Fortec Motorsports headed to the Brands Hatch Indy circuit at the weekend (10-12 May) for the second round of the F4 British Championship.
Things started on Friday with two practice sessions and the team showed good pace. During the early stages of qualifying on Saturday morning, Kai Daryanani topped the times, but with the cars being so close he finished in 15th. Alex ran in the top ten for much of the period, but ended up in 14th, while Nina found the second set of tyres difficult, ending 20th.
On Sunday the cars lined up in P12 and P13 for Kai and Alex whilst Nina started in P17, thanks to their second fastest laps in qualifying. There was a Safety Car on the first lap due to a crash on the start line, but the drivers did well to keep it clean and because of this Alex and Kai gained two places each and Nina one.
Brands Hatch is notorious for being tricky to pass on, and this was solidified once the Safety Car made its way back into the pit lane and racing was resumed there were no overtakes and all three cars held their positions.
Kai had a good start off the line in race two which meant he was side-by-side with Alex, who was tapped by another car causing him to have oversteer and slide. Sadly, the two cars made contact and Kai went into the barriers in an unfortunate racing incident. Nina also had a good start off the line and gained positions into P15 but unfortunately, was handed a five second track limit penalty so dropped back to P20.
The team had worked hard to fix Kai’s car ready to take part in the final race of the weekend, though he struggled with traction off the line. After attempting a move on another driver, he had contact, which caused him to lose a position, but was able to bring it home in 12th.
After some unlucky incidents, going into the last race Alex had a positive mindset and was pushing for all possible overtakes, making up a couple of places on the start. From there he kept pace with the cars in front, finishing P8. Nina was able to gain a couple of positions off the line and had impressive battles to reach the chequered flag in 13th.
There are positives to take away from this weekend for the team and drivers, who are now looking ahead to the next F4 British Championship weekend which takes place at Snetterton over May 24-26.
Nina Gademan – #8
Race 1: Start – 17 Result – 16 (Rookie 6)
Race 2: Start – 20 Result – 21 (Rookie 9)
Race 3: Start – 20 Result – 13 (Rookie 5)
Championship: 20= (4 points)
Rookie Cup: 7 (28 points)
“I couldn’t put it all together in qualifying, so we were starting at the back and it’s so hard to overtake around Brands Hatch. I couldn’t get a lap together and then we went to the second set of new tyres which didn’t feel better, so I didn’t improve. We had a very good start to race one. I was planning on overtaking three cars, but two cars stalled so I had to go through the grass to avoid them and I lost a place. From there, there were no overtakes in the race.”
“Race two I had a good start and made up a couple of places to P15, but unfortunately got track limits, so I dropped back to P20. Race three I also had a decent start, got a couple of places at the beginning and finished P13 which is progress. I had a couple of battles today and I think that’s the biggest progress out of it.”
Kai Daryanani – #8
Race 1: Start – 12 Result – 10
Race 2: Start – 15 Result – DNF
Race 3: Start – 15 Result – 12
Championship: 20 (4 points)
“Qualifying was quite difficult. We had maybe two tenths that we could have optimised but just didn’t get there and that would have put us in a lot better position for the races. Two people stalled in front at the start of race one, so it was about avoiding them and getting through. I was P10 behind the Safety Car and from there it was about managing the race. I feel like there’s not a lot more we could have done. Maybe P9 would have been possible, but it was always going to be difficult to overtake.
“Race two was a bit unlucky as went round the outside of Alex and he got hit from the back and had a bit of oversteer. It was a racing incident, but I think it would have been a decent race otherwise. Race three was a bit difficult as I didn’t get a good launch coming off the line and struggled to get traction and build momentum from there. After that I went for a move on someone and had a slight bit of contact, which put me off and someone else then passed me. The main thing is just getting qualifying sorted as every single lap must be maximum attack.”
Alex Berg – #48
Race 1: Start – 13 Result – 11
Race 2: Start – 14 Result – 17
Race 3: Start – 14 Result – 8
Championship: 14 (8 points)
“We had a good car in FP1 and FP2 and personally I felt super confident. In qualifying I think there was a small bit of all of us could have improved in our driving which might have helped us gain a couple spots. The race was tough on Saturday because qualifying wasn’t all that great, but a few cars stalled on the start, so I gained two places.”
“Race two was a difficult one. I had an okay start and I ended up falling back in line behind the cars in front of me. Kai had a good start, he went around the outside of me in turn two and due to cars being tight all round, I got tapped in the rear and ended up sliding out as he was coming past me, and we went into each other.
“Brands Hatch is a difficult circuit to overtake on, so going into race three, my mentality was to have fun and I decided to really go for it as I was upset at staring at 13 cars in front of me. I made up a couple of spots on the start ended up finishing P8. I’m glad that we were able to salvage six positions, but I know that we could have been in the mix for the for the top three and I feel 100% confident that we could have won this weekend if we’d have maximised qualifying.”
