Photo: Spanish F4
MP Motorsport’s Dilano van’t Hoff has dominated the first day of Spanish Formula 4 action at Algarve so far, topping free practice and qualifying.
The Dutch youngster was fastest in both practice sessions, then did the same in the two qualifying sessions as well.
In Q1 he was fastest by 0.349 seconds over Campos Racing’s Sebastian Ogaard, with everyone else more than half a second behind.
His main title rival Quique Bordas was ninth, 0.848s off van’t Hoff’s pace, while one-car operations Global Racing Service and Pinnacle Motorsport impressed as their drivers Vladislav Ryabov and Alex Dunne qualified fifth and sixth respectively.
Ryabov will start eight for race one though as he carries over a three-place grid penalty from the previous round. He will start high up in race two, where the grid is set by each driver’s second-fastest time in Q1.
Van’t Hoff claimed pole by just under a tenth of a second from Ogaard, with the second Campos car of Pepe Marti in third and Bordas an improved fourth. Ryabov will line up fifth, ahead of Teo Martin Motorsport’s Filip Jenic and MP’s Georg Kelstrup.
The gaps were bigger in Q2, as van’t Hoff ended the session with a clear margin over second place.
This time Marti bettered Ogaard for second, and he was 0.397s slower than van’t Hoff.
Ryabov was fourth, ahead of Praga F4’s Daniel Macia and MP’s Manuel Esperito Santo who was on provisional pole with four-and-a-half minutes of the session to go. Bordas again could do no better than ninth place.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Dilano van’t Hoff MP Motorsport 1m45.071s
2 Sebastian Ogaard Campos Racing +0.349s
3 Pepe Marti Campos Racing +0.549s
4 Rik Koen MP Motorsport +0.574s
5 Alex Dunne Pinnacle Motorsport +0.819s
6 Daniel Macia Praga F4 +0.825s
7 Filip Jenic Teo Martin Motorsport +0.825s
8 Vladislav Ryabov Global Racing Service +0.700s
9 Quique Bordas Praga F4 +0.848s
10 Manuel Esperito Santo MP Motorsport +0.854s
Race 2 grid
1 van’t Hoff 1m45.551s
2 Ogaard +0.091s
3 Marti +0.261s
4 Bordas +0.373s
5 Ryabov +0.377s
6 Jenic +0.407s
7 Georg Kelstrup MP Motorsport +0.438s
8 Macia +0.448s
9 Koen +0.467s
10 Esperito Santo +0.517s
Race 3 grid
1 van’t Hoff 1m44.944s
2 Marti +0.397s
3 Ogaard +0.515s
4 Ryabov +0.567s
5 Macia +0.612s
6 Esperito Santo +0.681s
7 Koen +0.842s
8 Noah Degnbol MP Motorsport +0.867s
9 Bordas +0.909s
10 Noam Abramczyck Drivex School +0.945s