Allen leads all the way to snatch win in Race 4

Lucca Allen led from pole position to snatch his second win this weekend with a convincing drive in Race 4 of the FIA Formula 4 SEA Championship – fuelled by Petron – at the Buriram International Circuit today. 

With two earlier victories in Sepang last month, the Irish driver has now amassed four victories from three rounds, making him the best performer so far this season.

It was a clean and incident-free start for Allen who turned in a commanding performance as he held off his rival, Elias Seppanen from Finland. Despite the immense pressure from Seppanen, Allen kept his composure and remained consistent throughout to eventually finish with 0.447s gap at the end. Allen took the chequered flag in 20 minutes 44.854s while Seppanen was timed at 20:45.301s.

A delighted Allen said having a good start today helped his cause. “I had a quality start and managed had a bit of a gap at the start. I was consistent but he really kept the pressure on me. It was a relief when I crossed the finish. Overall, it was a really good weekend, had a few points in the bag and so I’m going home happy.”

For Seppanen, today’s second placing was his third podium out of four races this week. In the first race on Friday, he missed out on the medals when he finished fourth.

“I was fast at the start but Lucca manage to build up a gap. I managed to catch him but it wasn’t close enough to overtake. I think I was the fastest the whole weekend, just wasn’t lucky with the penalty. I’m in a good position for the next race,” Seppanen added.

The action was fast and furious today, not only between the top two drivers but also back in the battle for the third spot where Race 1 and 3 winner Shihab Al Habsi of Oman had to give his all to secure his place on the podium.

Starting fourth, Shihab found himself pushed back to fifth after two laps but he quickly recovered, edged past Malaysian Alister Yoong on the third lap and charged past Australian Josh Smith on the fifth lap to claim third placing. 

Smith, the Race 2 runner-up, pressed hard to re-claim his third placing but Shihab defended well to make it to the podium for the third time this week. Shihab completed the 12-lap race in a time of 20:50.278s, just 2.074s ahead of smith.

Malaysian Muizz Musyaffa tried to chase down Smith and in the process posted the fastest lap of 1 minute 43.377s but had to settle for fifth spot. 

Debutants, Yash Aradhya of India and Thai driver Folky Wongsechareon, concluded their final race in 6th and 7th respectively while Sneha Sharma was placed 8th. 

MEANWHILE, in yesterday evening’s Race 3, Shihab won despite starting third behind Sneha Sharma and Folky. Shihab fought hard and snatched an early which he fully exploited to complete the race in 21:00.731s. 

Seppanen and Allen impressed yet again and settled for the remaining podium positions. Seppanen, from ninth in the start grid, worked his way up to end second 2.472s behind Shihab. Allen settled for third while Muizz was fourth.

Round 4 of the FIA Formula 4 SEA Championship – fuelled by Petron – will be staged again at this circuit from June 14 to 16.

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 4 RESULTS (Today)

RACE 3 RESULTS (Saturday)

RACE 2 RESULTS (Saturday)

RACE 1 RESULTS (Friday)

LIST OF WINNERS (Rounds 1 to 3)

2019 RACE CALENDAR

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