SEPANG (21st April 2019) – Irish youngster Lucca Allen took advantage of an excellent start to prevail in Race 3 of the FIA Formula 4 SEA Championship – fueled by Petron – at the Sepang International Circuit this morning. This was Allen’s second victory of the weekend after winning Race 1 yesterday.
Australian Josh Smith was second with India’s Arya Singh delivering a stunning performance to hold off several experienced drivers to finish third. The 16-year-old Allen completed the race in 20 minutes 05.234 seconds while Smith and Arya recorded times of 20:05.960 and 20:06.484 respectively.
Allen, 10th off the grid, charged through the field and was soon behind early leader Arya, who had a fine start today. Allen was in a massive hurry and stormed past Arya to claim the lead.
Soon after, Smith, from 11th position on the start grid, slipped past Arya. The Indian did well to retain his position as he had Malaysia’s Alister Yoong and Elias Seppanen of Finland hot in his wake. On the fifth lap, Seppanen was quick to avoid Alister who had spun out just ahead of him, leading to the safety car coming out.
“It was good today, we started alongside (with Josh) and I was hoping to get through the back quicker than him which I managed to do and got to P2 at the end of the first lap,” said Allen, who began to open up a lead in front. “I pulled a bit of a gap, I guess I got my consistent times in and was going for the race win, then the safety car came out and that made me a bit nervous. I thought there was going to be two laps left.”
With the safety car deployed and as the race leader Allen controlled the pace. “I slowed down just enough for the time to run out and get the race win,” said the delighted Irish driver.
Aside from Allen, Seppanen was also a winner yesterday when he took Race 2.
Today’s fourth and final race will start at 4.10pm. 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 closing in Clark, Philippines in November.
