Allen and Seppanen dominate Saturday to win their races!

Finland’s Elias Seppanen turned in a blistering performance to battle his way from 12th on the grid to snatch victory in Race 2 of the FIA Formula 4 SEA Championship – fueled by Petron – at the Sepang International Circuit this afternoon. 

Earlier in the morning, Irish driver Lucca Allen emerged the winner of Race 1. It was the first wins for Seppanen and Allen this season.

Seppanen, third this morning, grabbed the lead from Malaysia’s Alister Yoong early in the race and did not lose ground until the end to make his way to the podium again today. His time of 20:24.665 saw him finish a comfortable 2.4 seconds ahead of Alister.  Alister and third-placed Oman’s Shihab Al Habsi, both completed the thrilling nine-lap race, with times of 20:27.155 and 20:29.847 respectively. 

Shihab had it tough hanging on to third but he prevailed in a close battle with season drivers, Aussie Josh Smith and Allen. The three finished within three-tenths of each other with Smith and Allen settling for fourth and fifth.

“The race went really well for me, I gained two places in the first corner going around the outside,” said a delighted Seppanen, who slowed down as the race progressed to conserve his tyres. “I was cooling down the tyres and keeping them for the next race.”

Asked to comment on his performance after the first two races, he said: “My strength today has been in the first lap and also my starts which have been quite good.”

Alister, who did not complete the first race after a collision, congratulated Seppanen on his win today. “He drove really well. It was a good move at Turn 4 to get to P1. I just needed to stay calm once he passed and maintain the gap with the guys behind,” Alister said.

The Malaysian is hoping that the second placing today will lead to better things. “This was a really good refresh after the streak of bad luck I’ve been getting, so hopefully from here, it will just go up.”

Shihab and Alister, first and second on the grid, had a great start and were soon involved in an intense battle upfront. A determined Alister challenged Shihab and quickly moved ahead. Seppanen stepped up the pace and charged past Alister to claim the lead. The top three positions remained unchanged to the chequered flag.

In the first race this morning, Allen, after three second placings in the opening round here two weeks ago, finally won when he completed the eight-lap race in 20:03.958. Australian Josh Smith, who started from pole, was second across the finish line in a time of 20:04.657 while Seppanen was third in 20:05.515.

Allen, 16-years-old, had a clean start from the second row and kept his cool throughout. He did not lose his focus despite a clash involving Alister and Shihab which forced the safety car out on the fourth lap.

When the race resumed, Allen took off and held on to the end, and was chased down by Smith who eventually ended 0.6 seconds behind. “It was a really good race and all went well, I had a good start and was up behind Josh into the first corner. I got the run on him on the main straight but Josh was really quick and kept the pressure on me all the time,” Allen commented after the race.

Smith, meanwhile, said he had little sleep rehearsing the start of the race. “It was my first pole in car racing and I must have rehearsed the start a million times over night, so I did not get enough sleep. Fortunately, I had a good start to take the race line into Turn 1.”

Round 2 of the FIA Formula 4 SEA Championship – fueled by Petron – features a total of four races, two each on Saturday and Sunday.

This year’s FIA F4 SEA Championship is a world record-breaking season featuring 40 races, starting from Round 1 in Sepang and finishing off in Clark, Philippines in November.

RACE 2 RESULTS (9 laps)

RACE 1 RESULTS (8 laps)

2019 RACE SCHEDULE

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