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

USA

Sepang F4: Gowda claims three podium finishes, Nalwalla scores points

Akash Gowda notched up three podium finishes in the six Formula 4 South East Asia's races in the fourth round at Sepang, with Mohammed Nalwalla scoring handy points in the races.

Podium: race winner Jordan Love, second place Akash Gowda, third place Presley Martono

Podium: race winner Jordan Love, second place Akash Gowda, third place Presley Martono

Formula 4 SEA

Podium: race winner Jordan Love, second place Danial Nielsen Frost, third place Akash Gowda
Akash Gowda
Mohammed Nalwalla
Podium: race winner Jordan Love, second place Presley Martono, third place Danial Nielsen Frost
Mohammed Nalwalla
Akash Gowda
Mohammed Nalwalla
Akash Gowda
Mohammed Nalwalla
Podium: race winner Jordan Love
Mohammed Nalwalla
Akash Gowda
Podium: race winner Jordan Love, second place Danial Nielsen Frost, third place Presley Martono
Akash Gowda
Mohammed Nalwalla
Race winner Jordan Love

Gowda started his weekend with ninth in practice, while Nalwalla was just ahead in eighth. Whereas in qualifying, Nalwalla was sixth with Gowda unfortunately unable to take part due to car issues.

The first race on Thursday ended prematurely for Gowda on Lap 5, after he was running inside the top five making up for the lost ground having missed qualifying.

Meanwhile, Nalwalla had a relatively steady race, but dropped two places to end eighth, with the returning Jordan Love taking the win from Daniel Frost and Presley Martono.

Podium for Gowda in Race 2

The second race on Friday saw Gowda losing out from a front row start to drop behind Frost and Faine Kahia, with Love leading in the front.

As the race progressed, Love was untouchable to take his second win on the trot from Frost, while Kahia's last lap retirement gifted Gowda third and a podium finish.

"I had a really bad start and really lost quite a bit of ground. Despite that, I was able to settle into the pace, managed to adapt and stayed with Faine," said Gowda.

"After that my focus was to stay as consistent as possible with my pace. Towards the end, I saw Faine had troubles with his car and I was able to pass to take third place."

Whereas, Nalwalla had another lonely race to finish eighth behind Malaysia's Isyraf Danish and ahead of Indonesia's Keanon Santoso.

Hard fought second for Gowda in third race

For Race 3 in the Sepang weekend, Gowda had a good start from the second row of the grid to go into the lead by Lap 2 clearing polesitter Adam Khalid and front row starter Martono.

The Indian then pulled away from the pack, before Love made his way up to second and set his eyes on the race lead and the win.

After an intense battle for a couple of laps, Love eventually made a move stick to take over the lead with three laps remaining.

The Australian managed to pull away marginally to win by 1.099s from Gowda, while Martono recovered from early lack of pace to end up third.

"I had a really good start in Race 3 and was able to move up to P2 into the first corner. On Turn 5 I managed to overtake Presley for the lead and just worked on pulling out as much of a gap as I could.

"But with five laps to go, I could see Jordan was already closing in on me and on the final lap, he managed to get past me. It could have been better but I will take this result.”

Whereas, Nalwalla after battling with the leading group lost out chunk of places to finish outside the top 10 in 11th.

Gowda and Nalwalla battle in Race 4

With the grid set on the basis of second fastest laps from the drivers, it was Nalwalla who started from the second row of the grid, while Gowda was at the back.

The start saw Love pull away from the chasing pack as Frost had fast starter Martono on his tail for second, with Nalwalla fighting with Kahia for fourth.

The moment Martono got through Frost to slot in at second, Kahia made his move on Nalwalla to take fourth, the Indian then having Gowda right behind with few laps remaining.

The two countrymen tussled in the last few laps with Gowda managing to move ahead and finish fifth and ahead of Nalwalla, as Love won from Martono and Frost.

Gowda fights for podium in fifth race

The final race on Friday saw Gowda battling for a podium finish having started the race from the third row, with Love starting from pole.

As Love controlled the race up front, Frost running second dropped down the order after a costly spin giving Kahia the position.

The error also made the duel between Martono and Gowda to become a dogfight for a place on the podium.

With Love making it four in row, Kahia was delighted with second as Martono eventually end up third, a mere 0.180s separating him and fourth placed Gowda.

Meanwhile, Nalwalla finished a lonely ninth, comfortably ahead of Khaild.

Third podium for Gowda in final race

The last race in the fourth round saw Gowda start from fifth battling with Kahia and Martono for a podium spot.

With Love losing out to Frost in the front, Gowda managed to move past Martono as well as Kahia to run in third.

In the end, Frost just managed to fend off Love to deny the Australian a clean sweep of races, as Gowda held on to the final podium position.

Behind, Nalwalla also made headway in the race to finish seventh battling with Danish and Khalid Al Wahaibi.

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Sentul F4: Gowda takes two podium finishes, Nalwalla gets double top five
Next article Buriram F4: Gowda takes top five finish in Race 1

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

USA