Inaugural season 2016 | Country United Arab Emirates Tyre suppliers Dunlop | |
Starting in the 2015-16 season, the all new Formula 4 UAE Championship will be launched by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, and its national affiliate the Automobile & Touring Club of the United Arab Emirates (ATCUAE), who will act as the championship's promoter.
Contents
History
In 2013, the FIA Single seat commission announced their intention to introduce a new category of single seat racing in order to bridge the gap between karting and Formula 3.
Throughout the following two years, the ATCUAE has worked to develop a Formula 4 championship for the UAE, which will be the first in the Middle East and North African region. One of the first steps taken was to appoint Dubai based AUH Motorsports to manage the championship, based on their experience and expertise in having run the regional Radical Sportscars series for several years.
In February 2016, the championship was launched in spectacular fashion in front of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, with the public unveiling of the car undertaken by HH Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development and Chairman of the General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare, and Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of the ATCUAE.
Following the launch in February 2016, the car was given its first test around the Dubai Autodrome, driven by Dubai-born Indy Lights driver Ed Jones.
Format
The inaugural 2016-17 championship will feature eighteen races over six weekends, four of which will be held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, with the remaining two at the Dubai Autodrome.
Car
The championship features Tatuus designed and built cars. The cars are constructed out of carbon fibre and feature a monocoque chassis. The engine is a 1.4 turbo Abarth.
This combination of chassis and engine is the same as that already used in the Italian F4 Championship, F4 Spanish Championship, ADAC Formula 4 and SMP F4 Championship.