The moist summer weather of Styria, Austria welcomed the second round of the 2024 Euro 4 Championship. After an anonymous weekend in Mugello, one of the championship protagonists dominated in all kinds of conditions, with a bitter final note on Sunday. Feeder Series goes over the key takeaways from the Red Bull Ring.

By Francesca Brusa

Prema rises and dominates

When this year’s Euro 4 season started in August, it was as clear as day that something was off. While sister series Italian F4 had been dominated by Prema Racing’s Freddie Slater, the British driver lacked performance entirely in Mugello. 

In Spielberg, not only did Slater regain his form, but the entire team seemed to pick up from where it left off in Italian F4. All six drivers ended both free practice sessions in the top seven, and all three pole positions for the weekend were taken by two racers of the Italian squad.

Freddie Slater won from lights to flag in race one and was joined on the podium by teammates Tomass Štolcermanis and Kean Nakamura-Berta to complete a Prema 1-2-3.

Race two saw the rookie driver from Latvia start from the front of the grid. However, Štolcermanis met the gravel halfway through the race and fell down the order in the complicated weather conditions. Despite receiving a five second penalty, Freddie Slater took the win with a six second margin. 

The Italian outfit then went on to celebrate a double podium in race three, when Slater and Rashid Al Dhaheri took the chequered flag in first and third respectively. However, a post-race penalty for Slater saw the British driver fall behind his teammate to be demoted to the lowest step of the podium.

After the only international round of the season, Freddie Slater leads the championship with a total of 94 points.

Hiyu Yamakoshi is on it again

Among all the highs and the lows, Hiyu Yamakoshi remains the most consistent driver of the 2024 season so far.

After taking the win in race two in Mugello, stopping Akshay Bohra’s from having a picture perfect weekend, the Japanese driver managed to make room for himself on the podium of race two at the Red Bull Ring. A second-place finish was then turned to victory for the Van Amersfoort Racing driver in race three.

These results, along with the double podium finish that Yamakoshi bagged at the first event of the season, allowed the Japanese driver to hold steadily to his second place in the championship, only eleven points away from the crown. 

Akshay Bohra’s recovery masterclass

Akshay Bohra was briefly leading the standings in Mugello, with two of three race wins at the first round.

However, continuously changing track conditions put the Indian-American down treacherous roads when it came to qualifying in Spielberg. Bohra started in 13th, 15th and 11th respectively in the three races of the weekend.

Nevertheless, the US Racing driver managed to make his way through and finish in fourth in both race one and three. This impressive recovery by Bohra allowed him to keep his third position in the standings and granted him some breathing room. His closest competitor is Van Amersfoort Racing’s Gustav Jonsson, who is 24 points behind him.

A new outfit in the paddock

The second round of the 2024 season welcomed a brand new team to the grid. Hitech GP joined the paddock with three young talents: Reza Seewooruthun, Deagen Fairclough and Thomas Bearman.

While the first two are already experienced in the world of single-seaters – the pair currently competing in British F4 – it was the first taste of car racing for Bearman, the 15-year-old from Chelmsford.

With an outstanding finish in eighth position, Seewooruthun collected his first points in Euro 4 in his debut weekend. Fairclough and Bearman had best finishes of 11th and 20th place respectively.

The Euro 4 Championship will be back at Monza for the season finale from 4-6 October. 

Header photo credit: Paolo Pellegrini