Photo: Saudi Arabian F4
The inexperienced Lewis Wherrell starred in round three of Saudi Arabian Formula 4’s season in Jeddah.
Track action began on Monday afternoon with a practice session, and Wherrell — contesting his third single-seater race event after GB4 and Spanish F4 outings — set a 2m08.667s to be fastest by 0.14 seconds. Points leader Kit Belofsky was second, 0.014s ahead of Adam Al Azhari, and a second covered the top seven.
Qualifying was in the early evening, and Belofsky denied Wherrell pole by 0.011s. Abdullah Kamel was 0.569s off the pace in third, Scott Lindblom trailed by 0.68s in fourth and Al Azhari was 0.767s off in fifth. Three drivers were over three seconds slower than Belofsky.
Drivers had to wait until 10:30pm for race one, which took place under floodlights. Kamel and Ava Dobson stalled, while Esmee Kosterman jumped from eighth to fourth. Belofsky weaved down the pit straight at the end of lap one trying to break the tow, then seemed to have Wherrell out of attacking distance until lap five when he suddenly launched an attack on the outside entering turn 13 and got ahead.
Wherrell rapidly pulled away, and won by 1.694s. Lindblom closed in on Belofsky late on, as Kosterman lost fourth.
Al Azhari had fallen to ninth on lap one, and both he and Chiara Battig cleared Megan Bruce on lap 13 before he overtook Battig too into the final hairpin. Thibaut Ramaekers was several seconds ahead, and that gap reduced once Ramaekers began pressuring Kosterman. He overtook her at turn 13 on lap 10 of 12, and Al Azhari did so too a few corners from the end then drew alongside Ramaekers at the chequered flag and finished 0.074s behind.
There was a prolonged fight for 10th, with Faris Organji taking the position from Rachel Robertson after she ran wide at turn five but then spinning some corners later. Dobson got alongside Robertson several times later on, and cleared her on the last lap.
The same schedule was used on Tuesday, and in FP2 Al Azhari posted a 2m07.627s to lead Wherrell by 0.145s and Belofsky by 0.156s.
Al Azhari lowered the pace to 2m06.579s in Q2, and his advantage was trimmed to 0.041s by Wherrell. Belofsky qualified third, 0.323s off pole, Lindblom improved to be 0.465s off in fourth, with Ramaekers and Kamel the only others within a second of the pace.
There was pre-race drama as the starting lights failed to fully turn on and off properly on the grid, and Wherrell edged forward. The start was then aborted and another formation lap was set, with Belofsky initially unable to get going but catching the field after red flags waved.
Seven minutes in the pits followed, and the race started with the safety car leading the field out. When they were released at the end of lap one, the top two accelerated but then began weaving and both were penalised five seconds.
Belofsky went to Wherrell’s outside at turn one and remained alongside for two more corners, allowing Al Azhari to pull away by 1.7s within a lap. His lead grew to 2.4s, before Wherrell rapidly closed in through the last two tours.
More attention was on Lindblom, who pulled off a stunning pass on Belofsky through the esses on lap six and then remained within five seconds of Al Azhari. The gap grew and shrank lap by lap, and Lindblom won by 0.369s.
Belofsky fell five seconds behind him late on, so did not profit from the penalties, and Kosterman came seventh after lengthy pressuring of Battig led to a last-lap overtake.
Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Lewis Wherrell 25m47.960s
2 Kit Belofsky +1.694s
3 Scott Lindblom +2.959s
4 Thibaut Ramaekers +11.808s
5 Adam Al Azhari +11.882s
6 Esmee Kosterman +12.275s
7 Chiara Battig +13.225s
8 Abdullah Kamel +19.204s
9 Megan Bruce +35.127s
10 Ava Dobson +42.717s
Pole: Belofsky, 2m07.033s
Fastest lap: Al Azhari, 2m07.818s
Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Lindblom 27m01.801s
2 Al Azhari +0.369s
3 Wherrell +1.696s
4 Belofsky +5.174s
5 Kamel +9.040s
6 Ramaekers +10.012s
7 Kosterman +14.999s
8 Battig +15.181s
9 Rachel Robertson +16.635s
10 Dobson +21.501s
P: Al Azhari, 2m06.579s
FL: Al Azhari, 2m07.566s
Championship standings
1 Belofsky 103 2 Lindblom 93 3 Al Azhari 92 4 Ramaekers 58 5 Theo Palmer 55 6 Kamel 42 7 Wherrell 40 8 Nina Gademan 33 9 Ary Bansal 30 10 Kosterman 20