Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia

Buriram F4: Gowda takes top five finish in Race 1

Akash Gowda kick-started the penultimate round of the 2016/17 Formula 4 South East Asia season with a fifth place finish in the opening race at Buriram, as Mohammed Nalwalla chose to not race in the weekend.

Akash Gowda

Akash Gowda

Formula 4 SEA

Presley Martono, Akash Gowda and Khalid Al-Wahaibi
Faine Kahia
Akash Gowda
Presley Martono
Keanon Santoso
Faine Kahia
Presley Martono
Faine Kahia

Gowda showed stellar pace in Friday’s sole practice session after completing the two-day test, finishing less than a tenth behind pacesetter Faine Kahia.

However, Gowda was unable to carry his pace into qualifying, ending up fourth fastest with a time of 1m42.424s.

Had he been able to replicate his practice lap, he would have qualified on the front row of the grid, alongside polesitter Isyraf Danish.

Fifth in Race 1 after race-long battle

After the first race got underway, Gowda battled with third-placed Presley Martono, as the duo traded positions in the initial stages.

Martono eventually managed to pull away into the distance, leaving Gowda in the lead of a four-way battle involving Khalid Al-Wahaibi, Eric Louis and Kane Shepherd.

The Indian eventually succumbed to the pressure, making a costly error that dropped him behind Al-Wahaibi in fifth place.

He lost another place to Shepherd later in the race, but was officially classified fifth after Al-Wahaibi was handed a five-second penalty after the race.

The Omani wasn’t the only drive to be penalised, with Kahia also losing his race win to Singapore’s Danial Frost for a similar infringement.  The penalty left him second in the final classifications, five seconds clear of Martono.

Seventh in Race 2

In Race 2, with the top two drivers into the distant, Gowda was involved in the P3 battle with Martono, Worawong Komarakul and Al-Wahaibi early on.

As the race progressed, Al-Wahaibi settled into third defending well from Eric Louis, while Danish having started from behind, made his way up through the field overtaking both Martono and Gowda.  

The Indian then once again found himself battling with Martono in the center of a tightly-knit field for sixth place.

But despite multiple attempts to outwit the Indonesian, Gowda had to settle for seventh - the duo separated by just three tenths at the chequered flag.

At the front, Kahia made amends for his Race 1 penalty by taking a comprehensive lights-to-flag win, with Frost and Al-Wahaibi joining him on the podium.

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Sepang F4: Gowda claims three podium finishes, Nalwalla scores points
Next article Buriram F4: Gowda takes podium in Race 5 amid difficult day

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia