Dempsey Clinches Chinese F4 Title for John O’Hara’s Pinnacle Motorsport

Jordan Dempsey and the Irish licenced Pinnacle Motorsport have finally concluded their dominant run in the FIA F4 Chinese Championship by clinching the driver’s title. The young Irishman had a 20 point lead coming into the season finale last October 13 – 14 at the Ningbo International Speedpark. There, he took a race win and podium finish to be crowned the 2018 champion with one race to spare.

The current Motorsport Ireland Young Driver of the Year was quickest in Free Practice and then carried his strong pace into Qualifying where he took pole for Saturday’s race.

A lightning start in the opening race saw the 18-year-old pull away from the pack and build a sizable lead. He was unchallenged throughout the 14-lap race and had an advantage of over 5 seconds by the time he reached the finish line to take a dominant victory. This further extended his points lead and left Jordan only needing a podium to seal the championship.

A poor start in Race 2 however, dropped Dempsey down to fourth, just one place away from taking the title. Unwilling to give up, he clawed his way back up to second and even challenged for the lead. The Irishman eventually took the chequered flag in 2nd place to be crowned the 2018 FIA F4 Chinese champion.

The race weekend’s drama continued into Race 3 where Dempsey would run into technical problems on the grid. This forced him to start from the pit lane and play catch up. His willingness to end the year on a high got him as high up as P3 before he was involved in a collision that lost him several places. Undeterred, he fought his way through the field to wrap up Pinnacle Motorsport’s successful season with a 3rd place finish.

Accompanying Pinnacle Motorsport on their FIA F4 Chinese Championship campaign are partners Motorsport Ireland and P1 Racewear.

Jordan Dempsey: “Fantastic weekend and a fantastic year! I can’t thank all the guys at Pinnacle Motorsport enough. They’ve done such a fantastic job every weekend and it shows in the results. Also thanks to Tim and Rosalee at TBRM, Digital Planet, Motorsport Ireland, Sport Ireland and Team Ireland.”

John O’Hara, Team Director: “I’m really happy for Jordan and the entire team at Pinnacle Motorsport for taking the 2018 championship. We saw Jordan’s raw talent and knew he could be a title contender early on. The team just made sure we gave him the best car at every race weekend. Everyone worked hard for this and congratulations to the entire team.”
The FIA F4 Chinese Championship is a junior single-seater series that caters to young drivers who are moving up from karting to F4, F3, F2, and eventually to F1. It is designed to keep costs down while providing an ideal learning tool. Drivers also earn points towards an FIA Super License. Know more about the FIA F4 Chinese Championship by visiting www.fiaf4.com.cn.

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