Local teen racer Tiago Rodrigues has completed his participation in the 2024 UAE Formula 4 (F4) Championship.
The reigning champion from the Chinese F4 Championship in 2023, Rodrigues embraced this humbling project to battle some of the world’s best drivers in this category in an opportunity to learn and evolve as a racer.
After five rounds in 15 races, Rodrigues ended his participation in the UAE F4 with 4 points scored through an eighth place overall in Race 1 of Round 3 of the season.
British racer Freddie Slater was crowned champion after the last race of the season, scoring 172 points, just 4 points more than first runner-up Kean Nakamura-Berta.
In third place overall was the Emirati, Keanu Al Azhari, with 164 points from 15 races.
The final championship result was only decided on the last race, contested yesterday evening (Macau time) at the Dubai Autodrome.
Slater, finishing third behind Nakamura-Berta scored enough points to grant the title in a race won by local racer Rashid Al Dhaheri.
Qualifying 15th for Race 1 and 14th for Race 3, Rodrigues did not capitalize on the grid positions with a lot of contacts and “pushing” occurring in the middle of the pack, causing him to lose several positions in most races of the weekend.
Rodrigues’ best result was in Race 1 (raced Saturday) where he managed to keep to 15th position from the starting grid to the checkered flag.
The championship included 40 contenders, although not all completed all rounds.
Occurring at the start of the year, the UAE F4 is seen as a great opportunity for topnotch racers from Europe and other parts of the world to start the season at a time when regular championships, namely in Europe, are still stopped for the winter break.
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