Hoggard takes eighth British F4 win, Doohan wins Rookie Cup at Brands Hatch

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Johnathan Hoggard ended the 2018 British Formula 4 season with his eighth win at Brands Hatch, enough to vault him up to third in the standings.

At the front of the race Hoggard and race one winner Seb Priaulx traded fastest laps, with poleman Hoggard triumphing by 0.448 seconds. The podium followed the order of the grid with Paavo Tonteri finishing third, and taking the rookie cup win.

Champion Kiern Jewiss was set for fourth until a mistake at Graham Hill Bend allowed Ayrton Simmons and Patrik Pasma through. Pasma had made a poor start from fourth on the grid, and only just held off Jewiss for fifth in the race.

Jack Doohan finished seventh, four places ahead of Arden team-mate and fellow Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger. It was Hauger who was ahead at the start of the race, but an opportunistic lunge at Paddock Hill Bend led to both plowing into the gravel and dropping Hauger out of the points.

This was crucial in the battle for third in the standings, with Hauger unable to get back into the points and losing his championship position to Hoggard. Having reduced Doohan’s Rookie Cup lead to nine points in the previous race, he also saw that grow again, meaning the Australian won the class crown, despite scoring one less point than Hauger in the overall standings.

Jamie Sharp took a well deserved eighth place, ahead of Sulaiman and Josh Skelton.

The first half of the race ran mostly under the safety car after Sebastian Alvarez got loose on the Grand Prix loop and crashed into the barriers.

Race results (12 laps)