Legitimate disappointment for Theo in Burgundy

On the fast track of Dijon-Prenois that he likes, and where he was able to be very fast during the weekend, Théo Pourchaire had a highly frustrating meeting. After a Qualifying where he suffered the first blow of bad luck despite his speed, he managed to come back to 4th in Race 1. But the young motorsport hopeful entered in the French F4 Championship then experienced two other difficult races on a track that put the tyres to the the test. The points lost may be expensive at the end of the championship.

Despite his tender age (he will celebrate his 15th birthday in August), Théo Pourchaire has brilliantly enlivened the French F4 Championship since the beginning of the season. Accustomed to winning the Junior category, he regularly races at the forefront of the general classification. In Burgundy, he hoped to continue his progression towards the lead.

“Dijon was the fourth of the seven events scheduled for 2018. That’s precisely half of the Championship,” said Theo. “This is the kind of moment that you need not to miss to stay in the right group in the Championship standings. So I was very focused on Saturday morning on completing a good Qualifying session. I managed to improve my laps until I got a time that would give me pole position. But the race management put out the red flag for an incident and did not validate my fastest time, while it was apparently completed before the flag went out. In single-seaters, the place on the starting grid is very important and I would have preferred to finish Qualifying in pole rather than in 5th position.”

A top four, then setbacks

Thanks to a fast and incisive race, Theo managed to gain a place to finish 4th. On Sunday morning, the driver from Grasse started in 7th position of Race 2, according to the reversed grid for the top 10 of the previous race. Unfortunately, the multiple French Karting Champion didn’t have a satisfactory balance at the wheel of his car. “As a safety measure, a tyre was changed, but this changed the behaviour and grip of the car, which became unstable under braking. I finished 6th, but I think a better place was possible,” says Theo.

Pourchaire remains the best of the Juniors

In Race 3, Théo Pourchaire continued to have problems. He couldn’t find the efficiency that his car had had at the start of the meeting. “The tyre wear did not allow me to attack as I wanted,” said Theo. “I especially tried to avoid the return of my rivals, because it was difficult for me to move up in the hierarchy.” In this difficult race, Theo could only save 8th position. “It was quite frustrating to see that all my rivals in the general classification scored more points than me at Dijon. I am afraid that this deficit will be difficult to recover in the last part of the season. The good thing is that I won the three Junior Championship races again, where I now have a big lead.”