Prema Racing’s Dion Gowda told Feeder Series about the new approach he took to the opening Euro 4 round in August and how it could influence his parallel Italian F4 campaign. 

By Francesca Brusa

Gowda is currently 10th in Italian F4, with 52 points. He has scored in nine of the 15 races and is the only driver to have finished every race in the top 20.

Though he says “the whole season has been a little bit tough,” he has had bright spots, including taking two third-place finishes at the second round in Imola.

“The Imola weekend was definitely the highlight,” Gowda told Feeder Series. “Everything just clicked and slotted together. The stars aligned, especially in race two, coming from seventh on the grid to top three.”

He also sat 10th in sister series Euro 4 after its opening round at Mugello, where he finished sixth in race one and seventh in race three. The difference between that and his Italian F4 campaign is his mindset.

”I relaxed a little bit, focused on myself and just did the best I could,” he said. “I tried not to worry too much about the results and what was going on. Obviously, that can get taken forward for the rest of my career in motorsport.”

The second round of the series in Spielberg last weekend wasn’t as positive for Gowda, who was involved in an incident in race one and finished outside the points in race two after a late off-track excursion. The Prema Racing driver bagged points in race three by finishing ninth after starting 22nd on the grid.

He is now 13th in the Euro 4 standings with a total of 16 points. 

Bengaluru-born Gowda began karting aged nine while in Singapore before moving to the UK, where his father’s real estate investment business is now based, to continue his career once karting became more serious.

After a winter campaign in F4 UAE upon turning 15 and stepping up to cars, Gowda did a season of British F4 with Rodin Carlin in 2023, finishing fourth with four wins.

“The tracks, the conditions and even the racing is quite different to Italian F4. In the UK, the tracks are a lot tighter, it’s a lot colder as well,” he said in comparing the two.

Takeaways from British F4 useful for Italian F4 were “the starts and the racing side of things” despite having less field depth.

“British F4 is very competitive, especially at the front of the field,” the Indian said. “The top five are really strong. I just think the Italian F4 championship has more drivers that are competitive, if that makes sense. I don’t think the skill level is any different.”

Gowda still has nine races to go between the two championships. He says a move up to Formula Regional–level competition is likely to come next year, but what are his goals for now in Italian F4? 

“In terms of position, I’d always say I want to win it, but I think I don’t see why being in the top five or even the top three is not possible in the next couple of rounds,” he said. 

“In terms of myself, it’s … focusing on maximising what I can do. And if that’s P3, then that’s P3. If that’s P4, then that’s P4, so [I’m] just really focusing on doing the best I can and then seeing where we end up.”

Header photo credit: Alex Galli