First entries announced for 2023 Formula 4 UAE Championship Certified by FIA

PRESS RELEASE

First entries announced for 2023 Formula 4 UAE Championship Certified by FIA

• Ten teams so far confirmed to field capacity grid of international junior talent

• Thirty drivers from 18 nations so far confirmed

• Season kicks off January 13-14 at Dubai Autodrome

United Arab Emirates, December 29 2022: The entry list for the Formula 4 United Arab Emirates Championship certified by FIA is filling up as the countdown continues towards the opening round. A capacity grid of exciting young talents will contest the five triple header events, meaning a total of 15 races, beginning on 13-14 January at DubaiAutodrome, and also featuring rounds at the new Kuwait Motor Town facility and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix circuit at Yas Marina. All races will be live-streamed via the championship’s social media platforms.

Prema driver Charlie Wurz won the F4 UAE title in 2022, and the Austrian son of ex-Formula 1 racer and Le Mans 24 Hours winner Alexander is expected to graduate up the ladder for 2023. The Italian team, as ever, will be a force this time around. It has already lined up McLaren F1 protégé Ugo Ugochukwu, who is part of the same management stable as Lando Norris; the American finished third in British F4 in 2022. He is joined by fellow 15-year-old Nicola Lacorte, the son of Italian sportscar racing veteran Roberto Lacorte.

Prema also gives assistance the Mumbai Falcons team, which has assembled a superb lineup. Australian James Wharton scored four wins in F4 UAE with Prema last term and is back for more, and is joined by Tuukka Taponen – the Finnish karting world champion has just joined Wharton as a stablemate on the Ferrari Driver Academy. India’s own Muhammad Ibrahim is also in the squad.

From Britain comes hugely successful single-seater team Hitech Grand Prix. The Silverstone operation already ran its trio of Japanese Kanato Le, Briton Will Macintyre and Australian Jimmy Piszcyk in the non-championship Abu Dhabi Grand Prix support races, with F4 debutant Le posting the best result of second place. They are joined by exciting Red Bull Junior Arvid Lindblad, the British-born racer who took his first steps in Italian F4 once he passed his 15th birthday in August.

German squad PHM Racing made a strong impression in its first season of operation in its 
domestic F4 series in 2022, and is out in force in the UAE. Noah Strømsted, the top-scoring F4 driver in the Danish championship of 2021, joins Valentin Kluss, who already has a year under his belt in Germany with the squad, as well as Singapore’s Akshey Bohra and German karting graduate Jakob Bergmeister – the latest in a racing dynasty following in the wheeltracks of grandfather Willi, father Tim and uncle Jörg.

The French are out in force too, with R-Ace GP accompanied by Saintéloc Racing, the experienced GT squad which has recently expanded into single-seaters. R-ace has entered Mexican Jesse Carrasquedo and Filipino Zachary David, who already have F4 race experience, plus home-grown Raphaël Narac and Georgian Alexander Abkhazava. SAINTéLOC’s line-up includes French pair Luciano Morano and Théophile Naël, plus Dane Theodor Jensen.

Hitech has also collaborated with long-time Italian single-seater squad CRAM, with Italian Flavio Olivieri joined by Sebastian Murray under the CRAM Hitech GP banner.

Xcel Motorsport has spearheaded the local teams for many years in the series, and the Emirati squad has snapped up Australian Noah Lisle to join Federico Rifai, Gergiy Zhuravskiy and Aleksandr Bolduev. Over at Yas Heat Academy, Emirates karting graduate Keanu Al Azhari was something of a revelation in the Abu Dhabi GP support races with two third places, and he partners Matteo Quintarelli. The new R2Race team, meanwhile, features two European female drivers: Swiss Léna Bühler and Italian F4 series racer Victoria Blokhina.

They will be joined by more talents in the build-up to the opening round, with British powerhouse Carlin, ace Dutch team MP Motorsport and strong Irish squad Pinnacle Motorsport all expected to name their drivers soon. It’s bound to kick off a thrilling series of races bursting with fledgling talent.

About EMSO
One of the oldest national organizations in the United Arab Emirates, the Emirates Motorsports Organization (previously the Automobile & Touring Club of the UAE), has played a leading role in the development of motorsport at both national and international levels since its inception in 1965.

Today, it governs approximately 140 competitive events forming the UAE motorsport calendar, and covering disciplines such as circuit racing, rallying, drag racing and motocross.

The EMSO is the country’s sole representative of the FIA, automobile sport's world governing body, and its motorcycling and karting equivalents, the FIM and CIK respectively. Its primary responsibilities are to promote the safe and sustainable growth of motorsport in the UAE, and to ensure all events are run fairly and to regulation.

The organization is also a member of FIVA, the international body for classic vehicles, and the IRU, the International Road Transport Union. The EMSO is accredited by the UAE National Olympic Committee.

About Top Speed
Established in 2008, Top Speed has played an intrinsic role in the rapid development of motorsport across Asia over the last fourteen years. Providing a wide spectrum of services – from race organization, technical and logistical support to event and sponsorship management – Top Speed has played an integral role in series such as the Formula Regional Asian Championship Certified by FIA, Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific, Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, Porsche Sports Cup China, Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup, Formula Masters China Series and Scirocco Cup. In addition, Top Speed enjoys a long-term, close cooperation with the GT World Challenge Asia.

Headquartered in Shanghai, Top Speed also has offices in Hong Kong, Dubai and Malaysia.

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