Christian Mansell holds off Roberto Faria for first British F4 win

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Christian Mansell controlled the second British Formula 4 race at Brands Hatch Indy from reversed grid pole to claim his first single-seater win.

Mansell, who also won the rookie class, was kept honest by Fortec Motorsports’ Roberto Faria throughout the race.

In the final laps, he had Faria, JHR Developments’ Abbie Pulling and Fortec’s Luke Browning all closing the gap to try to snatch the race win, but he offered no opportunities and came home 0.581s ahead of Faria.

It was mixed emotions at Carlin, as Mansell’s points-leading team-mate Zak O’Sullivan slowed midway through the race. He had been running seventh and in the train of drivers challenging Pulling for third when he suddenly dropped to the back of the field before retiring in the pits.

O’Sullivan’s title rival Luke Browning finished fourth behind Pulling, leaving him 11 points off the title lead.

Arden’s Alex Connor took fifth ahead of his team-mate Roman Bilinski, who also had his hands full fending off the charging Casper Stevenson.

Having missed both qualifying and the first race of the weekend with a mechanical problem, JHR’s James Hedley was able to climb up to ninth. He was beginning to challenge Carlin’s Matias Zagazeta for eighth in the final laps but ran out of time before he could pose a serious threat.

Stevenson’s Argenti Motorsport team-mate Nico Pino held off a race-long challenge from JHR’s Nathaneal Hodgkiss to complete the top 10.

Race results (14 laps)