Until now Štolcermanis' name was mentioned in connection with karting competitions, but as he approaches the age limit, it is time to break into the lower class formulas. Last weekend, Štolcermanis made his Formula 4 debut at the Southeast Asian Series, which took place at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. He finished sixth in the first race, fourth in the second, and third in the third race on a wet track.
In Malaysia, Stolcermanis drove for the "Prema" team, which is well-known and successful in various junior formula classes.
"In the second race, the start was not the best, I lost a few positions, but then I regained them. I would say that I needed one or two more laps to overtake the driver in front in 3rd place," the driver said about his feelings on the track.
"In the third race, it was raining very hard and for the first three laps we drove behind the safety car. When the green flag came, I got to 4th place in the first corner and a few corners later to 3rd place. The first two [drivers] were very fast, but I kept pace and kept up with them."
Štolcermanis is satisfied with what he did on the Sepang track and left the course smiling, even though he would have liked a better result.
"There was very, very much new, unknown information this week. We had to learn to understand the car, analyze it all in the detailed telemetry data and on-board video," admitted Štolcermanis. "When driving on the track, you have to look very carefully where there are any flags, because it is watched very strictly. I had a French engineer who was very good at telling me from the data where I lost time, what needs to be improved. Also from the video, he understood and was able to help with the racing lines on the track," said the 16-year-old tyro.
With the competition in Malaysia, Štolcermanis' season has now come to an end and he can already start thinking about next year.
