Denmark’s Øgaard took the lead at the start and cruised to win ahead of his teammate Martí, who also delivered a brilliant performance, in race 1. The Danish driver also stepped on top of the podium in race 3. García made it into the points-paying and Partyshev scored his best result of the season
Campos Racing has achieved extraordinary results during this weekend’s Formula 4 Spain event at Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo. Sebastian Øgaard and Pepe Martí secured an amazing 1-2 finish for the Valencia-based team on Saturday afternoon during race 1. On Sunday, Øgaard extended his streak of wins scoring his fourth race victory of the season and bringing maximum points home. Therefore, Øgaard was able to reduce the gap to leader of the standings Dilano van’t Hoff. Alex García and Oleksandr Partyshev rounded out a fantastic event for Campos Racing as the Mexican driver finished in the points and Partyshev achieved his best result of the season. Overall, it was also a pretty special tribute to our founder Adrián Campos at his home round.
On Sunday morning, Martí and Øgaard led the way for Campos Racing in FP2 with lap times of 1m33.796s and 1m33.857s, which was a powerful morale booster ahead of Q1. There, Øgaard clocked the second-fastest lap time with a personal best of 1m33.761s, behind van’t Hoff. Martí posted the 5th-fastest time with a lap of 1m33.871s, a strong qualifying result to aim at podium places later in race 1. Further adrift, Mexican García finished 16th in the timesheets with a lap time of 1m34.344s and Partyshev set to start from 20th with his lap time of 1m34.490s.
When the lights went out for race 1, Øgaard moved past pole-sitter van’t Hoff and Martí also gained a place as Vladislav Ryabov nearly stalled the car on the grid. After three cars behind the safety car to clear out the track following an off-track from Guilherme Oliveira, Øgaard pulled away immediately. Behind, van’t Hoff and Daniel Maciá got involved in a close battle in which they both made contact forcing them to pit. Martí moved up to second and both Campos Racing drivers remained unchallenged for the rest of the field. Øgaard’s pace was good enough to build a ten-second gap after 27 minutes of racing when he took the checkered flag in first place. It was his third victory of the season for the Danish young ace. Spaniard Martí kept Enric Bordás at bay and crossed the finish line in second place. García’s recovery driver rewarded him with an eighth place at the end. Partyshev also brought the car home in 14th place.
Sunday would bring more joy as Campos Racing and its drivers performed excellently once again. In race 2, the shortest of the weekend consisting of 18 minutes, Øgaard took the lead as he managed to overtake van’t Hoff at the start. Unfortunately Martí, who had lined up third on the grid, couldn’t make a good start and dropped many places. Øgaard lapped in the lead for most of the race until lap 9 when Dani Maciá, van’t Hoff and Rik Koen moved past him when the Danish driver was struggling with tire wear at the end of the race. Øgaard took the checkered flag in fourth place. Mexican García finished tenth ahead of Martí, who overtook more than ten cars following his start incident. Partyshev, with another Tatuus-Abarth of Campos Racing finished 12th.
In the afternoon, Øgaard and Martí shared row two. Øgaard made another rocket start to move past van’t Hoff and took second place right behind Filip Jenic. On the contrary, Martí lost some places at the start. After a safety car period in the opening laps, Øgaard moved into the Jenic’s slipstream at the restart and took the lead with a great move on the Serbian driver. Øgaard perfectly controlled the race and crossed the finish line as race winner. Spaniard Martí made another strong second part of race and gained several places to finish sixth and score some valuable points. Partyshev took the checkered flag in 11th place, his season’s best result. García’s race came to an early end when another driver hit him on the main straight and sent him spinning out.
With two events still to go, Øgaard and Martí sit second and third in the drivers’ standings on 172 and 130 points respectively. Similarly, Campos Racing is second in the teams’ standings with 139 points to its credit.
The sixth round of the Formula 4 Spain will take place in Jerez in two weeks’ time.
Photos: FotoCar13
