Spanish Formula 4 Championship: Quique Bordas and Dilano Van’t Hoff win on day two in Navarra

The Dutch driver Dilano Van’t Hoff, the championship leader, took the second long race of the weekend, while the Spaniard topped the short race for his second win of the season.

The importance of starting on the odd-numbered side of the grid was once again evident in the second race. The vast majority of the drivers in the most favourable zone for the first corner came back to the fore on the first lap, as was the case with Dani Maciá. The Spanish Formula of Champions driver, who started from third position, took advantage of the slipstream of his teammate Quique Bordas, poleman of the race, to strangle in the first corner a Dilano Van’t Hoff who was forced to go off the track, being relegated to fifth position. Noah Dengbol also took advantage of his teammate’s bad start to move up to third.

Dani Maciá’s good start allowed him to put his teammate in trouble during the first lap, threatening the first position of Quique Bordas. A fight that, however, could only last for twelve corners, the time it took for the safety car to reappear on track. An incident between several cars at the back of the grid left Santiago Trisini out of the race after he was unable to avoid two cars that were in the middle of the track after having touched a second before.

With the group compact and just five minutes to go, the race was restarted and a five-minute sprint ensued in which the three leading drivers had a comfortable lead over their closest pursuers. Even championship leader Dilano Van’t Hoff was unable to keep up with the two Formula Champions cars and his teammate Noah Degnbol, who was on the podium for the first time this season.

After more than two hours of rest, the action returned to the circuit with the second of the long races in Navarra. A third race in which, as in the second, Quique Bordas defended his first position from the attacks of Dilano Van’t Hoff and Noah Degnbol until the safety car came out with a pace that no driver could follow. A two-second lead over the chasing group vanished with seven minutes to go before the end of the race.

An accident of Georg Kelstrup, who was riding from the back of the grid after an engine failure in qualifying, forced the safety car to come out for the second time this weekend, reducing the lead achieved by Quique Bordas, who had distanced himself by more than two seconds from the chasing group.

It was after the restart when the Spanish Formula of Champions driver, who had once again built up a solid lead to take the win, suffered an engine failure that forced him to retire from the race, thus losing his chances of having won all three races held this weekend.

A breakdown gave Dilano Van’t Hoff a free run for his third win of the season, extending his lead at the top of the championship, where he is the clear leader with five podiums in six races.

His closest challenger in the standings before the second round, Pepe Martí, made a mistake in qualifying which relegated him to 20th position on the grid, a situation which the Spanish Campos driver managed to overcome with a great comeback to ninth place, scoring his first two points of the weekend. Also making a great comeback in the second feature race of the weekend was Daniel Maciá, who started from tenth position and was just outside the podium after making five on-track overtakes, including a duel with Oliveira before he was involved in an accident with Ryabov.

At the end of the second race, Dilano Van’t Hoff wanted to highlight the work of Quique Bordas throughout the weekend, acknowledging his great pace in all the races. “Today we were lucky, Quique was going to win the race, he had a better rhythm and he had done a great job during the whole weekend. Races are like that, I am very happy to take my third win and extend my lead in the championship. In Portimao I hope for at least a top three finish in every race, it would be a good weekend”.