Lasse Sorensen from Denmark, who set the two fastest times in qualifying yesterday, dominated the first race of the weekend from Anglo-Swiss Felix Hirsiger and Paul Hokfelt Jr from Switzerland, who defended his third place con brio. The three drivers all bagged a big haul of points in the title chase taking advantage of the slip-up by the championship leader, Dorian Boccolacci.
When the lights went out the 24 Formula 4s got away cleanly. Poleman Lasse Sorensen held on to his first place from Félix Hirsiger. Hugo Sugnot Darniche came to grief in the first corner dashing his hopes of a good result. The drivers who made the biggest impression at the start and on the opening lap were Dorian Boccolacci and Valentin Hasse Clot who came round in third and seventh places after starting from fifth and eleventh respectively.
The first lap was pretty hectic as the trainees tried to gain a few places in the first corners on tyres that were not yet up to their optimal working temperature. Valentin Moineault was a victim of one of these jousts as he was tagged by another car and fell to the rear of the field just when it looked like he could score a good result.
Up front Soresen and Hirsiger pulled away, while behind them there was a no-holds-barred scrap going on for third place between Boccolacci, Hokfelt Jr and Patricio O’Ward from Mexico.
Behind this leading quintet Russian Denis Bulatov was lying sixth while Joseph Mawson from Australia took seventh from Valentin Hasse Clot. Bryan Elpitiya, tenth on the grid, made a good start to the race and was ninth in front of Amaury Richard who rounded out the top ten.
The rest of the field began to string out even though all the ASA drivers set a searing pace.
On lap 6 there was a big upset when Boccolacci spun and dropped back to tenth place.
At half-distance Sorensen and Hirsiger looked uncatchable with more than ten seconds in hand over their pursuers, while Hokfelt Jr, O’Ward and the hard-charging Mawson were still locked in battle for third place.
Bulatov was sixth while Elpitiya continued to gain places and was now up to seventh.
In the meantime the unlucky Boccolacci began to fight his way back and overtook Richard and Hasse Clot in quick succession to snatch eighth. On Lap 10 Swede Reuben Kressner made a mistake in the last corner before the start/finish straight and ended up in the gravel trap retiring on the spot.
Hokfelt Jr, O’Ward, Mawson and Bulatov, who had made up ground, were now even closer to one another in a closely-fought but sporting scrap for third place putting on a thrilling show.
On the last lap O’Ward, the shock of the race, pushed even harder. He tried everything to get past Hokfelt Jr at the end of the straight. He looked like he had succeeded, but the Swiss driver got back in front on the exit from the corner under the gaze of Mawson and Bulatov who were hoping to gain an advantage from this skirmish.
After 25-minutes racing Sorensen scored an unchallenged victory from Hirsiger, and Hokfelt Jr who had managed to hang on to his third place.
Newcomer O’Ward put on a spectacular showing in his first race on the Val de Vienne circuit (and in the championship), and clinched a brilliant fourth place from Bulatov who managed to slip past Mawson in the final corners.
Behind this squabbling group Boccolacci fought his way up to seventh in front of Elpitiya who drove a solid race. Richard was ninth and Hasse Clot tenth; they will share the front row for race 2 based on the principle of the reversed grid for the first ten in race 1.
Rendezvous for race 2: Saturday 5th July at 18h15
Quotes
Lasse Sorensen: “My weekend has got off to a great start with qualifying and my victory in the first race. I’m now going to prepare for the second one starting from tenth place. I’ll try and score the maximum number of points for the championship.”
Felix Hirsiger: “It was a very good race in which I was able to bag a big haul of points for the championship.”
Paul Hokfelt Jr: “It wasn’t an easy rac
e as I made a bad start dropping from fourth to fifth place. I fought back to retake fourth and then Dorian and me had a slight coming-together. My car’s handling was upset; it wasn’t as quick as at the start and I had to fight off Patricio’s attacks who was just behind me. I managed to hold on to my position and I finished third so I’m pretty happy.”
Info Auto Sport Academy / © Photo KSP