Home Formula 4British F4 Browning dominates third British F4 race at Knockhill

Browning dominates third British F4 race at Knockhill

by Bethonie Waring

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Luke Browning extended his British Formula 4 championship lead with a dominant victory in the final race at Knockhill.

The Fortec driver made a good getaway from pole to pull immediately away from Argenti’s Casper Stevenon, and once he didn’t have to worry about that attack from behind he set an imperious pace – including a new lap record – for his fifth win of the year.

He finished with 4.541s victory margin over Stevenson and the chasing Zak O’Sullivan, and now has a 38-point gap to the latter driver at the top of the standings.

Carlin’s O’Sullivan passed Arden’s Alex Connor off the line for third but struggled to close the gap to Stevenson, who kept him at arms length until a small mistake in the final laps allowed O’Sullivan to close right in. He ran out of laps before he was able to make a move, but claimed an eighth podium of the season in third.

Connor held off JHR Developments’ James Hedley to finish fourth, while Roberto Faria (Fortec) and Roman Bilinski (Arden) both had trouble-free races to finish sixth and seventh respectively.

The main battle throughout the race came in from the fight for rookie class honours.

Class points leader Christian Mansell was taken out of the fight early on after contact with JHR’s Abbi Pulling damaged his rear wing, and while the Carlin driver was able to continue to fight without the wing, he was handed the black and orange flag and forced to pit to retire. Pulling was also able to continue but came into the pits a few laps later.

Arden’s Frederick Lubin picked up the rookie race lead, running eighth overall, but had fellow rookie Rafael Villagomez right behind. Villagomez pushed Lubin hard and was able to make a move stick in the closing stages of the race for his and Fortec’s fourth rookie class win of 2020.

JHR’s Nathaneal Hodgkiss held off a late charge from Argenti driver Nico Pino to take the final point in 10th.

 

Race results (25 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Luke Browning Fortec Motorsports 20m41.836s
2 Casper Stevenson Argenti Motorsport +4.541s
3 Zak O’Sullivan Carlin +4.907s
4 Alex Connor Arden +9.306s
5 James Hedley JHR Developments +10.020s
6 Roberto Faria Fortec Motorsports +16.598s
7 Roman Bilinski Arden +18.664s
8 Rafael Villagomez Fortec Motorsports +29.800s
9 Frederick Lubin Arden +31.566s
10 Nathanael Hodgkiss JHR Developments +39.538s
11 Nico Pino Argenti Motorsport +39.816s
12 Reema Juffali Argenti Motorsport +49.822s
13 Matias Zagazeta Carlin +51.642s
Ret Abbi Pulling JHR Developments
Ret Christian Mansell Carlin
Fastest lap: Browning, 49.277s

Championship standings
1 Browning 227   2 O’Sullivan 189   3 Connor 134   4 Stevenson 132   5 Hedley 101   6 Faria 99   7 Bilinski 87   8 Mansell 71   9 Pulling 63   10 Villagomez 37