Gowda takes lights-to-flag British F4 Snetterton win

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Dion Gowda took a lights-to-flag victory in the final race of the British Formula 4 round at Snetterton. 

In a calmer race to end the weekend, Gowda resisted pressure from Kenato Le to take his second win of the year and close in to within six points of Louis Sharp at the top of the championship standings. 

Gowda got a good start from pole with Le close behind. Further back, there was drama as Gabriel Stilp stalled off the line after lining up fourth on the grid. The field managed to avoid the stationary Hitech car and Stilp got going as the last of the cars passed him.  

The incident meant Will Macintyre was able to jump up to fourth and was challenging Sharp for third when the safety car was brought out. 

Josh Irfan came to a stop on track with a puncture, prompting the safety car, but the incident was quickly cleared. 

Macintyre resumed his fight against Sharp on the restart, but the championship leader was able to shake him off. The top three then broke away slightly, with Gowda soaking up the pressure from Le and Sharp. 

The top three held position for the remainder of the race. In the final laps, Gowda and Le were able to break away from Sharp. Gowda didn’t put a wheel wrong, leaving Le no opportunity to overtake and securing his second win of the season. 

Sharp finished third ahead of Macintyre, who had a comfortable gap back to the battling James Piszcyk and Aiden Neate. 

Deagan Fairclough, who qualified sixth but earned two five place penalties from race two, charged up through the order. He managed to pick his way up to ninth by the safety car period, then passed James Higgins to move up to eighth.

The JHR Developments driver was putting pressure on Sonny Smith in the final laps but couldn’t find a way through and had to settle for eighth. Higgins took ninth place ahead of race two winner Aqil Alibhai. 

Race results (10 laps)