The final race of the season in F4 for Dorian Boccolacci ended in style with a superb performance in race 3 which made up for mechanical problems at the beginning of the weekend. Dorian achieved his goal by finishing second in the French Championship in the International Series and won the Junior French Championship.
But before we arrived at that happy ending, the tension peaked three times at Le Castellet. The first warning was during free practice on Friday morning with an engine failure after only three laps. “It was not esay for me!” said the driver. “Everyone improved their lap on new tyres while I was still learning the track. I still managed a good time with three laps to go … “
“In race 1, I started sixth because of my second fastest time in qualifying. We were all in the same boat and there was not much of a fight. I took 5th place at the start and I kept it to the finish.”At Le Castellet, the goal was to keep Dorian in 2nd place in the Championship against Hirsiger, but the Anglo-Swiss dominated the end of the first race. Dorian was betting on race 2 and the reverse grid to increase his advantage. That’s almost what happened, especially when Hirsiger retired after a collision on the first lap. “As always in race 2, the start was heated. I avoided several skirmishes and I was determined not to take risks so as to score points in the Championship. I was in sixth position when my engine showed signs of weakness. I decided to pit instead of risking everything.” This time it was a twisted valve which required the replacement of the head of the engine.
On Sunday morning, there was only one race to go, the very last of the season and he was still ahead of Dorian Hirsiger in the standings, as well as on the starting grid with the advantage of new tyres. There was again drama complicating the situation, and Dorian’s car would not start on time and he was left alone in the paddock of the Auto Sport Academy for several minutes while all of the other competitors were already in on the pre-grid. Finally, the engineers were able to make the 4 cylinders roar and Dorian was able to reach the gate in time. With nothing to lose, he was on the attack from the lights while his opponent was last.
Dorian then realized that his car was running better than ever and overtook O’Ward for third position, the slipstream giving him the fastest lap of the race, four tenths faster than the next fastest. He decided to give it everything and closed in on Sorensen. The French driver attacked the Dane on the last lap and even passed a few hundred metres from the finish line, but the defending champion took advantage of the wide runoffs of the Paul Ricard circuit to keep 2nd place.
In any case, Dorian will finally showed he was able to outperform the best, and those more experienced than him. With a title of Vice-Champion of France in the international F4 series and the Junior Champion, the balance of the season is very positive for the young driver from the Lotus F1 Junior Team who will soon start preparing to move to a higher category.
Info Kartcom / © Photo KSP