Fortec Motorsports showed strong race pace as the F4 British Championship travelled to Knockhill in Scotland at the weekend (August 9-11), where a post-race penalty cost the team a podium finish.
After test sessions on Wednesday and two more practice sessions on Friday, where the cars showed strong pace, qualifying on Saturday morning was disrupted by three red flags. Once the final runs were completed, Kai Daryanani was quickest out of the three drivers in 11th, whilst Alex Berg was 13th, and Nina Gademan 16th – fifth of the Rookies.
The opening race that afternoon was quickly red flagged as a car went off, which meant Kai was able to replace his nose after he took some damage. When the action resumed, Alex unfortunately had contact with another car, retiring in the gravel, while Nina made up two places to finish 14th and Kai crossed the line 11th.
The partially reversed grid race two took place on Sunday morning, with Kai starting second and almost gaining the lead in the first couple of corners, before then having to defend from the car behind. Locking a wheel, he lost momentum and slipped back to third, where he crossed the line, but frustratingly was given a track limits penalty, which demoted him to eighth.
Alex and Nina both battled hard in the midfield scrap, sadly Alex also taking a penalty after the race, while Nina was classified 11th overall and fourth of the Rookies, narrowly missing out on a podium too.
The final race took place on Sunday afternoon, with the team and drivers determined to capitalise on the race pace shown in Friday’s practice sessions. All three cars ran line astern on track for much of the contest, with Kai leading the way in 12th, Alex 13th, and Nina in 14th.
The F4 British Championship side of the team will be back in action in just two weeks’ time, as the series returns to Donington Park over August 24/25, for three races on the Grand Prix layout.
Kai Daryanani – #8
Race 1: Start – 12, Result – 11
Race 2: Start – 2, Result – 8
Race 3: Start – 11, Result – 12
Championship: 13 (50 points)
“It was a little bit more of a difficult weekend for all of us. In general, I think we made a good call in qualifying with how we did track positioning, and so that gave us a somewhat decent position in the races. I started P2 in race two, I did make a little bit of mistake, and lost one position. There’s a lot of things to improve and some big things to take away so I’ll keep working at it. We are definitely capable of being in the top three and getting podium finishes as it’s all there, so it will just be about maximising everything for myself personally in the next weekend.”
Alex Berg – #48
Race 1: Start – 14. Result – DNF
Race 2: Start – 13, Result – 15
Race 3: Start – 13, Result – 13
Championship: 16 (39 points)
“It was a difficult weekend again and hard to describe things, but it was very frustrating to say the least. Due to Knockhill’s shortness and fast corners, it meant overtaking was very difficult, and by qualifying in the midfield, we were caught up in some chaos in all three races which made it difficult to improve. I can only look forward and learn from this weekend.”
Nina Gademan – #3
Race 1: Start – 16, Result – 14
Race 2: Start – 16, Result – 11
Race 3: Start – 16, Result – 14
Championship: 20 (21 points)
Rookie Cup: 5 (140 points)
“We were struggling on Wednesday in testing, but for Friday’s practice we found some pace and were only two tenths off P1, so that was very good. In qualifying I got unlucky with red flags in the beginning and then when I was putting a lap in, I just didn’t put it together, making too many mistakes, so I finished P16. During the races we gained places every time out and we have definitely improved the car, so I can see progress which means I’m very happy still.”
