16-year-old Japanese racer Dougie Bolger rounded off a solid debut season in the British F4 Championship with a top-10 finish, securing fifth position overall in the Rookie Cup championship standings.
Changing teams for the final round of the 2021 British F4 season, Dougie competed with JHR Developments who led both the Driver and Teams’ championships heading into the weekend. Returning to Brands Hatch, this time on the full GP circuit, Dougie looked to emulate the pace he demonstrated at a pre-event test earlier in the week.
Dougie was quick to settle in and felt prepared for Qualifying on Saturday morning. Despite a red flag-disrupted session, Dougie was still able to put in some strong laps with one of his best unfortunately deleted due to track limits. Ultimately, he ended the session in P10, which would see him line up on the fifth row for Race 1.
In addition to a hectic Qualifying session, Saturday also saw two races for the British F4 series. In the first, Dougie would drive well to maintain his position whilst competitors battled around him. The 16-year-old drove a solid race and crossed the line in 8th after the 20 minutes had passed. The reverse grid second race, delayed and curtailed due to a tight schedule, witnessed Dougie line up in 8th.
A tricky start saw him lose out on position and drop to 10th, but by lap 4 he had regained a place into P9. Remaining here for several laps, it seemed another Top 10 finish was in sight, but sadly a potentially brilliant overtake didn’t quite come together and the change in momentum meant he dropped back into 13th position. With the shortened race he had no opportunity to gain the places back. Despite the disappointment, Dougie and team set their sights on the next race and ending the season on a high.
Saturday afternoon also saw Dougie’s team JHR Developments crowned both Team and Driver Champions.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s racing Dougie said:
“I enjoyed my first race day in the JHR. We didn’t quite get the results we hoped for but there were a lot of lessons learnt and I look forward to building upon this for tomorrow’s race. I’d also like to say congratulations to JHR and Matthew for their championship wins.”
The final race of the British F4 season took place after lunch on Sunday. Dougie would line up in 14th and looked to make up for positions lost in the previous race. As always, motorsport’s future stars provided us with some tense racing action, and the commentators actively praised Dougie for his skill in avoiding a coming-together directly in front of him. At the end of the 14 laps, Dougie was classified in a respectable 11th place.
Reflecting on his first F4 racing season, Dougie added:
“I want to say how much I appreciate all of the support given to me this year. My supporters, coaches, the championship, JHR and Carlin have been fantastic this season and I’m very grateful. Whilst the final weekend didn’t go completely to plan, I am proud of our progress this year and am thankful to race in such a competitive series.”
The 16-year-old ended his maiden F4 season fifth in the Rookie Cup standings with one overall race win, one Rookie Cup win and a further six Rookie Cup podiums.
