Formula 4 Southeast Asia to Start This Weekend, Powered by Petron

This year's Formula 4 Southeast Asia Championships (F4 SEA)  is set to start this week, with the first leg to be held in Sepang, Malaysia on Friday, September 29, to Sunday, October 1.

The F4 program is said to be the first step in starting a career in the Formula Race series. Aside from that, it is also said to be the cost-effective stepladder to an Federation Internationale de l’Automobil (FIA)-accredited career in world Formula Racing where racers compete in a level playing field.

The F4 SEA program focuses on driver experience and development using FIA-homologated F4 race car and engines.

The 30-race F4 series for this year starts off with six support races at the Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix. The second leg, on the other hand, will have the racers fly here to take on the Clark International Speedway on October 20 to 22. The third race will be done at Sentul, Indonesia on November 24 to 26, and the fourth leg will be at the Buriram United International Circuit in Thailand in January 12 to 14 next year. The series will then conclude at Malaysia on February 9 to 11.

Relatedly, the organizers of the F4 SEA Championships this year have tapped Philippine oil giant Petron Corporation to be the official fuel and engine oil for the season.

The official fuel will be the Petron Blaze 100 Euro 6 while the Petron Blaze Racing will be used as the engine oil. Certified by international testing institutions, Petron Blaze 100 Euro 6 is 100-Octane pure gasoline formulation while the Petron Blaze Racing fully synthetic oil contains Thermal Stress Stabilizing System which is said to be built for high-performance racing.

In a statement, Petron Corporation President and CEO Ramon Ang, an avid motorsports enthusiast, said that the petroleum company is happy to be partnered with this year's F4 SEA.

"We are proud to fuel the 2017 Formula 4 Southeast Asia Championship and we welcome this opportunity to show our proudly Philippine-made Petron Blaze 100 Euro 6 gasoline and Petron Blaze Racing Engine Oil meet the severe demands of international competitive racing," said Ang. "We hope that the young Formula 4 drivers will appreciate the performance advantages of our world-class products."