Fairclough passes penalised Campbell-Pilling for eighth British F4 win

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Hitech’s Deagen Fairclough took his eighth win of the British Formula 4 season in race one at Knockhill, putting an on-track pass on a penalised Rowan Campbell-Pilling.

Fairclough had kept the lead at the original start as Argenti-run rookie Campbell-Pilling got away slowly alongside him on the front row, but the grid was reset after a red flag following an early off into the gravel for Ella Lloyd, who had started from 12th.

Perhaps trying to make up for his earlier poor launch, Campbell-Pilling jumped the standing restart, leaping into the lead only to be handed a 10-second penalty soon afterwards.

Fairclough would stay close behind Campbell-Pilling through the early laps, under no threat from Alex Ninovic behind, until Alex Berg went off on lap six and triggered a safety car.

On the first lap after the restart, Fairclough found a way past Campbell-Pilling at the final corner to take the lead on track.

Trying to minimise the impact of the penalty, Campbell-Pilling finished just half a second behind Fairclough at the chequered flag but fell to eighth in the results.

Ninovic took second with Martin Molnar of Virtuosi completing the podium of the opening race for the second round in a row.  Reza Seewooruthun was a relatively lonely fourth at the finish, while Jack Sherwood was followed by Abbi Pulling and Leo Robinson.

Race results (23 laps)