Photo: Australian F4
James Piszcyk became Australian Formula 4 champion in round four at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit.
Evans GP’s Kai Daryanani topped practice on Friday morning, setting a 2m09.616s to pip team-mate Tiago Rodrigues by 0.023 seconds. Cooper Webster made it a 1-2-3 for the team, 0.663s behind.
There was then almost a day of rest before the two qualifying sessions. Reigning Chinese F4 champion Rodrigues comfortably took race one pole in the first, posting a 2m10.101s on his final lap to put 0.407s between himself and AGI Sport’s Costa Toparis in second. His team-mate Piszcyk was the only other driver within a second of Rodrigues, with Webster and Daryanani lining up fourth and fifth.
Daryanani returned to the top in Q2, lowering the pace to 2m09.020s. That earned him race three pole by 0.151s over Rodrigues, with Webster and Topari 0.553s and 0.739s behind respectively.
Later on Saturday a lights-to-flag win was delivered by Rodrigues, who in 13 laps built a lead of 7.341s.
Toparis fell to fourth on lap one, with Webster and Piszcyk moving ahead after lots of three-wide action through the first corners. Piszcyk took second place on lap two from Webster, who had run deep into turn one and the last corner but then got back past on lap three.
Piszcyk was then under attack from Toparis, but he could not maintain the pace of the podium contenders who finished 0.441s apart after battling hard through the last three laps.
The battle for eighth was even closer. Initially BlackArts Racing’s Inigo Anton was involved, but once he got ahead he pulled clear, and then Jam Motorsport’s Sebastien Amadio and AGI’s Seth Gilmore were left fighting. Amadio took the place on the penultimate lap, and held on to it by just 0.191s.
Those results set the grid for race two on Sunday morning, meaning Rodrigues was on pole again. But his car did not get going on the formation lap, and after multiple attempts at push starts he had to begin the race from the pits.
Webster therefore occupied the top grid spot and after holding off Piszcyk through the first corners pulled away to win by 1.966s.
Piszcyk and Rodrigues got drive-through penalties for having team personnel on the grid for too long, and after serving his Piszcyk recovered from ninth to sixth while Rodrigues remained in last. Toparis was the next driver to occupy second, and finished there.
Daryanani came third, a position secured having held off Stati in a wheel-to-wheel fight through lap three, and followed that up with a dominant race three win.
Rodrigues started slowly and fell to fourth, with Toparis winning the squabble for second in the opening corners as Stati passed Piszcyk for fifth.
The field spread out, although on lap 10 Piszcyk briefly nosed ahead of Stati and on Rodrigues was all over Webster for third on lap 11. Fifth place for Piszcyk clinched him the title with a round to go.
Results round-up
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Tiago Rodrigues Evans GP 28m33.355s
2 Cooper Webster Evans GP +7.341s
3 James Piszcyk AGI Sport +7.782s
4 Costa Toparis AGI Sport +9.473s
5 Kai Daryanani Evans GP +13.658s
6 Nicolas Stati AGI Sport +14.659s
7 Inigo Anton BlackArts Racing +27.387s
8 Sebastien Amadio Jam Motorsport +32.191s
9 Seth Gilmore AGI Sport +32.382s
10 Imogen Radburn AGI Sport +1m01.290s
Pole: Rodrigues, 2m10.101s
Fastest lap: Rodrigues, 2m10.510s
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Webster 28m39.557s
2 Toparis +1.966s
3 Daryanani +4.803s
4 Stati +7.008s
5 Anton +7.553s
6 Piszcyk +22.335s
7 Amadio +23.026s
8 Gilmore +24.733s
9 Radburn +33.003s
10 Rodrigues +34.004s
FL: Rodrigues, 2m11.023s
Race 3 (13 laps)
1 Daryanani 28m32.256s
2 Toparis +5.633s
3 Webster +10.127s
4 Rodrigues +11.170s
5 Stati +19.598s
6 Piszcyk +20.332s
7 Radburn +27.923s
8 Gilmore +28.875s
9 Amadio +34.229s
Ret Anton
P: Daryanani, 2m09.020s
FL: Daryanani, 2m10.997s
Championship standings
1 Piszcyk 256 2 Stati 175 3 Amadio 124 4 Gilmore 110 5 Blake Purdie 97 6 Radburn 74 7 Webter 58 8 Daryanani 50 9 Toparis 48 10 Nathan Gotch 46