Fortec Motorsports took its first victory of the season in the F4 British Championship at the weekend (June 7-9) as Alex Berg became the first Canadian to win a race in the series.
After a couple of positive free practice sessions on Friday with Kai Daryanani and Nina Gademan both in the top 10 in FP1 and Alex fifth in FP2, it was time to jump in the car for qualifying on Saturday morning.
Alex’s flying laps in the early stages put him in the top 10 and with spots of rain starting to fall on the Thruxton track, all cars pitted to put their second set of tyres on early. At the end of the session the cars finished with Alex in a respectable P7, Kai P14, and Nina P16.
It was an action packed first race to kick off the weekend with a Safety Car on lap two followed by a red flag a lap later. After the restart all three drivers were able to keep it on track as they battled their way through the pack and, after two cars were disqualified after the race for technical infringements, they finished Alex in P5, Kai in P9, and Nina claiming her first Rookie podium with P2.
Alex started race two on pole position, however contact further back in the grid caused another Safety Car and red flag. After the restart, Alex has a rocket start, and at the halfway mark of the 20-minute contest, there was another Safety Car. At the restart, Kai was battling the cars ahead, moving into 10th with a nice move. Alex drove impeccably for the entire race, taking his first win, with Kai holding 10th position, and Nina came close to another Rookie podium finishing fourth.
The final race of the weekend moved to the end of the timetable after delays to the schedule and, with the track’s curfew approaching, it started behind the Safety Car for a shortened 17 minutes in duration. After six laps, the Safety Car was called as a driver stopped on track and the race didn’t go green again meaning Alex finished P11, Kai P12, and Nina fourth of the Rookies.
There will be little time to celebrate Alex’s historic victory and Nina’s maiden Rookie podium however, as the team will be back on track this coming weekend (June 14-16) on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.
Alex Berg – #48
Race 1: Start – 11, Result – 5
Race 2: Start – 1, Result – 1
Race 3: Start – 12, Result – 11
Championship: 9 (34 points)
“Qualifying wasn’t as good as we expected but there’s nobody who can change that but myself. I was given a good car and I didn’t maximise what I should have, so the goal was a P6 finish. I was a little lucky where I placed the car to end up finishing P5 in race one.
“After getting the first win at Donington removed from me it was really nice to get redemption. It was difficult, but a good result and kept me on my toes throughout the entire race. Race three was a little bit of a compromise because we didn’t have a real start and we didn’t have a real finish either. I got put in an awkward spot and maybe misjudged some speeds on the restart. It’s just really nice to call myself a British F4 race winner and the first Canadian to do so.”
Kai Daryanani – #8
Race 1: Start – 14, Result – 9
Race 2: Start – 14, Result – 10
Race 3: Start – 14, Result – 12
Championship: 16 (21 points)
“Qualifying was a struggle. I think we could have optimised maybe two or three tenths but looking at the data I know what I needed to do next time. The first race was decent. We could have been seventh but finished ninth. There are a couple of things we could have done better, but overall, it was a decent race.
“It was nice to have put on a good move in the last corner of race two and we finished in the top 10 which is a solid result. We didn’t really have a final race due to the Safety Car, but it was still a good result, and I am looking forward to racing at Silverstone.”
Nina Gademan – #3
Race 1: Start – 16, Result – 13 (Rookie 2)
Race 2: Start – 16, Result – 14 (Rookie 4)
Race 3: Start – 16, Result – 14 (Rookie 4)
Championship: 21 (13 points)
Rookie Cup:5 (85 points)
“I didn’t put the lap together in qualifying, so when I went for my fastest lap the peak of the tyres had already gone. I got to two pretty good starts in the first race, but I wasn’t smart with positioning. This is my first-time racing with high speed and with downforce, so it was quite new for me on the back of someone at 240 kph going through a corner.
“I overtook some cars in race two which was good and then we had a Safety Car which was unfortunate as I was closing the gap. Then I made a silly mistake, and I lost a couple of places so that was quite unfortunate. Race three I had contact on the first lap which I couldn’t do anything about, but I know what I need to improve for next weekend in Silverstone.”
