Competition

F4 Le Mans: Mawson doubles up !

Félix Hirsiger and Joseph Mawson, the quickest drivers in qualifying, shared the front row for today’s third heat, the final one of the Sarthe weekend. The race began on a damp track, which made conditions very tricky. Hirsiger and Dorian Boccolacci made the best getaways while Mawson fluffled his start. The French driver who […]

International FFSA Academy

Félix Hirsiger and Joseph Mawson, the quickest drivers in qualifying, shared the front row for today’s third heat, the final one of the Sarthe weekend.

The race began on a damp track, which made conditions very tricky. Hirsiger and Dorian Boccolacci made the best getaways while Mawson fluffled his start. The French driver who was ninth on the grid came out of the first chicane in third place in front of Mawson and Amaury Richard! The positions at the end of the first lap were: Hirsiger in the lead from Lasse Sorensen, Boccolacci, Mawson, Richard and Bryan Elpitiya in the first six places. On lap 2 Swede Reuben Kressner went off after being tagged by another car when he was lying seventh.

On lap 4 there was a change of leadership as Sorensen overtook Hirsiger at the end of the pits straight watched by Boccolacci who was waiting to take advantage of any errors by the drivers in front of him.
Mawson and Richard, who were very much at home in the difficult conditions, closed the gap to the leading trio. A bit further back Elpitiya, winner of race 2, was in sixth spot under pressure from Russian drivers, Vladimir Aotev and Denis Bulatov. Swiss Paul Hokfelt Jr who started from last place made yet another stunning comeback, and fought his way up to ninth place just in front of Valentin Hasse-Clot rounding out the top 10.Sorensen continued to open up a gap while a ding-dong battle raged for second place between Hirsiger, Mawson, Boccolacci and Richard.

With five laps to go to the chequered flag, Mawson went into maximum attack mode and managed to snatch second place from the Frenchman after a thrilling scrap concluded by a fantastic overtaking manoeuvre. Not far from the finish Bulatov grabbed sixth from Elpitiya who then had to give way to Hokfelt Jr continuing his fight to the front along with Aotev.

In the closing laps Mawson was in a class of his own; he caught Sorensen and shot past him in masterly fashion to take the lead. Mawson was the star of the first round of the 2014 French F4 Championship winning the third race and scoring his second victory of the weekend from Sorensen and Hirsiger.

In the championship the Australian has a clear lead with 67 points from Hirsiger with 43, Boccolacci 37 and Sorensen 36. In the Junior category Hirsiger is first with 58 points.

Next rendezvous for the F4 championship contenders in the streets of Pau on 9-10-11 May, an event which all the ASA trainee drivers are really looking forward to!

Info Auto Sport Academy / © Photo KSP

Publié le 28/04/2014