Formula 4 United Arab Emirates will race on the undercard of this year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in a non-championship round.
Ahead of the 2020 season, The F4 UAE field will hold a ‘Trophy round’ on November 28 – December 1 at the Yas Marina Circuit, where the final race of the Formula 1 season will be held.
The championship kicked off in 2016 with a non-championship round at the same circuit, and has raced exclusively at the track and Dubai Autodrome running a number of different layouts. It uses the same Tatuus chassis and Alfa Romeo engine as several European championships.
?F4 UAE is the only F4 championship in the region and after three seasons the championship is growing to be one of the best platforms for new talented drivers to expand their careers,? said Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of the Emirates Motorsports Organization, and FIA vice president for Sport.
?We are very proud that F4 UAE will be a support race to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix later this year. It will give the F4 UAE drivers a chance to race in the same arena as Formula 1 which will be a great opportunity and very exciting.?
The 2020 season will kick off supporting another big event, with round one taking place at Dubai Autodrome as a support to the circuit’s 24 hour race on January 8-10. That will be followed by two rounds at Yas Marina, and a further two back at Dubai with the seasoning finishing in March.
F4 UAE technical director Craig Thompson added, ?We are extremely excited that after a lot of hard work by many parties, and long discussions over the last few seasons in fact, that F4 UAE will be a support category to the F1 finale.
?Last season we intentionally compressed the calendar between January and March in order to fit nicely between the European racing seasons, and it worked well in helping our overseas teams and drivers keep travel costs as low as possible.
“By the time the F1 event runs in Abu Dhabi, all of the European championships will have been completed and we will be working closely with as many of them as possible to ensure we have a solid grid for the Trophy Round in November.?
Two of the three F4 UAE champions have gone on to become professional racing drivers, with Jonathan Abderdein and Charles Weerts now racing for WRT in the DTM and Blancpain GT Series respectively. Reigning champion Matteo Nannini is currently racing in the Formula Regional European Championship.