Sebastian Gravlund had the speed but not the luck when the penultimate round of the Danish Formula 4 Championship took place at the Night Race at Padborg Park.
In practice, he was almost one and a half seconds faster than the nearest competitor, and in the qualifying session, the young Copenhagen driver maintained the pace, securing pole position for the first race. It looked like he was heading for a race win, but a gearbox issue cost him the victory with a few laps to go:
– I had a great start and built a large lead over the second-placed driver, and even though he caught up towards the end of the race, I had a comfortable lead – until I suddenly couldn’t shift gears anymore, says Sebastian Gravlund, who had to settle for second place after an impressive race.
The quota for misfortune was not exhausted yet. Early Saturday afternoon, the second race started, where Sebastian fought his way from sixth place to second, attacking the leader and defending against attacks from behind alternately. On the penultimate lap, he was hit by a puncture on the right rear tire, and from there, it was a matter of survival.
– It was just anything but optimal. I finished in seventh place, so I lost important points in the championship battle. It’s wildly frustrating, but we just have to look forward to the final race and do everything we can to move up in the field, said a disappointed Sebastian Gravlund.
And both he and Team FormulaSport lived up to the promise of doing everything they could to move up in the field in the final. Starting again from sixth place, Sebastian activated attack mode and led the field for six laps. From there, he didn’t look back and crossed the finish line as the winner with a significant lead over his teammate, Theodor Jensen.
– It was a nice conclusion to the weekend. We had the speed from start to finish, but with two technical problems, we didn’t get what we could have. The championship is probably more of a theoretical possibility now, but we must go for every single point we can get in the final race, says Sebastian, who has a couple of test days and another race in F4 Spain before the final at FDM Jyllandsringen.