The 16-year-old driver finishes 2021 third and first Spaniard overall in the F4 Spanish Championship with Campos Racing, after scoring another podium finish at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
His great performance throughout the year earned him the Most Valuable Driver of the season award, given by the championship and voted by the rest of the participants and teams.
The Spaniard also achieved his first pole position since he made his debut in cars at the beginning of the year and showed a really competitive level in the three races of the weekend.
"We were the fastest this weekend and this allowed me to consolidate the third position in the championship, which was one of my main objectives, so I am happy and satisfied with my first season in single seaters".
Pepe Martí put the finishing touch to his first single-seater season at home, at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, in a weekend where he was very competitive from Friday's free practice of the F4 Spanish Championship. In addition to achieving his first pole position in cars on Sunday, the Spaniard finished third overall in the championship -first among the Spanish drivers- and second among the rookies. He also received the Most Valuable Driver of the season award, which recognises the driver who has made the most progress during the year and for his values, rounding off a remarkable debut year for the Campos Racing team.
The 16 year old driver came into his home race eager to deliver a great performance in front of his home crowd, who came to Montmeló for the last event of the Spanish training category campaign. Right from Friday, in FP1, he made his intentions clear by finishing second, one tenth of a second off the fastest, and in FP2 he improved another three tenths to finish at the front. In qualifying 1 he was on course for pole position, when a red flag with 1:13 to go prevented him from improving, having to settle for third on the grid for race 1.
At the start on Saturday afternoon, Martí completed a sensational first few metres to take the lead and held off the push of champion Dilano Van't Hoff for almost the entire race. The intense head-to-head battle to the chequered flag gave the Spaniard his 9th podium finish of the season in front of his home crowd with a second place finish and allowed him to cut 10 points off second overall ahead of the final two rounds of the year.
However, he was forced to start 23rd in Sunday's Race 2 at midday due to the red flag in Q1, which prevented most of the favourites from setting a second flying lap. Even so, he gritted his teeth and took advantage of his great race pace to gain 11 positions and finish 12th in a real show on the Montmeló tarmac, beating his two rivals for the title on track. As if that wasn't enough, a few hours earlier, Martí had shown off in qualifying 2 to achieve his first pole position in single-seaters by almost two tenths of a second ahead of his teammate Ogaard.
In the last race of the season, the Spaniard again demonstrated his ability to overtake after dropping to seventh place after trying to pass Ogaard at the end of the main straight in the fight for the lead at the restart after an initial Safety Car. The Spaniard did not give up and managed to cross the finish line fourth to secure his place in the final top three of the 2021 F4 Spanish Championship.
"This weekend has been a bit frustrating because we were the fastest in free practice, in qualifying 1 we would have been on pole if it hadn't been for the red flag and we got pole in qualifying 2. But we didn't manage to repeat the two victories at Motorland, which were possible. Even so, I am satisfied with the podium in race 1 and the comeback in race 2, from 23rd to 12th, after overtaking the two drivers ahead of me in the championship. We were the fastest this weekend and this allowed me to consolidate third position in the championship, which was one of my main objectives, so I am very happy", says the Campos Racing driver, a team supported by Auser, official Renault and Dacia dealer and workshop of the Movento group.
"It has been a very positive season and in the end we have managed to be among those who have improved the most. Starting from scratch with a new team that hadn´t driven with this equipment before has forced us to make a big progression during these months. But we ended up being possibly the strongest team in terms of speed and taking the last pole position of the season, which in the end was something we were missing, as we had won, made podiums, but had no pole position until this weekend. The balance has been very positive and I am quite happy with how my first season in single-seaters has gone", concluded Martí, who closes his first year in the Spanish F4 with two victories, 9 podiums, in the top 3 overall, first of the Spanish drivers and with the runner-up position among the rookies. A good result that opens the door to new challenges and objectives for 2022 and an exciting career.