Josep María Martí: A Race in my Words

Campos Racing and Josep María Martí are a familiar combination by now and it’s a race back in his Spanish F4 days with the team that he remembers very fondly.
A weekend around MotorLand Aragón brought two poles and two victories, along with a special win for Dilano van’t Hoff, which takes on a special resonance today.
Here is how Martí recalls what he believes was his finest weekend in the series.
“The race I remember very well is in 2021, F4 Spain at MotorLand, which was Round 4. It was my best weekend of the year – two poles, two wins, one P3, almost max points, so there was a lot that was special about that weekend.
“Firstly, we had Free Practice in which I came second then first in the FPs, then went into qualifying one, I remember I got so angry because – in F4 we have two laps around the track with the tyres at full pace before the tyres dropped off and no joke, the last corner was a high-speed corner, I turn in and I had a massive snap, and I accidentally upshifted to sixth, so I had no exit speed.
“I’d been on for Pole and then the next lap I start, for some reason I couldn’t downshift well into T1, so when I went to downshift, I had to press the paddle like four or five times for two downshifts. So I turned in with a bit too much speed and couldn’t do T1 properly either.
“I got Pole with my second lap. So lap one was for Pole in Race 1 and lap two was for Pole in Race 2. On my first lap, I was 0.007s off Pole and on my second lap I was like one and a half tenths up, so I did the exact same lap just without the mistake.
“The next day, we had race one and we decided to go out on old tyres. P1 was Dilano and I remember the start, I got up to P2 behind him, so he just pulled away on his new tyres. I was sitting in P3 for the whole race after getting passed and was P3 at the end, it was a really boring race.
READ MORE: Cycling into the pool and winning at home: Getting to know the real Josep María Martí
“We got to the next day and Q2 gets cancelled because of bad weather. So they say we’ll do the grid for Race 3 based off of the fastest laps in Race 2. I’m starting on Pole, have a good start, push and get the fastest lap, secure Pole for Race 3 and win Race 2, first in an F4-spec car with Campos, so it was a really special moment, I still remember it very, very fondly.
“Then we had a lot of degradation at that track so it was all about when you pushed and when you wanted to save tyres. I remember saving for like 60 percent of the race and I had massive pace a the end, like a second per lap, so I was going to do the same saving in Race 3.
“We go into Race 3, and I start on Pole again, stay there at the start but I got pressured a bit by another guy in P2, and I was just saving tyres, sitting there holding him off knowing I can go faster, but I was sitting there waiting.
“So when I see they’re starting to struggle, I begin to push and I dropped him a second per lap. We finished P1 by like five seconds I think. So we won two races, P3 in Race 1, and the winner of that race was Dilano, so that makes it a little bit more memorable and I remember that race really, really well.
“It was a special weekend, my best weekend of F4 and I love that track, it was mega. The fact that it was my first win – it had only been half a year since Adrián’s passing, and obviously I dedicated it to him, wearing his number and the colours of the team, so that meant a lot, not just to me but for Adrián Jr also and the whole team. It was very memorable and very special. I just remember it being a very good weekend.”