Four Australians enjoyed a successful weekend at the 2023 Formula 4 South East Asia Championship season finale in Malaysia, as Jack Beeton claimed his first-ever international title.
 
Beeton entered the final round at Sepang International Circuit as the championship leader, having had a solid opening three rounds, and the 16-year-old sealed the deal with a runner-up finish in the opening race.
 
The Queenslander then made consecutive podiums by placing third in the weekend’s second race before capping off an impressive season with another top-five finish, ending the year 48 points clear of the next best driver.
 
Beeton’s performance also helped the Australian outfit AGI Sport secure the Teams’ Championship, which they won on countback against the Chinese-based Asia Racing Team.


The champion wasn’t the only contributor to AGI Sport’s title, as fellow Aussies Nicolas Stati and Peter Bouzinelos each enjoyed solid weekends in Malaysia.
 
Both rookies featured in their second consecutive race meeting at Sepang, significantly improving from the previous round to the weekend with podiums and points finishes.
 
Stati had the more prolific weekend of the two, picking up a P7 in the opening race before claiming his first international win in the reverse grid race from starting fourth. The West Australian then finished the year with a sixth-place finish.
 
Bouzinelos’ best result came in the final race as he finished third after jumping up from fifth place, while he secured two top-10 finishes in the opening two races.
 
The final Australian contesting the round was Queenslander Lincoln Taylor, who made his Formula 4 debut and showed plenty of promise throughout the round.


Despite finishing 15th in the opening race, Taylor navigated his way through the field during the outing and found himself fighting for fourth before contact with Enzo Yeh saw him lose a front wing, forcing him down the order.
 
The teenager once again charged through the field from 15th to fourth in the 10-lap second race but held on this time around, gaining three spots in the final outing to finish fourth once again.
 
Those Australians featuring in the Malaysian event had all been part of the Motorsport Australia-run Ferrari Driver Academy selection program held at the same venue in previous years, along with their extensive karting history in Australia.
 
Meanwhile, Broc Feeney, Josh Burdon, and Jayden Ojeda entered the Asian Le Mans double round as separate entries, but it was the Repco Supercars Championship star who picked up the best results in the two four-hour endurance races.


Alongside Prince Jefri Ibrahim and German Luca Stolz in the Triple Eight JMR Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, Feeney picked up seventh place in the GGT class for Saturday’s race and sixth place in Sunday’s race, also crossing the line within the outright top 20.
 
Ojeda had a more mixed weekend with China's Anthony Liu and Jules Gounon of Andorra, as the trio failed to finish the first race but bounced back in the second to land P8 in class.
 
Unfortunately, Burdon and his teammates Malaysians Dominic Ang and Douglas Khoo were unable to finish either of the races in their Ligier JS P320 LMP2 car.
 
On the other side of the world, Molly Taylor was in action for the Extreme E Championship season finale in Chile and just missed out on her second title despite winning the Copper X-Prix.
 
Both Taylor and Swedish teammate Kevin Hansen put in solid shifts during the final event of the year to guide the Veloce Racing entry to the round victory. However, a runner-up finish for Johan Kristoffersson and Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky saw Taylor’s former team, Rosberg X Racing, take out the 2023 title.