Jeddah and Sepang were the hosts of this weekend’s junior single-seater action as F4 Saudi Arabia and Formula Trophy Malaysia kicked off. Feeder Series tells you how everything unfolded.

By Feeder Series

The least busy racing weekend in six months gave everyone some much-needed time to breathe – and put the spotlight on two series that you might not have heard about.

F4 Saudi Arabia has run for two seasons, but it only received partial coverage in our reviews last year. For this year, it’ll be covered alongside the many other F4 series we follow week in and week out, with its first round already providing excitement in the form of overtakes, collisions and a dead heat atop the standings.

Formula Trophy Malaysia, which effectively replaces F4 SEA, had no streaming audience, but the thousands of fans who attended the relocated Bahrain Grand Prix got a glimpse of some of the region’s rising stars. We were among those who got to watch the action live – keep reading for more on what you may have missed.

In NACAM F4, it was Oliver Trejo who took pole position in Puebla ahead of Mateo Girón and championship leader Alex Bobadilla, who nonetheless stormed his way to the front of the field in race one to take the victory. Alan Zezatti then took his second win in as many rounds of the championship in race two, with Bobadilla finishing in second. 

Race three saw Girón take his second win of the season over Bobadilla and Trejo – and perhaps more importantly saw the crowning of a series champion. Bobadilla, with a win and two further podiums, clinched the title with a round to spare. As of now, he has eight wins and six further podiums as the series heads into the final round in Mexico City at the end of October, supporting the F1 Mexico City Grand Prix.

F4 Saudi Arabia: Owen and Bayer split wins in Jeddah opener to leave as joint leaders

Archie Owen and Marlon Bayer shared the two wins in F4 Saudi Arabia’s season-opening round at Jeddah to leave the weekend equal on points at the top of the championship. 

Ginetta Junior frontrunner Harrison Mackie topped the qualifying sheets on Friday to take pole for race one, but he was later given a three-place grid penalty, which promoted Bayer to pole position.

But Bayer had a sluggish getaway at the start, allowing Owen to ease into the lead while the Swiss-Austrian racer fell to fourth behind Abdullah Kamel and Mackie. Behind them, Kamel and Mackie began battling for second on lap two, but while they exchanged positions, Bayer passed both on the exit of Turn 2 on lap four to get back up to second. Just as Bayer lost the position to Mackie at the same spot on lap five, Isaac Seah spun Kamel, dropping him to the rear.

Up front, Owen led all 12 laps to take his maiden single-seater win on his championship debut, whilst Mackie held off Bayer by 0.289 seconds to secure second. Amin Kara Osman was fourth, with Lucas Nanji rounding out the top five after Seah was relegated to sixth thanks to a five-second post-race penalty.

By the following day, Bayer took outright pole in qualifying and led the opening lap whilst third-place starter Owen got past Mackie around the outside of Turn 1 to take second. On lap two, Owen caught Bayer and began attacking him for the lead, but a robust defence from the Swiss-Austrian kept the Welshman behind. The battle only persisted as the race progressed, with Bayer forced to defend from a growing group of cars just to keep the lead.

While that developed, Faris Organji was hit with a 10-second penalty for overtaking off track. A collision with Devin Walz on lap seven at Turn 5 then left him with a rear-right puncture. Both fell down the order.

Ahead of them, Bayer pulled a gap on the rest of the field and remained unchallenged to secure his maiden career win. Mackie muscled his way past Owen for second at Turn 2 on lap nine, the British duo completing the podium in that order. Nanji and Seah were fourth and fifth.

Heading into the next round of the season, which will be held on 7 and 8 October at the same track, Owen and Bayer share the championship lead on 40 points, with Mackie just four points behind the pair in third. The format and schedule for the mid-week event will be similar to this past weekend’s, with conditions expected to remain hot and sunny and no driver changes anticipated.

Report by Marco Albertini

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Harrison Mackie, 2:07.332	Marlon Bayer, +0.010s	Amin Kara Osman, +0.279s
Race 1 (12 laps)	Archie Owen, 25:51.126	Harrison Mackie, +4.232s	Marlon Bayer, +4.521s
Qualifying 2	Marlon Bayer, 2:07.738	Harrison Mackie, +0.276s	Archie Owen, +0.335s
Race 2 (12 laps)	Marlon Bayer, 25:56.419	Harrison Mackie, +2.208s	Archie Owen, +4.301s

