Finland’s oldest race circuit, Ahvenisto, hosted the F4 North Europe Championship in 2015 as an opening round, but as most of the new drivers of this season were unfamiliar with the tricky track there was familiarisation session on Thursday. The track has lots of height differences and the walls are very close, leaving no room for mistakes to the young F4 NEZ drivers.

With the title secured by Richard Verschoor last time out in Sweden, the fight in the final weekend was to be between Jarno Opmeer, Aleksander Vartanyan, Tuomas Tujula and Nikita Sitnikov, for second and third places.

The first race of the weekend featured a beautiful sunset and a tight battle for points. Opmeer got a great start however, Rasmus Markkanen next to him did not and the Finn dropped back. Nerses Isaakyan capitalized Markkanen’s mistake and took second, and Red Bull junior driver Verschoor also made some progress when he grabbed third place already on the first lap. Verschoor pressured Isaakyan corner after corner but didn’t have enough speed to complete the overtake.

Ahvenisto circuit is a tricky place to overtake but Alexander Vartanyan, after many laps behind Maslennikov, managed to pass his teammate to move into eighth. Tuomas Haapalainen tried to follow the Russian, but would have to be patient. The opportunity came when the Russian drove wide on the exit of turn two, allowing Haapalainen and Lloveras to take their chance.

The race ended in drama when Henri Kauppi, who had his comeback to the Championship this weekend, spun and crashed into the wall at turn three. The Finn’s car was stuck on the side of the track and safety car had to be deployed five minutes before the chequered flag. The cars followed the safety car for one lap but the race director quickly decided to deploy a red flag, bringing the race to an end. Opmeer tasted victory again, winning from Isaakyan and Verschoor.

The final day of the SMP F4 NEZ Championship 2016 season started with Race Two.

Opmeer got another great start from pole and the Dutchman held his place out front. Nerses Isaakyan who started in P2 got the dirty side of the track and had lots of wheelspin, handing 2016 champion Verschoor second on the opening lap.

Although Verschoor was the fastest driver on the track, he could not find any way past Opmeer.

The biggest fight was between Juho Valtanen and Roope Markkanen who fought for P4. Markkanen tried to overtake Valtanen many times at the end of the main straight but did not have enough speed to pull the pass off. Opmeer took his second win of the weekend and was looking for a hat trick in Race Three. Verschoor and Isaakyan rounded out the penultimate podium.

Opmeer commented after race two, “It feels very good to renew with victory! Two in a row, that’s great, now I am looking forward to race three, even though my starting position will not be the easiest of them all.”

The final race of the season saw Dutchman Verschoor starting on pole, Tuomas Tujula in second and Aleksander Vartanyan promoted to P3 with Opmeer serving a grid penalty. Vartanyan had a perfect start, overtaking Verschoor right at the start.

But then the biggest action of the weekend started as Tuomas Tujula went slightly wide in turn two and made contact with Juho Valtanen ending both drivers’ races in a mountain of debris. Aleksander Maslennikov also got involved in the accident as the Russian crashed into the two cars which were stopped on track on the exit of the corner.

Following a lengthy safety car period only nine cars remained in the race, and the final kilometres of the season were to be driven with maximum attack. Vartanyan held onto P1 for the few last laps as Verschoor did not find any room to pass the Russian, while Rasmus Markkanen completed the podium.

So it was a maiden victory for the Russian rocket Alexander Vartanyn who waited until the very last Race of 2016 in the SMP F4 NEZ Championship to take to the top step of the podium.

After the race, he commented, “Finally! I have been trying to get that win since day one of this season. I am very happy to end the season on a high note, it could not have ended better!”

Third placed Rasmus Markkanen added, “A podium to end the season, in front of my home crowd…that’s everything I wanted!”

Richard Verschoor was officially crowned 2016 SMP F4 NEZ Champion on Sunday night at the Prize Giving Party with Jarno Opmeer taking second and Alexander Vartanyan third.

With the 2016 SMP F4 NEZ season now over, the organisers would like to thank everyone involved who made this year an incredible success once again.