Danish driver Lasse Sorensen, who clinched the 2014 French F4 Championship title last weekend in Jerez in Spain, continued to rack up victories and won the first race on the Paul Ricard circuit. Behind him came Anglo-Swiss Félix Hirsiger and Frenchman Amaury Richard who scored his first top-3 finish of the year.
The newly-crowned 2014 champion Lasse Sorensn was on pole for the first race of the final round of the season on the Paul Ricard circuit He shared the first row with Félix Hirsiger, while the second one was an all-French affair with Amaury Richard and Valentin Moineault.
Under braking for the first corner at the end of the pits straight general chaos ensued in which Swiss Paul Hokfelt Jr, Mexican Patricio O’Ward and Valentin Hasse Clot lost several places while Dorian Boccolacci made a good start and gained a place.
As the field settled down it was obvious that Sorensen, who was under no pressure, wasn’t resting on his laurels and he opened up a small gap over Hirsiger who was battling at a distance with Boccolacci for the runner-up spot in the overall classification.
Behind the two leaders Richard and Moineault were running wheel to wheel in front of a group consisting of Boccolacci, Ruissian Denis Bulatov, Bryan Elpitiya from France, Belgian Max Defourny, Hokfelt Jr and O’Ward. Bulatov was going pedal to the metal and set the fastest time in sector 1 on lap 3 when Valentin Hasse Clot retired.
On lap 5, Hirsiger upped the pace and passed Sorensen while Boccolacci was having to fight hard because of the threat from Bulatov. O’Ward, who had lost a lot of place on lap 1, continued his stunning comeback and overtook Defourny, Vladimir Aotev and Elpitiya to take seventh place. A little further back Hugo Sugnot Darniche and English driver Harrison Newey were locked in combat.
At the start of the last third of the race, Sorensen retook the lead from Hirsiger who came under pressure from Richard and Moineault in the battle for second place. Hokfelt Jr, involved in the chaos on the first lap, was going flat out and passed several cars to break into the top 10 setting times very similar to those of the front-runners.
There was no let-up in the intensity in the closing laps and the two leaders went at it head to head, but Sorensen managed to fend off the multiple attacks by Hirsiger. Less than 3 seconds covered the leading group of Sorensen, Hirsiger, Richard, Moineault, Boccolacci and Bulatov!
There were no significant changes on the last lap and Sorensen clinched victory in the first race of the weekend. A happy Hirsiger took second position in front of Richard who brought his string of bad results to an end and achieved a well-deserved third-place finish. Thanks to his 10th place Max Defourny will start race 2 on pole (principle of the reversed grid) with Atoev who finished ninth alongside him on the front row.
Rendezvous for race 2: Saturday 25th October at 17h35.
Quotes
Lasse Sorensen: “It was a difficult race, one of the toughest of the whole season because it wasn’t easy to keep the right distance and hold on to the lead because of Felix who was right behind me. I’m delighted to have won this heat!”
Félix Hirsiger: « I could have won as I had the speed but I’m very happy with this second place, above all for the points in the championship.“
Amaury Richard: “My aim starting from third place was a top-3 finish. I managed to hold off Valentin for the whole race and it ended well. I didn’t put a foot wrong and I’m very happy to be on the podium.”
Info Auto Sport Academy / © Photo KSP