Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Adam Al Azhari won British Formula 4’s reversed-grid race at Knockhill ahead of a charging Tommy Harfield.
There was only 10 minutes of green flag action following a lengthy safety car period instigated by a lap one incident.
Al Azhari spent most of that time pulling away at the front, until Harfield got past August Raber for second and in the final laps rapidly closed in to finish 0.947 seconds behind.
Raber had started from pole, but Al Azhari got the better launch to take the lead. Henry Joslyn had a wide moment after starting 15th, and as he returned to track he collected Alba Hurup Larsen and Thomas Bearman, eliminating all three.
The safety car was summoned, and by the time the track was cleared only nine minutes of the race remained.
Raber could not stick with Al Azhari, who gradually pulled away. Harfield intially had to put pressure on Chase Fernandez for third. He soon found a way through, then began to hunt down Raber.
He had not got particularly close before ateempting a late lunge down the inside at the chicane. Raber saw Harfield coming but there was little he could do to defend and Harfield pulled off the move to sweep past into second.
Harfield set the fastest lap following that, but could only get Al Azhari’s lead down to under a second.
Raber had multiple lock-ups in the race’s closing stages and came under pressure from Fernandez but managed to hold on to third.
James Piszcyk had been fifth when the safety car came out, making up a position due to a poor start for Theo Palmer. After the restart, he was unable to continue his move forward and came under attack from Ary Bansal. While he put up a good defence, it allowed Martin Molnar, Palmer and Rowan Campbell-Pilling to close onto the back of their fight.
Bansal eventually found a way through and Molnar attempted to follow him past. Molnar and Piszcyk ran side-by-side, but Piszcyk managed to hold him off. Late on, Piszyk had a length train of drivers behind him, running almost to the back of the field. He maintained sixth, just 0.171s ahead of Molnar.
Campbell-Pilling took eighth from Palmer, and championship leader Fionn McLaughlin completed the top 10.
Race results (20 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adam Al Azhari | Rodin Motorsport | 20m21.623s |
| 2 | Tommy Harfield | Chris Dittmann Racing | +0.947s |
| 3 | August Raber | Argenti Motorsport | +4.416s |
| 4 | Chase Fernandez | Xcel Motorsport | +4.974s |
| 5 | Ary Bansal | Fortec Motorsports | +7.416s |
| 6 | James Piszcyk | Rodin Motorsport | +8.166s |
| 7 | Martin Molnar | Virtuosi Racing | +8.337s |
| 8 | Rowan Campbell-Pilling | JHR Developments | +8.772s |
| 9 | Theo Palmer | Xcel Motorsport | +9.076s |
| 10 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | +9.641s |
| 11 | Ella Lloyd | Rodin Motorsport | +10.387s |
| 12 | Yuhao Fu | Xcel Motorsport | +10.479s |
| 13 | Ethan Jeff-Hall | Argenti Motorsport | +10.865s |
| 14 | Cole Hewetson | Xcel Motorsport | +11.173s |
| 15 | Xavier Avramides | Hitech GP | +11.719s |
| 16 | Arjen Kraling | Argenti Motorsport | +13.612s |
| 17 | Haarni Sadiq | JHR Developments | +14.985s |
| 18 | Guy Albag | Rodin Motorsport | +15.705s |
| 19 | Henry Mercier | Argenti Motorsport | +17.795s |
| 20 | Joseph Smith | Hitech GP | +21.003s |
| Ret | Thomas Bearman | Hitech GP | |
| Ret | Henry Joslyn | Fortec Motorsports | |
| Ret | Alba Hurup Larsen | Chris Dittmann Racing | |
| Fastest lap: Harfield, 48.892s
Championship standings |
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