Written by Lorenzo Baer, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
FIA F4 Australian Championship
After years of problems, and low engagement of Australian drivers, Formula 4 Australia received its coup-de-grace with the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020.
Since then, no official championship in the category had been held in Australia, with drivers based in the country and willing to compete in F4 championships faced with the options to go abroad and compete in F4 championships, or participate in the so-called ‘Formula Open’ series.
Formula Open is an Australian national category that brings together several single-seater models in multi-class events. This includes F4, F3 and Formula Regional vehicles competing against each other.
However, the news of Formula 4 Australia’s restructuring for 2024 delivered a vital boost for aspiring drivers in the country, who now found themselves given the opportunity once again, to truly begin their single-seater racing careers within the boundaries of their home country.
The big change came about due to the replacement of Motorsport Australia as organiser of the Australian F4 Championship.
Between 2015-2019, the institution, known at the time as the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) was responsible for hosting and organising the tournament, with financial support from the American RV company Jayco.
However, after the US-based firm pulled the financial plug at the end of 2019, the entire structure of the championship fell apart.
For 2024, the task of organising the tournament was passed to Topspeed, a Shanghai-based holding that has hosted other regional championships such as the F4 UAE and the F4 South East Asia in the past.
Considered a test bed for future editions of the tournament, the 2024 F4 Australian Championship was not expected to cause an immediate change in the country's category scenario.
This could be seen throughout the year, where the average number of drivers per event was around 10-12. This was not comparatively higher compared to the numbers from 2019, when the average was between eight to nine drivers per event.
Originally planned to have five weekends (with each consisting of three races), the championship had only four, after leg three, at Queensland Speedway (13–14 July) was cancelled in a bid to optimise the season's calendar.
Thus, the tournament featured two consecutive weekends at The Bend Motorsports Park, followed up by weekends in Sydney Motorsports Park and Sepang.
Unlike other championships, where several drivers had a chance of fighting for the title, in the Australian F4 Championship the scenario seemed much simpler.
James Piszcyk, who represented AGI Sports, emerged a clear favourite to win the tournament — and the 18-year-old Australian did not disappoint, winning all the championship races held on Australian soil.
Piszcyk's campaign wasn't a clean sweep as he faced difficulties in the only international stage of the championship, in Malaysia.
Facing strong opposition from more experienced guest drivers, including compatriot Cooper Webster, Englishman Kai Daryanani and Macau driver Tiago Rodriguez, Piszcyk achieved third as his best result, in race one of the weekend.
However, his dip in performance in Malaysia did little to affect James Piszcyk's campaign towards the 2024 F4 Australia title, with the Australian easily claiming the trophy.
Second in the classification was Nicolas Stati, the 15-year-old also registered by AGI. Rounding out the top three in the standings was Sebastien Amadio, from Jam Motorsport.
Alongside the restructuring of the championship for 2024, the old Mygale M14-F4 chassis (last used in 2019) were replaced, making way for the Tatuus F4-T421, equipped with 1.4-liter Abarth 414TF engines.
FIA F4 Japanese Championship
One of the most consolidated Formula 4 championships around the world, the Japanese F4 championship is a reference in terms of organisation, logistics and presentation of an extremely attractive product.
A large share of this success is due to GT Association Co., the company that organises the championship together with ASN and the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF).
The trio had established strategic partnerships with companies such as Honda, Toyota, Dunlop and Petronas since the first days of F4 in the country, constantly improving the image and popularity of the category within the Japanese scene.
Another interesting detail that helps to explain the popularity of the category in Japan has to do with the country's motorsport infrastructure itself.
The Land of the Rising Sun has one of the largest concentrations of A and B grade racetracks on the entire planet, taking into account the dimensions of a country. This factor allows motorsport action to have a selected ‘menu’ of tracks for their action.
For 2024, Fuji Speedway, Suzuka, Sportsland Sugo, Autopolis and Motegi were the homes of Japanese Formula 4, in a season that extended between the months of May to November. The series visited each track at least once, except Suzuka and Fuji, which hosted two events each.
Thus, the 2024 Japanese F4 season was made up of seven weekends, with two races contested each weekend, with an average of 30 drivers registering for each race – another point that confirms Formula 4’s success in Japan.
One factor that helped with this surprising number of entries was the change in the structure of Japanese F4 for this year, which ditched the single-class system for a two-class ranking one.
The so-called "Champion Class" is open only to the young promises of Japanese motorsport, mainly comprising drivers in their first professional steps in single-seater motorsport.
Meanwhile, the "Independent Class" is considered the senior class of the tournament, housing more seasoned drivers who have been competing in lower categories for years.
Despite this division, both categories race together, with the drivers from the 'Champion Class' aligning on the starting grid in front of those from the 'Independent Class'.
In the “Champion” tier, the favorites came from two factory-backed efforts: The Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) Racing School, and the Honda Formula Dream Project.
The main names taking part were Yuki Sano and Kazuhisa Urabe, who finished in the top ten in Japanese F4 in 2023. For Honda, the main names were Yuto Nomura and Ryota Horachi, who also finished in the top ten in the standings in 2023.
At the end of the tournament, the Honda drivers performed better, taking the first two places in the final standings of the tournament.
Nomura had a spectacular performance in the final stretch of the championship, winning five of the last six races of the year, guaranteeing him the Japanese F4 title in 2024.
Horachi also had his moments, winning one race during the season in Fuji, in addition to stepping on the podium six other times throughout the year. This consistency took him to second in the general standings.
The surprise in the “Champion” class was Kotaro Shimbara, who had not competed in a race in Japanese F4 since 2022. Shimbara had finished 20th in the standings when he last took part in the series in 2022.
On his comeback to F4, Shimbara returned in style, taking third in the final standings, in addition to achieving his first victory in the last weekend of the year in Suzuka.
In the “Independent” tier, an interesting battle between 57-year-old driver Ryuji Kumita (aka “Dragon”) and 59-year-old Nobuhiro Imada caught the public's attention, with both reaching the final stage of the tournament separated by just 23.5 points.
Despite scoring more points than Kumita over the weekend in Suzuka, Imada was unable to take the lead in the end, losing the championship by mere 2.5 points!
In addition to his extraordinary consistency throughout the championship, Ryuji Kumita was lucky that his opponent did not compete in the first two races of the year in Fuji, which gave him a decisive edge in his journey towards the title in the “Independent” class.
For the 2024 Japanese F4 season, the old Dome F110 chassis was replaced by the new Toray Carbon Magic MCS4-24. The change was made due to the end of the life cycle of the Dome chassis, which had been used since the first season of Japanese F4, in 2015.
A new generation of 2.0-liter TOM'S engines was also part of the Toray package, offering a more efficient and economical version of the already renowned Toyota powerplant.
Note for the reader: Although it could also be added as a part of the Trans-Pacific zone, the USA and NACAM F4 championships will be covered later, in a dedicated article focused solely on events in the Americas.
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