Kanato Le wins British F4’s red flag-interrupted Oulton Park opener

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Kanato Le took his second British Formula 4 win of the season in a red flag-interrupted Oulton Park opener. 

The Hitech GP driver got the better start off the line than poleman James Higgins and jumped into the race lead. He held it through the opening lap before a crash further down the order brought out the red flags. 

Starting from pole for the restart, Le got another good get away and escaped down the road. He was untouchable throughout the race and finished 1.607 seconds clear of runner-up Aqil Alibhai. 

The red flag was brought out midway through the second lap when Gabriel Stilp and Isaac Barashi had been battling at the tail end of the order. The two made contact and Stilp was sent into the barriers at turn one. The safety car was initially brought out to clear the incident before the race was stopped. 

Higgins lined up on the front row of the grid for the restart, but was unable to challenge Le as he stalled and plummeted to the back of the order.

He then spent the race battling with William Macintyre, who also had a slow start that dropped him to the rear of the field. 

Alibhai held onto second at first from Neate, who was close behind the South African driver before a mistake sent him into the barriers in the race’s closing stages. The incident was dealt with under yellow flags. 

Deagen Fairclough ended up standing on the podium’s bottom step, having started the race in eighth place.

Louis Sharp came under pressure from Dion Gowda late on, but Gowda ran out of time before he could put up a proper challenge to his Rodin Carlin team-mate. They finished fourth and fifth, ahead of Daniel Guinchard and Patrick Heuzenroeder. 

Race results (12 laps)