Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
James Piszcyk took his maiden British Formula 4 victory in the opening race of the weekend at Thruxton.
The race ended behind the safety car after contact between Noah Lisle and Patrick Heuzenroeder left both cars with heavy damage.
It was a lights-to-flag victory for Piszcyk, though not one that came easy to the Hitech GP driver. His team-mate William Macintyre jumped into second off the line and kept the pressure on Piszcyk throughout the race. Louis Sharp made it a three-car fight for the lead, though none of the drivers would actually swap positions.
Instead, the trio pulled away at the top of the order, while Gabriel Stilp and Aiden Neate battled for fourth.
Piszcyk was just beginning to pull away from Macintyre and Sharp when the safety car was brought out for the incident between Heuzenroeder and Lisle.
The cars couldn’t be cleared in time and Piszcyk cruised to his first victory, eclipsing his previous best finish of fifth.
Neate managed to pass Stilp after a lock-up for the rookie. He wasn’t able to close the gap to the front before the safety car appeared, and was denied the opportunity to fight for the lead.
Kanato Le and Dion Gowda spent much of the race battling for position. Gowda held eighth place early on, but Le was able to find a way through and held onto the positon until the chequered flag. Their battle brought Aqil Alibhai onto the tail of them, but the Virtuosi Racing driver couldn’t follow Le through and had to settle for eighth.
Alibhai’s countryman and championship newcomer Mika Abrahams finished 12th. After a solid qualifying performance, Abrahams stalled off the line and dropped to the back of the pack. He managed an impressive recovery drive, finishing ahead of the battling Matteo De Palo and Kai Daryanani.
Deagen Fairclough started from the pitlane after accumulating too many penalty points and finished 15th.
Sonny Smith and James Higgins completed the top 10 and rounded out the points-paying positions.
Race results (14 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Piszcyk | Hitech GP | 19m41.234s |
| 2 | William Macintyre | Hitech GP | +0.494s |
| 3 | Louis Sharp | Carlin | +1.413s |
| 4 | Aiden Neate | Fortec Motorsports | +1.838s |
| 5 | Gabriel Stilp | Hitech GP | +2.602s |
| 6 | Kanato Le | Hitech GP | +3.331s |
| 7 | Dion Gowda | Carlin | +3.929s |
| 8 | Aqil Alibhai | Virtuosi Racing | +4.295s |
| 9 | Sonny Smith | JHR Developments | +4.901s |
| 10 | James Higgins | Fortec Motorsports | +5.769s |
| 11 | Josh Irfan | Carlin | +6.097s |
| 12 | Mika Abrahams | Fortec Motorsports | +6.395s |
| 13 | Matteo De Palo | Argenti Motorsport | +6.960s |
| 14 | Kai Daryanani | Virtuosi Racing | +7.224s |
| 15 | Deagen Fairclough | JHR Developments | +8.093s |
| 16 | Gustav Jonsson | Chris Dittmann Racing | +8.856s |
| 17 | Jack Sherwood | Chris Dittmann Racing | +9.276s |
| 18 | Douwe Dedecker | Virtuosi Racing | +10.005s |
| 19 | Isaac Barashi | Argenti Motorsport | +10.850s |
| 20 | Jaden Pariat | Argenti Motorsport | +11.413s |
| 21 | Daniel Guinchard | Chris Dittmann Racing | +12.309s |
| Ret | Patrick Heuzenroeder | Argenti Motorsport | |
| Ret | Noah Lisle | Carlin | |
| Fastest lap: Piszcyk, 1m11.315s
Championship standings |
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