EVENT

SAWER STANDS ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY AFTER THRILLER AT SEPANG

Sep 10, 2025　Author : topspeedchina

After an impressive opening race of the weekend at Sepang in Malaysia, Alex Sawer could become Vietnam’s first FIA single seater champion ever in the F4 South East Asia Championship tomorrow after extending his lead in the championship with his 8th win of the year, despite a disappointing result in qualifying.





The early morning session had seen the Vietnamese star languishing down in P5 of the grid as rookie star Niccolo Maccagnani stole a debut pole position for the returning Pinnacle Motorsport squad. Inigo Anton had set up an entertaining battle in second on the grid, whilst Evans GP newcomer Kyuho Lee was quicker than both Sawer and Seth Gilmore who was eager to keep the title fight alive in P4 of the grid.




At the start, Maccagnani was able to stay ahead of his opponents with Sawer making a calculated move on the opening tour to move ahead of Gilmore. It wouldn’t take long to pass Kyuho Lee and establish himself as a podium contender from the outset. Over the next ten minutes he busied himself with the task of catching Inigo Anton for second position, whilst their team-mates Thomas Yu Lee and Ben Nguyen were stealing the show in the midfield as Yu Lee took on Rishon Rajeev several times, and Wang Zhongwei was hounded by Nguyen for the entirety of the race.



Anton seemed to struggle for balance and grip in the car, as Sawer made light work of the overtake into Turn One and then set off in pursuit of Maccagnani who was over two seconds up the road. There were also positive performances by Malaysian talent Imran Putera who was on course for a rookie podium on his debut, and for Kareen Kaur who made her first appearance in a Tatuus F4 car.



After an intense stint of qualifying-style laps by Sawer, he eventually caught Maccagnani with a couple of minutes to spare and began intimidating the Italian. Following some smart manoeuvring Maccagnani defended ruthlessly until the final lap when a costly error into Turn One was enough of invitation for Sawer to slide ahead into the lead. He would pull clear and hold on to lead only the final lap on his way to sealing an 8th win from 9 races. Maccagnani would follow home in second to secure the rookie win on his first appearance in F4 South East Asia.

Kyuho Lee delivered a strong third place in the closing stages after a frustrated Anton was unable to defend his podium position. Gilmore in P5 lost 18 points to Sawer in the championship race, and so now all Sawer needs from the two races tomorrow and he will become the 2025 F4 South East Asia champion. Rajeev would claim P6 ahead of winning Master driver Thomas Yu Lee, whilst Putera, Wang and Nguuyen completed the points after a solid opener from Kaur and a frustrating race for Joshua Berry was compounded before the start with a technical issue meaning he’d have to start from the pitlane. The only other finisher was Thai driver Worapong Aiemwichan who was clearly feeling the absence of team-mate Ayrton Asdathorn.

With two more races tomorrow and Alex Sawer already confirmed to be starting on pole position for race 3, it’s looking good for the Vietnamese driver – all he really has to do is show up tomorrow and the title is in his grasp.