Formula 4 UAE Championship

James Wharton has led the Aussie charge in the Formula 4 UAE Championship’s second round for the 2023 season, having enjoyed a win and a second place over the weekend.
 
With the championship running at the Kuwait Motor Town in Ali Sabah Al Salem, there were four Australians competing in the event, with Ferrari Driver Academy driver Wharton enjoying the best run.
 
The Victorian had a solid start to the weekend with third in Q1 before showing even more pace with pole position in Q2.
 
Wharton started the round off with his first victory of the season, beating polesitter Valerio Rinicella and championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu to the line.
 
Wharton then backed up his race win with an impressive runner-up finish in the second race, losing only to Ugochukwu.
 
Unfortunately, a crash at the start of race three saw the teenager fall down the order to 19th with a safety car intervention reducing the amount of time he had to work his way back up the field.
 
The Mumbai Falcons Racing driver managed to make up half a dozen positions before running out of time and settling for 13th overall, while Ugochukwu remained in 18th.
 
Despite the poor result, Wharton remains in the hunt for the overall title as he sits in third place on the standings, just four points off Rinicella and 35 off Ugochukwu.
 
While Wharton didn’t have an ideal finish to the weekend, fellow Aussie Noah Lisle claimed his best result of the year in the final outing, rounding out the podium behind Maltese Zachary David and Rinicella.


Lisle’s podium followed two decent results, with a top 10 finish in opening race followed by a P13 in the second – an impressive run considering the grid contained more than 30 young drivers from around the world.
 
The remaining two Aussies to feature in the round were James Piszcyk and Jack Beeton and unfortunately, the two were unable to score any points across the three races.
 
Piszcyk had the stronger pool of results over the course of the round, with P15, P18 and P17, while Beeton finished up with P16, P20 and P21.
  
It’s back-to-back rounds for the championship, with the season to continue this weekend at Kuwait Motor Town.

Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East

 Harri Jones’ has kicked off his 2023 campaign with a bang – taking out two wins from two races in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East’s most recent outing.
 
Taking place at Yas Marina Circuit, a field of 19 were entered in the round as Jones proved too strong all weekend.
 
Having secured second in the first qualifying session of the round, Jones went on to win the race over polesitter and series leader Ariel Levi after the final five laps of the 11-lap race were run under safety car.
 
For the second race, there wasn’t any question over Jones’ credentials as he converted his pole position into a race win – crossing the line more than six seconds ahead of Levi.
 
Despite his rival being handed a five-second penalty for a false start, Jones was in control for the whole race as he finished more than a second ahead of the Israeli before the penalty was applied.
 
The two victories saw Jones extend his winning streak in the series to three having picked up a win in his last outing late last year.
 
The series is back in action this weekend with the fourth round of the 2022/23 season to run at the Dubai Autodrome on 4-5 February.

24 Hours of Daytona

 A number of Australians have taken part in the annual 24 Hours of Daytona on the weekend with a mix of results occurring throughout the field.
 
Picking up the best result for the Australians was Victorian James Allen, who claimed seventh outright and victory in the LMP2 class in thrilling fashion.
 
Driving alongside Italians Gianmaria Bruni and Francesco Pizzi and Fred Poordad of the United States, Allen played a key role in guiding the Proton Competition Oreca 7 to the class win.
 
In what was the team’s official debut in the Rolex 24 Hour, Allen was behind the wheel for the final stint of the race, overtaking Ben Hanley in the CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca 7 on the final lap to secure the class win.


The next best placed Australian was FIA Motorsport Games Gold Medallist Matt Campbell, who finished 14th overall for Porsche Penske Motorsport alongside Dane Michael Christensen and Brazilian Felipe Nasr.
 
Unfortunately it wasn’t the best day out from a class perspective as the quartet finished seventh in the GTP class.
 
Finishing sixth in the GTD class and 24th overall was Ryan Briscoe, who was one of four drivers steering the Racers' Edge Motorsports with WTR Andretti Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.
 
Young gun Cameron Shields may have placed further down the order in 31st outright, but the Queenslander enjoyed a podium finish in the LMP3 class.
 
Driving alongside Americans Christopher Allen, Connor Bloum, John De Angelis in the Performance Tech Motorsports prepared Ligier JS P320, Shields helped the team secure a comfortable podium, beating the next entry by four laps.
 
The remaining two Australians taking part in the event were Kenny Habul and Josh Burdon, however neither driver and their respective teams were able to finish the race, with Habul retiring on lap 233 and Burdon only making it to 89 laps.