Bansal romped to pole by 0.378s over Belofsky and with a gap of over 0.83s to Kamel and Feghali in third and fourth.
Belofsky and Feghali then got three-place grid penalties for impeding in qualifying, demoting them to fourth and sixth and lifting Robertson to third.
Race two began with Belofsky taking third and Feghali picking up race-ending damage, so the safety car appeared late in lap one and also led lap two.
Belofsky was already alongside Kamel when racing resumed so passsed him around the outside of turn one, as an incident there meant Chiara Battig was then pit-bound to retire and Kosterman lost her front wing. Gademan also pitted to retire.
Bansal mostly was in control thereon to win, although Belofsky attacked on lap seven when the battle for third also heated up. Ramaekers overtook Robertson for fourth on lap four, but she reclaimed it, and Ramaekers got ahead at the end of lap six by 0.031s. Robertson reclaimed fourth into turn one, then Ava Dobson began pressuring the pair.
On lap 10 they dropped her and caught Kamel, then it became a four-way fight. Robertson went deep into turn two on the last lap and conceded fourth, but got back past Ramaekers at the finish by 0.091s and was just 0.067s behind Kamel.
Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Kit Belofsky 25m49.613s
2 Ary Bansal +1.167s
3 Christopher Feghali +6.280s
4 Thibaut Ramaekers +6.826s
5 Nina Gademan +11.392s
6 Esmee Kosterman +11.685s
7 Ava Dobson +13.730s
8 Chiara Battig +14.089s
9 Abdullah Kamel +15.959s
10 Megan Bruce +24.696s
Pole: Bansal, 2m07.021s
Fastest lap: Belofsky, 2m08.234s
Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Bansal 26m55.621s
2 Belofsky +1.841s
3 Kamel +12.483s
4 Rachel Robertson +12.550s
5 Ramaekers +12.641s
6 Dobson +13.036s
7 Bruce +18.589s
8 Payton Westcott +19.666s
9 Farah Al Yousef +36.364s
10 Kosterman +1m05.497s
P: Bansal, 2m07.112s
FL: Belofsky, 2m08.128s
Championship standings
1 Belofsky 189 2 Adam Al Azhari 125 3 Scott Lindblom 108 4 Ramaekers 104 5 Lewis Wherrell 75 6 Bansal 73 7 Kamel 73 8 Theo Palmer 55 9 Kosterman 45 10 Gademan 43