F4 Magny-Cours : First blood to Hirsiger

Anglo-Swiss Félix Hirsiger on pole led the first race at Magny-Cours from start to finish. Dane Lasse Sorensen came second consolidating his place as overall leader in the championship. Frenchman Dorian Boccolacci saw the flag in third position.

The front-runners since the start of the 2014 French F4 Championship monopolised the front rows of the grid for the first race on the circuit in the Nièvre. Félix Hirsiger on pole shared row 1 with the championship leader Lasse Sorensen. Behind them came Dorian Boccolacci and Australian Joseph Mawson in front of Valentin Hasse Clot and David Droux from Switzerland. Hirsiger made the best start and held on to first place followed by Sorensen and Boccolacci. Mexican Patricio O’Ward also made a good getaway and snatched fifth.

First time round there were no changes up front and Hirsiger had already pulled out a small lead of over a second. At the start of lap two both Simo Laaksonen from Finland and Swede Reuben Kressner made mistakes and the Finn had to retire. While the field began to string out O’Ward and Droux went head to head with the Mexican coming out on top.

With five laps gone Hirsiger was still in first place not far in front of Sorensen, while Boccolacci had to keep an eye on Mawson and Hasse Clot who posed an increasingly serious threat to the Frenchman’s third place. At the same time Droux and Russian driver Denis Bulatov were battling for seventh. As the halfway mark approached Frenchman Bryan Elpitya retired after going off in the 180° corner.
Up front Sorensen closed the gap to Hirsiger to almost nothing to try and rob him of first place. Newcomer Max Defourny from Belgium continued learning in the ropes and was in 11th place after passing Swiss Paul Hokfelt Jr.

Mawson and Hasse Clot went at it hammer and tongs and the Frenchman and the Australian tagged each other with five laps to go. The result was that Hasse Clot lost three places and fell back to seventh. This gave O’Ward fifth and he was glued to Mawson’s gearbox as Droux moved up to sixth.

As the race wound down to the flag the drivers up front held their positions. Hokfelt Jr repassed Defourny who came under threat from Valentin Moineault. But the Frenchman was overtaken by Swiss-Albanian Gjergj Haxhiu.

Thus, Hirsiger who led from the start won the first race in Burgundy. Sorensen came home second helping him consolidate his place as championship leader. Boccolacci resisted the race-long pressure of Mawson to score anothe top – 3 finish.
Frenchman Erwan Julé, who saw the flag in 10th place, will be on pole for race 2 thanks to the reversed grid. Alongside him on the front row will be Russian Denis Bulatov who finished ninth.

Rendezvous for race 2: Saturday 6th September at 17h55

Quotes
Félix Hirsiger: “Lasse and I were very close to each other on occasions and I made several mistakes. But I fought back and I stayed in front throughout race one to finish first. I know that it’ll be difficult to overtake in race two as I’m starting from tenth place, but my aim will be score the maximum number of points for the championship.“  

Info Auto Sport Academy / © Photo KSP