Lucca Allen has been declared the 2019 Formula 4 South East Asia champion, almost three weeks after the season concluded.
All year, Allen had traded wins with Elias Seppanen, and there was a 28-point gap between them in the latter’s favour heading to the Sepang season finale on December 13-15 last year.
Seppanen dominated the first race of the weekend from pole, with Allen holding off the returning Shihab Al Habsi for third. There were six new drivers on the grid, with Ricky Capo did the best job in fourth place.
The reversed grid race two started in drizzle, and Allen went from 13th to third on the opening lap. Seppanen’s charge was halted by Frederico Peters, eventually passing him for third on the final lap.
French karting ace Sami Meguetounif, in his second weekend of single-seaters, finished an accomplished second.
Race three also used a reversed grid, and Allen again had a strong first lap. Seppanen was not so lucky, as he got pincered between a diving Allen and Sneha Sharma at Turn 2.
No driver was deemed at fault, but Seppanen completed lap one 40 seconds behind, and then retired his car. It was a title deciding moment, as the unaffected Allen finished fourth.
Musyaffa dominated the race from pole, finishing 15.810s clear of Meguetounif, who passed Allen and debutant Max Hart in the last two laps.
Seppanen (centre), being caught between Allen (left) and Sharma (right) as seen from Meguetounif’s car
With dropped scores taken into account, Seppanen’s retirement led to a tense final race showdown with Allen. The grid was set by second best qualifying times, with Seppanen and Allen on a wet front row.
Allen lost a spot at the start, while Seppanen led with Meguetounif on his tail.
As the Frenchman tried a move on Seppanen at the end of lap five, Peters did the same on Allen for third and he succeeded. Musyaffa got past on the exit of Turn 5 on the next lap to demote Allen to fifth, and the positions remained constant until the chequered flag despite a last corner dive by Meguetounif on the last lap.
musyaffa -16 Allen -17 -38 Seppanen -43 -67 dsdfsdf 634 624
Results round-up
Race 1 (9 laps)
1 Elias Seppanen 20m24.035s
2 Lucca Allen +2.613s
3 Shihab Al Habsi +2.952s
4 Ricky Capo +9.178s
5 Muizz Musyaffa +11.774s
6 Ivan Peklin +25.973s
7 Frederico Peters +33.457s
8 Amer Harris +33.637s
9 Sami Meguetounif +34.814s
10 Sneha Sharma +34.975s
Pole: Seppanen, 2m14.057s
Fastest lap: Seppanen, 2m14.551s
Race 2 (8 laps)
1 Allen 21m35.700s
2 Meguetounif +3.098s
3 Seppanen +3.118s
4 Peters +4.145s
5 Al Habsi +9.491s
6 Capo +11.012s
7 Peklin +16.722s
8 Harris +18.085s
9 Max Hart +27.349s
10 Ivana Cetinich +1m03.439s
FL: Seppanen, 2m39.668s
Race 3 (9 laps)
1 Musyaffa 20m58.431s
2 Meguetounif +15.810s
3 Hart +16.584s
4 Allen +16.988s
5 Peters +19.858s
6 Harris +20.043s
7 Peklin +23.281s
8 Capo +25.655s
9 Cetinich +50.628s
10 Wahyu Hashim +1m22.130s
FL: Musyaffa, 2m15.836s
Race 4 (7 laps)
1 Seppanen 18m46.542s
2 Meguetounif +0.546s
3 Peters +8.238s
4 Musyaffa +9.103s
5 Allen +10.315s
6 Al Habsi +15.845s
7 Hart +23.659s
8 Harris +24.200s
9 Capo +41.006s
10 Sharma +1m31.025s
P: Seppanen, 2m14.130s
FL: Meguetounif, 2m38.833s
Championship standings
1 Seppanen 619 2 Allen 617 3 Musyaffa 430 4 Al Habsi 371 5 Josh Smith 303 6 Alister Yoong 214 7 Hadrien David 179 8 Peters 152 9 Yash Aradhya 137 10 Sharma 91