The 2021 Spanish F4 season starts in Spa-Francorchamps
The Belgian circuit hosted the first three races of the season on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Twenty-six drivers of twelve different nationalities, made up the largest grid in the history of the competition, which celebrates its 100th race this weekend.
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Dilano Van't Hoff leads on the first day of racing
The Dutch rider took the first two wins of the season with a strong pace in both races. Daniel Macia and Pep Martí were the Spanish presence on the podium in the first and second races respectively.
The 2021 Spanish F4 season started with two very similar races. Two races in which the safety car was present and where we could see spectacle all along the track even though the presence of the safety car reduced the real race time.
In the first race it was after a touch between Gil Molina and Oliveira when the safety car compacted the group to making a fifteen minute sprint race after only two laps of the Spa Francorchamps circuit, slowing down the race and forcing the teams to change strategy.
After the restart, the duel between the top three took all the spotlight. Alex Dunne, Dani Macia and Dilano Van’t Hoff put the race on the line in a series of manoeuvres in which the MP Motorsport driver managed to come out on top. Alongside him, only Dani Macia managed to hold his pace during the second part of the race to consolidate his second position.
As the laps went by and the race calmed down a bit in the upper zone, it was the turn of Pep Martí and Quique Bordás to put on a show on the track. Both did not achieve the best of classifications yesterday and, despite this, they showed a solid pace that led them to fight for fourth position until the last lap, when Quique Bordás managed to overtake Pep Martí to take the duel.
In the second race, the Dutch driver once again managed to climb to the top of the podium. After a start in which the safety car had to intervene once again, Dilano managed to maintain the lead despite Pep Martí’s advantage. The Spaniard, who started from fourth position, managed to take second place after a great start and started to put pressure on the rear wing of MP Motorsport, however, the advantage in the long straight of Kemmel was not enough to put the first leader of the championship in trouble.
A second race in which battles took place everywhere on the track. For the third position on the podium there was a thrilling fight from which the Mexican Jenzer driver, Santiago Ramos, managed to emerge victorious after a pace that set him apart from his closest pursuers, who were involved in battles that weighed down their passage through the second sector, giving Santiago enough of an advantage to close the podium.
The other two Spanish representatives in the championship, Quique Bordás and Daniel Macia, started from tenth and thirteenth position to finish in eighth and eleventh position after a comeback in the early stages of the race.
After the race, double winner and championship leader Dilano Van’t Hoff was satisfied with his performance today. “It was a good day for me, I hope I can repeat tomorrow’s result and take my third win. In the first race I managed to overtake after the start and kept the first position. In the second race, I tried to pull away, but when the safety car came out, the gap was reduced. Tomorrow I hope to win the third race”.
Georg Kelstrup wins the third race
The Danish MP Motorsport driver took the advantage of the restart after the first safety car to take the lead after a double overtake that allowed him the victory. Dilano Van’t Hoff, who finished second, is the first leader of the F4 Spanish championship.
As it happened yesterday in the first two races, the safety car was again the protagonist. The safety car had to come out on two times after the incidents that occurred on the first lap of the race and on the restart. Both accidents meant that the eighteen-minute race was reduced to less than three laps of competition.
The race began with one of the favourites stall at the start. Daniel Macia was unable to engage first gear and the Valencian rider stalled on the main straight. His team-mate was also unlucky, who, after a touch in the first corner, was also relegated to the back of the grid.
The safety car had to come out after an incident at turn nine, which slowed down the race for almost ten minutes, as the crew had to clean up all the gravel that was left on the track.
After the restart we saw, without a doubt, one of the overtakings of the weekend. The fight between Josep Marti and Dilano Van’t Hoff on the Kemmel straight gave Georg Kelstrup the opportunity to overtake both drivers just before the safety car came back on track due to an incident in the first corner.
With the race time expired, the safety car pitted for a final lap in which the Danish driver managed to hold off Dilano Van’t Hoff to take his first win of the season.
After the race, Georg Kelstrup was delighted with his result. “I am very happy. I want to thank the whole team for the work they have done this weekend. We’ve had two races where I couldn’t fight for podiums because I started at the back but today I started fifth and I had a good chance. It was a great race and again I would like to thank the team for everything they have done this weekend”.