With only three race starts to his name at the end of last year, the 2023 Formula 4 UAE Championship was truly Zachary ‘Zach’ David’s first full season in single-seaters. And it proved to be quite a rookie year for the 15-year-old as he finished 8th overall in the Drivers’ Championship and 5th amongst the Rookies.
To put that into perspective, he achieved those results competing against a massive 38-car grid, where he took home one podium and a very memorable race win.
The very busy 2023 calendar covered a total of 15 races, spread over five events, on three circuits in the Middle East, and in just a span of six short weeks. Though at times exhausting, it was the perfect opportunity for the young Filipino to soak as much knowledge as he could before the real action starts in Europe in a few month’s time. Zach also had a strong team behind him in the form of R-ace GP in collaboration with Campos Racing, feeding him important data and ensuring that he has the best machinery underneath him.
Things got off a decent start at the Dubai Autodrome in early January. A pair of top 10 finishes at the season opener definitely got his name noticed around the paddock and secured his place as one of the front-runners. While scoring a podium was definitely possible, Zach just didn’t expect it to come so soon.
He was immediately on pace as soon as he arrived at Kuwait Motor Town. Zach even topped two out of the five practice sessions, which gave him and the team high hopes for the race weekend. Though he suffered a DNF in Race 1, he bounced back hard with a solid 5th place finish in Race 2. Eventually, all the pieces fell into place in the final race of the weekend. A chaotic first lap took out his closest rivals propelling him up to P2 before making a pass for the lead. Zach then drove eight hard laps to score his very first victory with a 4.287 sec lead.
Just a week later, Zach found himself in a similar situation when the series returned to Kuwait Motor Town for Round 3. This time though, he would finish in 3rd and was the highest placed rookie driver.
The young Filipino driver delivered a strong 8th place finish during the championship’s second visit to the Dubai Autodrome in February, matching his previous best result on the same circuit. Hopes of ending the season on a high note at Yas Marina, however, did not come into fruition. Nothing seemed to go in the right direction with Zach suffering two DNFs.
Despite the challenging finale, there were more than enough highs throughout the season to make the 2023 F4 UAE Championship a memorable one. Learnings about his driving, adapting to different race situations, and how to cope from his mistakes are just some of Zach’s takeaways from six weeks of back-to-back racing.
Zach David: “Overall it was a great F4 UAE season, getting to drive in all the new race tracks, learned a lot, and experienced new challenges as well. It was definitely an experience. The field was so close together and I had to drive my best. I couldn’t have done it without a great team behind me who I really enjoyed working with. The F4 Italian Championship will be my main focus next, which will begin in April.”
Zach is supported by Ceramic Pro Philippines, Petron Corporation, Stilo Helmets, Eetwell, 3CX, and the Malta Motorsports Federation.
For more info and the latest updates, follow ZachdavidRacing on Facebook and @zachdavidracing on Instagram.
[Photos courtesy of PR Plus and Dutch Photo Agency]
