Home Formula 4Chinese F4 Yuhao Fu wins twice, Oscar Pedersen takes Chinese F4 title at Zhuhai

Yuhao Fu wins twice, Oscar Pedersen takes Chinese F4 title at Zhuhai

by Ida Wood

Yuhao Fu won twice at Zhuhai as Oscar Pedersen wrapped up the Chinese Formula 4 title in the final race.

Kaishun Liu and Pedersen topped the two qualifying sessions to take pole for races one and three respectively.

In Q1, Liu set a 1m39.333s to lead Fu by 0.447 seconds. Pedersen was a further 0.037s behind, and Ethan Ho set 13 laps in his efforts to go fourth fastest.

Q2 was slightly faster, as a 1m39.331s lap earned Pedersen pole. Fu was 0.105s slower than him in second, Liu was 0.384s off in third and Fukang Jiang qualified fourth.

Liu quickly lost out to Fu and Pedersen at the start of race one, with Ho also getting past. Liu reclaimed a spot on lap four, and Pedersen made his way into Fu’s mirrors but was unable to attack him despite many laps following his every move.

Liu had shaken off Ho by lap seven, but they were back together on lap 10 when the safety car appeared due to Patrick Tsang and Kaiwen Yang crashing.

There were six laps to go when racing resumed, and there was a three-wide fight for fourth which Ho emerged on top of until later in the restart lap when Jiang got past. Pedersen was in Fu’s mirrors again without attacking the winner, and Liu almost kept with them. Yi Wang was sixth.

Jun Fei had reversed-grid pole for race two, but by turn two was already behind Jing Zefeng and Zhanbin Jia. He was unable to profit from Jia going off, and the top two then began battling.

Liu ended lap one with a risky move that put him into fourth ahead of Ho, he picked off Jia on lap two then took the lead into turn one on lap three. Zefeng and Jia continued to battle until a three-car crash at turn one caused a safety car period, moments after Pedersen got between them.

The field was released on lap seven and Pedersen attempted to pass Zefeng into turn one. Zefeng kept him at bay until the Swede pulled off a switchback move at turn 10, while Jia went off.

Liu escaped up the road, and Zefeng lost several more places. The race’s second half involved Pedersen reducing Liu’s lead from three seconds to one. Ho finished way ahead of Fu, and Jia had a big gap to a lengthy scrap for sixth which Wang prevailed in.

There was minimal overtaking in race three, as Pedersen converted pole into his fourth win. Liu passed Fu for second, Jiang held fourth and Wang edged ahead of Ho for fifth. Pedersen and Liu went into the finale split by 25 points, with Liu able to become champion on victory countback. The pair shared row five of the reversed grid, and Yang was on pole.

Zefeng led into turn one, and Pedersen and Liu were seventh and ninth before the safety car was called. Venom’s Yuzhe Wang pressured Zefeng for the lead on the restart, and lap five began with a three-wide lead move. Wang took the lead ahead of Fu, then the safety car returned. Liu and Pedersen were now fifth and sixth.

Liu overtook two cars at turn one on the next restart as Fu grabbed the lead, and when Liu tried to clear Jiang on the next lap he went off but it was inconsequential. Fu romped away, and Jiang resisted Liu until a diving penultimate lap pass. Juang did fight back, but to no avail, and Pedersen was crowned by finishing right behind in fourth.

Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Yuhao Fu Black Blade Racing 33m21.770s
2 Oscar Pedersen Venom Motorsport +0.787s
3 Kaishun Liu Black Blade Racing +1.469s
4 Fukang Jiang Blackjack Racing +7.548s
5 Ethan Ho Team KRC +7.953s
6 Yi Wang Champ Motorsport +9.212s
7 Jun Zhang Black Blade GP +13.415s
8 Zhanbin Jia Team KRC +21.346s
9 Jing Zefeng AdamCar Motorsport +23.651s
10 Jun Fei Geeke ACM Racing +24.185s
Pole: Liu, 1m39.333s
Fastest lap: Fu, 1m39.920s

Race 2 (17 laps)
1 Liu 33m02.188s
2 Pedersen +1.065s
3 Ho +5.730s
4 Fu +12.313s
5 Jia +16.561s
6 Yi Wang +25.431s
7 Zhang +27.965s
8 Zefeng +28.880s
9 Yuzhe Wang Venom Motorsport +29.211s
10 Fei +30.271s
FL: Pedersen, 1m39.832s

Race 3 (17 laps)
1 Pedersen 32m55.975s
2 Liu +2.025s
3 Fu +2.413s
4 Jiang +3.216s
5 Yi Wang +4.268s
6 Ho +4.621s
7 Zhang +6.669s
8 Yuzhe Wang +7.732s
9 Zefeng +9.800s
10 Kaiwen Yang Asia Racing Team +10.110s
P: Pedersen, 1m39.331s
FL: Pedersen, 1m39.844s

Race 4 (17 laps)
1 Fu 33m03.844s
2 Liu +7.391s
3 Jiang +8.006s
4 Pedersen +8.797s
5 Yuzhe Wang +14.877s
6 Yang +20.469s
7 Zefeng +23.138s
8 Patrick Tsang Champ Motorsport +24.315s
9 Zhang +28.261s
10 Jia +30.273s
FL: Fu, 1m39.678s

Championship standings
Pedersen 320   2 Liu 301   3 Jiang 237   4 Fu 131   5 Yuzhe Wang 92   6 Jia 85   7 Alex Sawer 84   8 Xizheng Huang 69   9 Ho 69   10 Yi Wang 68