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The FIA Formula 4 UAE Championship has unveiled its official five-round calendar for the 2019/2020 season, including a maiden non-championship support event at the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix later this year.
The F4UAE championship, which will be in its fourth season, will be supporting the Grand Prix for the first time with a non-point scoring Trophy Round scheduled at Yas Marina Circuit in November, before kicking off the racing competition in January 2020.
The first championship round will officially begin as a support to the Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai from January 8-10 at the Dubai Autodrome.
F4UAE technical director, Craig Thompson, believes that the Trophy Round would be a draw card for the season.
He said: “We are extremely excited that after a lot of hard work by many parties, and long discussions over the last few seasons in fact, that F4UAE will be a support category to the Formula 1 finale at Yas Marina Circuit.
“F1 is the category that the majority of our young open-wheeler racers aspire to reach, and so to now give them a platform to race in front of the best teams in the world and their racing heroes, it’s a huge bonus for the F4UAE Championship.”
The 2020 season will again be a five-round championship with 20 point-scoring races in total and will end in March 2020.
Thompson added: “Last season we intentionally compressed the calendar between January and March in order to fit nicely between the European racing seasons and it worked well in helping our overseas teams and drivers keep travel costs as low as possible.
“By the time the F1 event runs in Abu Dhabi, all of the European championships will have been completed and we will be working closely with as many of them as possible to ensure we have a solid grid for the Trophy Round in November.”
Over the last three seasons, F4UAE has continued to build a strong developmental platform, by providing various benefits including up to 40 hours of track time each season, practice start sessions at test days to help new drivers learn to start races safely, media coaching workshops, plus opportunities to work with officials in better understanding the regulatory side of the sport; all aspects which hold young racers in good stead for future development up the racing ladder.
The F4UAE is governed by the Emirates Motorsport Organisation (EMSO) and promoted by AUH Motorsports. It was launched in 2016 and has since welcomed a total of 51 drivers through the championship, most of whom have gone on to successful results in Europe since.
Italian Matteo Nannini, for example, claimed his maiden open-wheeler and circuit racing title when he won the 2018/2019 F4UAE Championship for Xcel Motorsport. The 16-year-old also won the Rookie Championship and, along with teammate Shihab Al Habsi from Oman, helped his team take the Teams Championship title last season as well.
Other successful graduates from last year who have gone on to win races in Europe include Paraguay racer Joshua Dürksen (2018/2019 F4UAE runner-up) who has won in Italian F4, Lebanese racer Rashed Ghanem (F4UAE Sportsmanship Award winner) and Al Habsi who have won in Spanish F4, while Al Habsi has also won three races in Formula 4 South East Asia.
F4UAE is open to drivers aged 15 years and above and was created by the world’s governing body of motorsport, the FIA, to help young drivers bridge the gap between existing regional racing series and karting, to European competition and potentially Formula 1.
2019/2020 F4UAE Championship Calendar:
NC - November 28-December 1, 2019 at Yas Marina Circuit
Round 1 – January 8-10, 2020 at Dubai Autodrome
Round 2 – January 17-18, 2020 at Yas Marina Circuit
Round 3 – February 14-15, 2020 at Yas Marina Circuit
Round 4 – February 21-22, 2020 at Dubai Autodrome
Round 5 – March 6-7, 2020 at Dubai Autodrome
For more information on F4UAE, head to www.f4uae.com
