Mawson back in victory lane

Australian Joseph Mawson was back in victory lane after a masterful drive on the Jerez circuit in the first race. He finished in front of the championship leader Lasse Sorensen from Denmark who moved nearer to clinching the title. Into third came a delighted Patricio O’Ward from Mexico.

The first race of the weekend in the context of the final of the World Series by Renault was run in very hot summer-like conditions, which really tested the whole French F4 Championship field. Australian Joseph Mawson, one of the front-runners in the early part of the season, was back among the victory contenders after clinching pole.

Alongside him on the front row was Mexican Patricio O’Ward, who had come into the championship during the season and continued to progress. Behind these two came the championship leader Lasse Sorensen in third place just in front of Frenchman Valentin Moineault, very much at home on the Spanish circuit.

The race got off to an incident-free start and there were no changes in the first three. In the first corners the positions remained the same and then Dorian Boccolacci passed Moineault into fourth place before the end of the first lap. At that moment, Erwan Julé, who made a great getaway, collided with Valentin Hasse Clot and had to retire. On lap 2 the positions changed as Hasse Clot, who had started from 12th place managed to overtake Anglo-Swiss Félix Hirsiger, and got close to the top 10.

Up front Mawson opened up a big gap over his closest pursuers and put himself out of range of an attack. He was in front of O’Ward who was overtaken by Sorensen. In the mid-field Swiss Paul Hokfelt Jr overtook Swiss-Albanian Gjergj Haxhiu and Bryan Elpitiya passed Amaury Richard, who got back in front next time round. At half distance the field was well strung out and there were few position changes. Mawson was still in the lead well in front of Sorensen.

O’Ward was in an unchallenged third place followed by Boccolacci and Moineault separated by a small gap in fourth and fifth positions. Sixth place was occupied by Russian Denis Bulatov followed by Swiss driver David Droux in seventh, Finn Niclas Nylund in eighth, another Swiss Paul Hokfelt Jr in ninth and Haxhiu in tenth. A few laps from the end Swede Reuben Kressner had a technical problem and retired. There were no other changes as the race wound down to a quiet finish.

Mawson scored another victory in front of Sorensen who continued to rack up big points. He took advantage of the fact that his main rival Félix Hirsiger failed to score and tightened his stranglehold on the title. Into third came O’Ward.

Tomorrow because of the reversed grid Haxhiu will start from pole with Hokfelt Jr alongside him.

Rendezvous for race 2: Sunday 19th October at 10h20.

Quotes

Joseph Mawson: “I’m delighted to be back in the winner’s circle. From the start I got down to opening up a gap to have a more comfortable race. Even if I made a few mistakes the result speaks for itself and it’s a great victory.”

Lasse Sorensen: “It was difficult looking after my tyres during the race as it was very hot. For me the most important thing is to win the championship and I’m very happy to be on the podium and bag the points for second place.”

Patricio O’Ward: “I’m very pleased with my first top-three finish. It’s a great way to end the season for me, and I’m hoping to be on the podium in the other two races in Jerez and in those at Le Castellet!”

Info Auto Sport Academy / © Photo KSP