For the second time this season Lasse Sorensen from Denmark won all three races during the weekend. He again showed his talent with a perfect drive adding another victory to his many successes. He saw the flag in front of Dorian Boccolacci who did everything he could to overtake the Dane. Into third came Anglo-Swiss Felix Hirsiger.
Once again beautiful weather greeted the drivers in the final round of the Nogaro weekend on the Paul Armagnac circuit on a grid decided by the fastest times in qualifying. Lasse Sorensen, the man to beat in the last few races, made the best start with Dorian Boccolacci glued to his gearbox determined to make him fight for victory.
Not everybody got away so well as Bryan Elpitiya was given a drive-through penalty for jumping the start, while Joao Carvalho from Portugal went off on the first lap falling to the back of the field.
Up front the championship leader Sorensen dominated. Boccolacci was second while Hirsiger was third after getting the better of Russian Vladimir Atoev. Mexican Patricio O’Ward continued to show his progress in the French F4 Championship in fifth place in front of Valentin Hasse Clot who has made a significant step forward in the last few races. O’Ward soon launched an attack on the Russian who fought him off.
After a third of the race Sorensen and Boccolacci had pulled away from the rest of the field opening up a gap of more than six seconds over their closest pursuers consisting of Hirsiger, Atoev, O’Ward, Hasse Clot, Australian Joseph Mawson and Denis Bulatov from Russia who were all locked in a ding-dong battle.
Hirsiger held on to third place under severe pressure from Atoev who was determined to finish on the podium in the final race in the Gers. Behind these two came O’Ward, who wasn’t wasting any time, and Hasse Clot who were both waiting in ambush to snatch third place.
With a few laps to go to the flag Sorensen and Boccolacci were scrapping at the head of the field, while Hirsiger, Atoev and O’Ward were squabbling over third, fourth and fifth places.
Apart from the two leaders, who now had the straight between them and their rivals, all the drivers were closely packed and thrilled the crowd with cut-and-thrust manoeuvres.
Despite a final charge by Boccolacci, Sorensen clinched another triple in the Gers department and consolidated his lead in the championship.
Boccolacci’s second place was ample reward for his fine drive and he has reduced the gap to Hirsiger, who finished third, in the Championship ratings.
Behind the three leaders the remainder of the top 10 finishers consisted of Atoev, O’Ward, Bulatov, Hasse Clot, Mawson, Swiss Paul Hokfelt Jr and Max Defourny from Belgium.
In the provisional championship classification Sorensen leads with 274 points followed by Hirsiger with 205, Boccolacci with 192 and Mawson with 142 points.
The second-last round of the French F4 Championship will take place on the Jerez circuit in Spain on 17-19 0ctober at the final meeting of the World Series by Renault.
Quotes
Lasse Sorensen: “Races 1 and 2 were more difficult for me as Dorian was quicker. I was able to win the third race and score the maximum number of points in the championship. I’m very happy with my weekend!”
Dorian Boccolacci: “I made a very good start and held on to my place. My main aim was to stay with Sorensen in the opening laps as yesterday in the first race he pulled away from me immediately. After understanding and solving the problems I had on the circuit I realised I was quicker than him. In fact I set the fastest lap and I think that can change the odds for Jerez.”
Félix Hirsiger: “It was difficult for me throughout the race, but I was so determined to be on the podium that I held out till the end to achieve this aim.”
Info Auto Sport Academy / © Photo KSP