Van Langendonck earns lights-to-flag Donington victory

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Dries Van Langendonck took a lights-to-flag victory in the opening race of the 2026 British Formula 4 season.

The Rodin Motorsport driver was untroubled throughout the 19-lap race and finished comfortably ahead of the rest of the field.

Ethan Jeff-Hall took the chequered flag second, but a late penalty for exceeding track limits dropped him down to ninth overall.

Van Langendonck got a good start from pole position while fellow front row starter Jarrett Clark struggled to get away. As Clark slipped backwards, Van Langendonck pulled away at the front of the field.

Jeff-Hall moved up to second and was initially able to keep pace with the McLaren-backed driver. He set the fastest lap of the race as he stayed on Van Langendonck’s tail in the opening laps, but the race leader eventually pulled away.

In his effort to keep up, Jeff-Hall exceeded track limits too many times and was given a five-second penalty. That dropped him to sixth on the corrected timings, with Theo Palmer promoted to second.

Jeff-Hall spent the remainder of the race trying to break away from those behind to minimise the damage of his penalty. He came close to catching Van Langendonck, but in the closing laps was awarded another penalty for track limit violations.

The second penalty put him eighth on the corrected timings, ahead of Adam Al Azhari who had also received a penalty.

Van Langendonck didn’t put a wheel wrong in his drive and came home 2.219 seconds clear of Palmer. 

Joseph Smith got a good start to finish up third by the chequered flag, ahead of Clark and Cash Felber.

Palmer and Smith would also receive penalties however, allowing Clark to beat them to second in the results.

George Proudford-Nalder took sixth, benefiting from a double time penalty for Scott Kin Lindblom who dropped back to 14th in the final results. Ethan Carney finished seventh.

A number of drivers fell off the track during the race, but all were able to continue. Cole Hewetson was running 12th when he ran through the gravel early in the race, dropping him down the order. Ethan Lennon made a similar mistake from ninth before Haarni Sadiq too ran into trouble. Sadiq brought out the yellow flags but was able to get the car moving again before a safety car was called.

Tommy Harfield enjoyed a good recovery drive after a difficult qualifying session, climbing up from 24th to finish 10th.

Race results (19 laps)