A valuable experience and positive takeaways for Kota Tsuchihashi in F4 at Dijon

Some 10,000 kilometres from his home country, Kota Tsuchihashi continues to make his mark in the FIA-certified French F4 Championship, where he is proving to be one of the fastest drivers. Following Nogaro, the promising Japanese driver adapted well to the Dijon-Prenois circuit, which has hosted the French Formula 1 Grand Prix in the past.

Immediately placing 6th in the first collective practice session, he even reached 3rd place twice during this crucial day of testing. He confirmed his form with a 4th-place finish the following morning during the final Free Practice session before the official Qualifying session. Kota was therefore able to feel optimistic ahead of this crucial stage of the competition. However, the 32 drivers in the Championship run by the FFSA Academy found themselves on a track that was drying out, whilst the cars were fitted with wet tyres.

“Unfortunately, I got caught up in an incident involving a car that was returning to the track just as the line was at its fastest, so I wasn’t able to improve on the times I’d set in the first part of the session. So I had to start from the back of the grid in all three races,” the Honda Racing School Suzuka driver regretted.

After an incident at the start of Race 1 forced him to retire, Kota Tsuchihashi then staged two magnificent comebacks: moving up 12 places in both Race 2 and Race 3, finishing the latter in 12th position.

“My pace was good, I was competitive. Of course, I was hoping for a better result. It was, however, an instructive weekend; I learnt a lot and I’m now focused on my next trip to Belgium at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.”

Info Kartcom / Photo © KSP – Guillaume Veuve