Casper Stevenson wins British F4 scholarship at Silverstone test

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Ginetta Junior racer Casper Stevenson won the inaugural British Formula 4 scholarship in a shootout test at Silverstone today.

The 15-year-old, who raced karts until 2018, receives ?35,000 towards his first season in British F4 next year.

A total of 13 drivers were selected to run at the assessment day on Silverstone’s National layout, which doubled as a test session for championship newcomers.

Luke Whitehead, who was due to test with JHR Developments as part of the shootout, dropped out of the competition hours before the event.

Stevenson set the third quickest time of the day on the damp track for Double R Racing, being beaten only by Ginetta Junior champion James Hedley (JHR) and Christopher Lulham (Fortec Motorsports) – the latter having already raced on the circuit in F4 this year.

It was the off-track performance, as well as his speed on-track, that impressed judges about Stevenson and led to the selection of the Londoner as the championship?s first scholarship winner.

Fellow Ginetta Junior graduates Zak O?Sullivan (Carlin) and Roman Bilinski (Arden) were fourth and fifth quickest in the test.

Arden ran two drivers not competing in the scholarship process. Theo Edgerton was the quickest of the two, ending the day sixth, just 0.02s behind Bilinski, while the already signed Frederick Lubin put in the 11th quickest time.

Australian F4 competitor Christian Mansell (Carlin) and Formula Ford Festival winner Jonathan Browne (Fortec) took seventh and eighth, ahead of motorsport returnee Horatio Fitz-Simon (Fortec) and English junior karting champion Abbi Pulling (JHR).

Test results