Mygale’s new-for-2015 FIA Australian F4 car was placed on display at the governing body’s Sport Conference in Munich this week.
Created to create a stable step between karting and Formula 3, the Formula 4 category was launched in Italy and South America (forming the Sudamericana Championship) earlier this year.
The machine, which will be run in next season’s Australian F4 championship, was the first F4 car to receive its shakedown, before completing some demonstration laps at Melbourne in March during the Grand Prix weekend with GT racer Karl Reindler at the wheel.
The Australian championship will replace the ailing Formula Ford category, which has struggled on occasion in recent seasons.
When the category launches, it will be one of four new F4 championships to join the already existing series’. Along with Australian F4, next year will also see FIA F4 classes spring up in Japan and Germany; both of which will replace Formula Challenge Japan and ADAC Formel Masters respectively.
FIA F4 will also launch in the UK, under the governance of MSA (UK motorsport governing body) replacing Formula Ford.
Of the change, Gerard Quinn – Head of Ford Racing in Europe – commented, “We are very pleased that many months of work has brought us to the point today where we can announce our plans for the long-term future of Formula Ford. We have worked closely with the MSA and the FIA, and in particular with the FIA’s Single Seat Commission President Gerhard Berger, to bring the project to fruition.”
Quinn added, “The FIA has a focused objective – it wishes to see a clearly set-out path leading to Formula 1, and has created regulations aimed at securing consistent organisational standards, technical fairness, sporting relevancy and stability. Ford is delighted to be working with the MSA and the FIA to bring those plans to fruition.”
However the pre-existing BRDC F4 will continue to run on British grounds, with the latter not running to FIA technical regulations. If nothing else, the dual categories are bound to put the BRDC and the MSA at loggerheads.
More territories are expected to sign up to the class in time for the 2016 season. Meanwhile, Italian F4 made its first visit to the famed Imola circuit at the weekend for the second round of its series.
