KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — High adrenaline international motor racing could be back to Sepang International Circuit (SIC) as soon as September, pending approvals from the relevant stakeholders and improving Covid-19 pandemic.
SIC reopened its door on Tuesday, only for personal training sessions with safety measures in place, including a limit of 10 people per session to comply with the conditional movement control order (CMCO), which is extended till June 9.
Formula 4 Southeast Asia (F4SEA) promoter, Peter Thompson believes races could be back at the highly acclaimed track in another four months, but it depends on the government’s decision to reopen borders.
“After a meeting with SIC chief executive officer, Azhan Shafriman Hanif yesterday, we are looking forward to organise races from September. For F4SEA, we have to get approval from FIA (International Automobile Federation) after revising the season’s calendar while hoping for the Malaysian government to reopen the border.
“We need foreign experts, trainers and engineers, as well as drivers from Europe to work with local drivers, technicians and crews. There are many people in motorsports, not just in Malaysia but globally, who are struggling without income,” he told Bernama.
F4SEA, a platform to develop young drivers into future F1 racers, had proposed to FIA to only host four-events of 16-race in SIC for this season, compared to 10 events in 2019, with races held in Thailand and India besides SIC.
Due to the pandemic, Thompson said the 2020 season would commence with only 16 racers competing for the championships, compared to 37 drivers last year.
“We are getting calls from European racers, especially England to race here. This is because F4SEA is very cost-effective, two times cheaper than in England.
“The estimated cost this season is around 40,000 Euro (about RM 187,969). We hope next year we can get back to the full calendar of 10 to 12 events, to achieve our ultimate goal to produce first-ever Asian F1 champion,” he said.
Asked on the risk of motorsports losing sponsorship from petroleum and lubricant brands, as the oil and gas industry is facing a downturn, Thompson said the teams could sustain with the broadcasting rights and sponsorship from other industries.
F4 champions receive 12 of the 40 points required for an F1 Super Licence and automatic promotion to an International C Licence, where the remaining points will be accumulated from F2 and F3.
At the 2017 Petronas F1 Malaysian Grand Prix, local ace Nazim Azman won the F4 event before going on to win a race in the British F3 Championship, while some of the F4SEA graduates had signed with Sauber and Renault F1 junior teams.
— Bernama
