The opening rounds of the 2021 British F4 Championship saw Dougie Bolger score two top-10 points finishes in a highly competitive field. The two-day event also saw Dougie demonstrate impressive Qualifying pace and strong defensive driving in wet race conditions.
Beginning at the UK’s fastest track Thruxton, this year’s 30-round British F4 season kicked off with a bang. The weekend began with a very wet Qualifying session, in which Dougie demonstrated strong pace – ending the session in P5 and the highest qualifier of all four Carlin drivers.
As Dougie prepped for Race 1 with this strong starting position, teams debated over tyre choice on the damp track. With half the pack, including Dougie, on wets and the others on slicks, it was set to be an exciting race. Whilst the slicks eventually proved to be the better tyre choice, at first Dougie was able to hold off his competitors and maintain P5 for a good spell. When tyres started to play a part, he slipped back out of the Top-10, but quickly battled his way back into P8, overtaking some second year F4 drivers in the process. In addition to crossing the line in 8th and securing some good points, Dougie was also classified as the third fastest rookie, giving him his first taste of a podium experience.
On a strong first day of competitive racing, Dougie said:
“My debut race in cars was amazing. The conditions throughout the day were complex, but I was very happy to have Qualified 5th in the wet despite not having tested there in wet conditions. In the first race, the slick tyre group were faster, but I was able to still get some good pace on the wets and achieve a Rookie Cup podium. It was tough conditions for my debut F4 race but it was very good fun.”
The weekend’s F4 action around the 2.3 mile track continued with Race 2 around Sunday midday, which, due to a full reverse grid system, saw Dougie line up in P12, with the highly competitive JHR Developments drivers behind him. After just one lap, Dougie had fought his way up to P9 and featured in some close wheel-to-wheel racing for a number of laps. Unfortunately, towards the end of the race, the 16-year-old dropped back through the pack after some hard-fought battles, and eventually crossed the line in P14.
The third and final race of the weekend formed its grid from the second-best lap times in Saturday’s Qualifying session and meant once again that Dougie lined up in P5 in dry conditions. After a strong start Dougie was almost immediately into P4 and battling for 3rd, but a four-car incident close behind him on the final corner quickly brought out a red flag. Thankfully no one was hurt.
Although Dougie and his peers lined up for a restart once the debris was cleared, the race was then postponed in order to ensure the third BTCC race went ahead before the 6:30pm track curfew. During the one hour stoppage the heaven’s opened, resulting in very wet conditions for the eventual race restart in which all drivers lined up in their original starting positions.
Whilst the first lap was another hectic one, all drivers remained on track, and Dougie fiercely held his position in P5. On lap three he then achieved fastest lap and soon began putting pressure on Pulling in P4. A very strong overtake eventually saw him take the position, but the pack remained close behind. With at least 5 of his competitors close on his tail, Dougie put up a hard-fought defence for the entire race, eventually crossing the line in P6. He clearly demonstrated good skill in wet conditions, an ability which will only benefit him further in future rounds.
At the end of British F4’s opening weekend, Dougie concluded:
“We had many positives as well as plenty of things to learn. In the wet final wet race the visibility was poor but I was happy to be able to put in a decent performance. I look forward to working hard over the next few weeks and pushing for even better results in the next Round.”
Kieren Clark of Kokoro Performance added:
“This was a solid debut weekend for Dougie in tough conditions at Thruxton. We were particularly impressed with his pace in Qualifying and were also pleased to see that his race-craft training paid off during some tight on-track battles. The next month will be all about learning from this event and preparing for the next rounds.”
Rounds 4, 5 and 6 of the 2021 British F4 Championship certified by FIA will take place at the Snetterton 300 Circuit on 12-13 June.
Photography by Jakob Ebrey ©