Standings	Drivers	Rookie
P1	Archie Owen, 40	Archie Owen, 40
=P1	Marlon Bayer, 40	Marlon Bayer, 40
P3	Harrison Mackie, 36	Amin Kara Osman, 20
P4	Lucas Nanji, 22	Isaac Seah, 18
P5	Amin Kara Osman, 20	Devin Walz, 6
P6	Isaac Seah, 18	Veer Chopra, 6
P7	Zakaria Doleh, 8	Hamza Al Fayez, 4
P8	Devin Walz, 6	Georges Nassar, 1
P9	Veer Chopra, 6	Eva Dorrestijn, 0
P10	Hamza Al Fayez, 4

Formula Trophy Malaysia: Manson and Mulder share wins at scorching Sepang

After practice on Friday, it became clear that the young pair of Marco Manson and Juste Mulder would be the ones to watch in the opening weekend of Formula Trophy Malaysia. That indeed came to pass as they both left Malaysia with a first-place trophy each.

It was Mulder who won out in qualifying, with Manson fourth behind Ben Anh Nguyễn and Aaron Mehta.

Mulder held the lead at the start of the first race, but Nguyễn lost out to Manson at the first corner. Drivers made it through the first lap mostly cleanly with the exception of Jaime Ambrose, who found himself in the gravel between Turns 10 and 11 but managed to return to pit lane.

Those chasing the top three found themselves three-wide as they approached Turn 1 again on lap two. David Cosma Cristofor won out, taking fourth ahead of Iñigo Anton. It took another lap for Manson to reach Mulder’s tail, and he made his move into Turn 4. 

The safety car was called on lap five as Kareen Kaur made contact with Wilder Lindberg, sending them both into the gravel at Turn 6. 

The restart on lap nine was clean, with the top five remaining in order. The battle behind was fierce, however, with Rafael Vaessen and Mehta side by side through sector three. The two made light contact, and Mehta fell back through the field.

On the penultimate lap, Imran Putera was tipped airborne following contact with Nawin Natiphanon at Turn 9. Fortunately, both cars were able to continue, as was Christian Ayrouth when he was spun by Jaime Ambrose at Turn 2 a lap later. Up ahead, Manson took his first win outside of Oceania ahead of Mulder and Nguyen.

By setting the best second-fastest lap in qualifying, Nguyễn started on pole for race two alongside Anton. The long front straight allowed the leaders to enter Turn 1 almost four-wide, and in the chaos, Mulder took the lead ahead of Nguyễn and David Cosma Cristofor. 

Behind the leaders, however, the start was not so clean. Skye Lee missed the braking point at Turn 1 and hit Ayrouth, mounting the Australian’s car and triggering the safety car.

Nguyễn attempted a pass for the lead when the race restarted on lap four, but he was unsuccessful. A lap later, Manson made a move on Anton at Turn 9 for fifth but forced the Axle Sport driver off track. The manoeuvre earned Manson a five-second penalty.

Despite the penalty, he began to hunt down Cosma Cristofor. He dove down the inside of Turn 1 on the final lap and made it stick despite a lock-up. Ahead of them, Mulder took his maiden single-seater win ahead of Nguyễn. Manson’s penalty dropped him to fifth behind Cosma Cristofor and rookie winner Mehta.

Mulder leads the standings on 43 points, eight ahead of Manson and 10 ahead of Nguyễn. However, the grid will change significantly for the following events, with at least the top four not expected to return.

Report by Mitchell Ash

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Juste Mulder, 2:10.704	Ben Anh Nguyễn, +0.133s	Aaron Mehta, +0.380s
Race 1 (11 laps)	Marco Manson, 29:19.010	Juste Mulder, +1.130s	Ben Anh Nguyễn, +2.179s
Race 2 (11 laps)	Juste Mulder, 29:25.963	Ben Anh Nguyễn, +0.521s	David Cosma Cristofor, +2.897s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Juste Mulder, 43	Evans GP, 70	Aaron Mehta, 43 (tied)
P2	Marco Manson, 35	Pinnacle Motorsport, 36	Taisei Murakami, 43 (tied)
P3	Ben Anh Nguyễn, 33	Axle Sports, 14	Nawin Natiphanon, 27
P4	David Cosma Cristofor, 27	Black Blade Racing, 12	Jaime Ambrose, 20
P5	Rafael Vaessen, 16	Evans GP Academy, 3	Skye Lee, 15
P6	Iñigo Anton, 14	Xcel Motorsport, 0	Kareen Kaur, 10 (tied)
P7	Aaron Mehta, 12		Christian Ayrouth, 10 (tied)
P8	Chen Sicong, 10		Wilder Lindberg, 8
P9	Taisei Murakami, 6
P10	Ginevra Panzeri, 3

Header photo credit: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah / Formula Trophy Malaysia