Alex Quinn netted his third British Formula 4 win of the season at Silverstone, as a sudden storm provided a dramatic finish to race one.
Quinn stole the lead from poleman and Arden team-mate Oscar Piastri at the start, and led a four car train including Oliver York and Jamie Caroline for the first half of the race.
Ayrton Simmons moved up to fifth with two dicey moves on Hampus Ericsson and Logan Sargeant, and for a short while challenged the top four.
As the race went on Quinn extended his lead, getting it to over a second just before the rain arrived.
?Very challenging last three laps,? said Quinn.
?I managed to get a good gap before that. It wasn?t easy as for the first three or 4 laps I had to defend quite heavily from Oscar. I managed to hold it together though and not do anything silly when the rain came. I?m happy with how it went.?
The rain caught out several drivers, and on the last lap Jamie Caroline span out of third place. He only lost one position though, and with Piastri losing out to York at the end, his championship lead has only been reduced by three points.
Linus Lundqvist finished sixth, benefitting from a late mistake by Sargeant to take the position.
Jonathan Hoggard finished a career best eighth, ahead of Ericsson and Patrik Pasma.
F4 debutant Harry Dyson made some strong overtakes and finished 12th, while Manuel Sulaiman was the only non-finisher due to a problem with the car.
Race 1 results (21 laps)
1 Alex Quinn Arden 20m29.835s
2 Oliver York Fortec +1.122s
3 Oscar Piastri Arden +1.748s
4 Jamie Caroline Carlin +3.164s
5 Ayrton Simmons Arden +8.921s
6 Linus Lundqvist Double R +9.027s
7 Logan Sargeant Carlin +10.021s
8 Jonathan Hoggard Fortec +10.880s
9 Hampus Ericsson Fortec +12.001s
10 Patrik Pasma Carlin +14.135s
11 Karl Massaad Double R +15.698s
12 Harry Dyson JHR Developments +19.104s
13 Jamie Sharp Sharp Motorsport +23.018s
14 Lucca Allen Falcon +23.232s
15 Sam Smelt GW Motorsport +24.535s
16 Lucas Roy Carlin +24.926s
17 Olli Caldwell Arden +26.528s
NC Manuel Sulaiman JHR Developments
Fastest Lap: Simmons, 57.165s
Championship Standings
1 Caroline 376 ??2 Piastri 304.5 ??3 Sargeant 289 ??4 Quinn 280 ??5 Lundqvist 247.5 ??6 York 233.5 ??7 Simmons 216.5 ??8 Pasma 143.5 ??9 Harry Webb 68 ??10 Massaad 66