South African Jonathan Aberdein has officially claimed the inaugural FIA Formula 4 UAE Championship title for Team Motopark, while the action-filled final round at Yas Marina Circuit also welcomed new faces to the podium.

Amassing 14 race wins and two other podium finishes, Aberdein (#21) had been the standout driver of the season and lead the championship standings from the get-go, but not without strong competition from teammate Logan Sargeant (#23). Sargeant finished second outright in the championship thanks to his 15 race podiums, took home Rookie Champion honours, and also helped Team Motopark seal the Teams Champion title for the 2016/17 season.

Having been a rookie in last year’s ADAC Formel 4 Championship in Germany, Aberdein says that winning his first open-wheeler title in the UAE has been the perfect preparation to chase his first European title this coming season.

“F4UAE has been a really successful championship for me and all the experience I’ve gained in the last six months has definitely made me a better driver,” said Aberdein, who also won a limited edition BRM Chronographes watch for his title win, thanks to series partner BRM Middle East.

“I’ve had some good competition from Logan especially, but overall the competitiveness of the championship has been really strong in the last few events and it’s been more challenging to get the wins. I’m going to be racing a few of the other drivers again in Europe but there’s no reason why I can’t be up the front fighting for the German F4 title this year after all the success I’ve had here in the Middle East.”

Dubai-based Sean Babington (#4) from Energy Dubai F4 Racing Team – a race winner last event – took third place honours in the title fight and was the highest-finishing local driver this season. While the QMMF F4 Team’s Ahmad Al Muhannadi (#22) won the Best Performing GCC Driver of the season while also finishing an impressive fourth place outright in the championship points.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of ATCUAE and Emirates Motor Sports Foundation, congratulated the championship’s inaugural winners.

“Congratulations to Jonathan for a very strong performance this year and winning the first F4UAE Championship,” said Ben Sulayem. “All of our teams and drivers have improved more than we could expect and they have contributed to making F4UAE the championship that we hope all of the future champions will come to race. We are very proud of all of the winners but I also would like to congratulate the QMMF for being the champion GCC team. We look forward to another great season starting at the end of the year.”