Mucke Motorsport driver Olli Caldwell drove a brilliant comeback in the final ADAC F4 race at the Nurburgring this weekend, coming back from a first corner incident to regain nine positions!
Olli Caldwell made the trip to the Eiffel mountains straight after his great performance at Snetterton in British F4, ready to get back into ADAC F4 action at the iconic Nurburgring Circuit.
Free Practice saw Olli finish the day in 12th position overall, just two tenths off 5th in the times - which saw the top 15 cars all within 0.75s of each other. From here it was clear the racing would be extremely tight and getting a clear lap in qualifying would be critical to the weekend.
In qualifying, Olli put his Mucke Motorsport ran Tatuus F4 car within 0.5s off pole position! However with how close the grid was on the shorter configuration of the Nurburgring Circuit, Olli found himself 18th fastest overall, which is where he would start the first race of the weekend.
Olli's second fastest time was good enough for 16th on the grid for the second race of the weekend.
Race one saw Olli make a good launch as the cars filtered downhill into the tight turn one. Olli emerged unscathed but was forced wide at turn two, demoting him a position to 19th. A safety car was called a lap later, as a collision ahead had resulted in a car upside down on the exit of turn four. This would later turn into a race stoppage and a red flag while the car and driver were carefully cleared from the live circuit.
The race resumed under the safety car with 15 minutes left to run, with Olli running in 19th. Olli was in a train of cars battling for 13th position for the remainder of the race, unable to find an opening in the tight pack - finishing the race in 20th position.
Race two, starting from 16th, Olli again made a clean start but was disadvantaged by being on the outside for turn one - dropping him a position to 17th at the end of the opening lap. Olli was then forced wide and onto the tarmac run off at turn one, costing him time and positions down to 21st position after he was baulked by his teammate at the final corner - blunting his speed down the start/finish straight.
Olli managed to regain composure and set back off in pursuit of his rivals. Another incident prompted red flags with 16 minutes of the race to run. As the cars once again restored order at the grid ready for the restart.
The race however was not restarted due to extensive barrier damage and timetable restrictions, meaning Olli finished 20th in the race two classification.
The third and final race of the weekend saw Olli start from 19th on the grid. Olli's progress was then blunted after being hit by a rival driver, demoting him to 26th position with a lot of work ahead of him. Nevertheless, Olli began to make up ground fast, taking 24th position by the end of the next lap and continuing to chase down his rivals in front.
Olli pounced on his rivals errors, notably as a drivers in front were making mistakes on older tyres, cutting the chicane and running wide - Olli was making good progress whilst still looking after his old tyres. Six minutes later Olli was up to 20th position and climbing.
With seven minutes to go, Olli had regained eight positions up to 18th position, as he dropped his rivals by four seconds in the process. With two laps to go, Olli has made up one final position up to 17th - which he held to the end of the race and capped off a great comeback driver - despite old tyres and a first corner incident.
Olli Caldwell "It wasn't the weekend I had hoped for with many incidents, but the last race showed we had really good pace and able to finish well. I'm looking forward to being back in the British F4 this weekend at one of my favourite circuits on the calendar."
All the action from the ADAC F4 weekend can be revisited on Olli's website here
Olli will be back in action for the third weekend in a row! This time he returns back to the F4 British Championship - Certified by FIA, powered by Ford series at Knockhill in Scotland on the 12-13 August. Olli will be aiming to take more victories in the Ford F4 Challenge Cup alongside challenging for overall podiums.