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Parth Ghorpade, 17 year old Kolhapur lad, India, recently completed his participation in Round 5 of the Renault F4 Championship at the legendary F1 circuit at Spa, Belgium, an honor which only few racing drivers of his age have.

With a high spirit of acquiring a worthy grid position in the qualifying session of the fifth round, Parth was bit unlucky as his car got hit from the rear during the practice sessions itself following to handling problems. It hampered his chances of making it to top ten on the starting line. He was way back on 18^th position in the grid; his car did see some important setup changes at the 1^st race eve.

At first it seemed like a promising start for him as he moved steadily from P18 to P15 within 2 laps of race 1 and an excellent double over taking maneuver. But gradually while attempting a pass over the next at the “Les Combes” - chicane on Lap 3, the car which was ahead of his lost control and thus in an attempt to avoid a collision, Parth was hit from behind by Spanish drive Suarez. It led to losing his rear wing once again, that led to his first DNF (Did Not Finish) in the series.

Race 2 was like a revision for Ghorpade in terms of strategy and expectations, especially after his first race. But unstable weather conditions which is always one of the important features of Spa, the 2^nd race of the fifth round was disturbed by rain showers which immediately changed the race dynamics suddenly.

Though even after first experience of wet race, he displayed a great confidence as he quickly moved up the order in the 2^nd race to P15. After being restricted to slower running speeds by a car ahead of him, he got that the midfield pack was extremely ahead in the race. As due to his first wet race experience, he didn’t took any risk and finished in the same position.

Parth while speaking about his experience in racing at Spa for the first time, said, “The track conditions were unpredictable and we were changing our setup every now and then. It was a very special experience driving on this legendary Formula 1 track. I had some bad luck in Race 1 where I had pace for a Top 10, but unfortunately I got hit from behind and had to retire. Race 2 was a good learning curve since I had little experience in the wet and have never raced this car in wet conditions. I hope to be stronger in the next race and look forward to another points finish. I’m grateful to my sponsors, Karvy, Amaron and Flameback for the continuous support.” Though, last 2 races may have been problematic but this young chap is very confident about the next round, (Rouind 6) of the Renault F4 Championship which is about to take place at the 70 year old Circuit d’Albi, in the South France on 3rd & 4th September.