Photo: F4 SEA
R-ace GP’s Formula Regional-experienced Hadrien David controlled Formula 4 South East Asia’s round at Sepang this weekend.
He topped the first practice session by a huge 1.124 seconds with a 2m08.811s lap, and in the next session team-mate Raphael Narac reduced that gap to 0.039s but laptimes were almost eight seconds slower.
It was almost as close in qualifying, with David setting a 2m08.422s to take race one pole by 0.098s over Narac. AGI Sport’s Jack Beeton was 0.535s behind in third, and just 0.018s ahead of Prema’s F4 newcomer Tomass Stolcermanis, with Asia Racing Team’s Enzo Yeah and Prema’s karting graduate Kean Nakamura Berta also within a second of the pace. Sportscar star Doriane Pin, part of Prema’s line-up, was 1.058s off pole in seventh in her maiden F4 qualifying session.
David immediately swept to the inside as he launched away in race one, with Narac having to hold off Beeton while the Prema drivers battled behind.
The top three broke away on lap one, with Stolcermanis starting lap two weaving to hold off Yeh and Nakamura for fourth. Yeh got the move done at turn four, but could not shake Stolcermanis and Nakamura off and spent a lap defending.
It took until lap six for David to grow his lead to 1.5s, but it was 2.1s on the lap after and Yeh also finally gapped himself from Prema’s drivers.
Pin ran seventh but came under pressure from Kai Daryanani on lap eight of 13. A move was attempted at turn four the next lap, then on lap 10 she was passed by Daryanani and Kaishun Liu who had been just behind.
On the final lap she lost ninth, while David won by 4.101s over Narac. Beeton completed the podium a further 4.416s behind to claim the points lead from the absent Tiago Rodrigues, and Yeh finished fourth with 1.303s in hand over Nakamura. Pin’s fall to 10th meant she got reversed-grid pole for race two.
Sunday began with qualifying for race three, and David set a 2m07.858s to take pole by 0.411s over Narac. Nakamura and Pin were 0.841s and 0.955s behind in third and fourth.
Pin managed to hold on to the lead for eight of race two’s 12 laps, before David – who started 10th – and Enzo Yeh passed her. They pulled away, with David winning by 2.85s, while Pin secured her first F4 podium in third.
David’s victory charge began with a brilliant lap one as he climbed to third, then he passed Daryanani for second on lap two. Daryanani dropped to fourth behind Yeh, and on lap eight fell to last place.
Starting from pole should have given David an easier route to race three victory, but the opening laps ran under yellow flag conditions and when drivers got up to speed on lap four Nakamura passed Narac for second. On the ninth and final lap he ate into David’s lead to finish 0.896s behind. Stolcermanis was a lonely third, and there was lots of squabbling further down the field.
Results round-up
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Hadrien David R-ace GP 28m17.497s
2 Raphael Narac R-ace GP +4.101s
3 Jack Beeton AGI Sport +8.517s
4 Enzo Yeh Asia Racing Team +12.081s
5 Kean Nakamura Berta Prema +13.384s
6 Tomass Stolcermanis Prema +18.768s
7 Kai Daryanani Pinnacle Motorsport +31.578s
8 Kaishun Liu Pinnacle Motorsport +34.210s
9 Arjun Chheda BlackArts Racing +41.729s
10 Doriane Pin Prema +41.831s
Pole: David, 2m08.422s
Fastest lap: Narac, 2m09.488s
Race 2 (12 laps)
1 David 29m05.367s
2 Yeh +2.850s
3 Pin +4.834s
4 Stolcermanis +5.274s
5 Beeton +8.873s
6 Nakamura Berta +10.535s
7 Liu +18.972s
8 Kunpeng Xiao Asia Racing Team +19.622s
9 Zhongwei Wang R&B Racing +23.185s
10 Alister Yoong BlackArts Racing +23.645s
FL: Pin, 2m09.003s
Race 3 (9 laps)
1 David 27m39.798s
2 Nakamura Berta +0.896s
3 Stolcermanis +3.867s
4 Beeton +10.580s
5 Narac +12.075s
6 Pin +12.385s
7 Yeh +13.133s
8 Yoong +15.132s
9 Daryanani +18.113s
10 Joaquin Garrido Asia Racing Team +20.326s
P: David, 2m07.858s
FL: Nakamura Berta, 2m26.507s
Championship standings
1 Beeton 87 2 David 75 3 Tiago Rodrigues 51 4 Xiao 47 5 Fukang Jiang 41 6 Yeh 36 7 Nakamura Berta 36 8 Stolcermanis 35 9 Wang 30 10 Narac 28