Macintyre leads lights to flag for maiden British F4 win at Thruxton

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

William Macintyre led every lap of the third British Formula 4 race at Thruxton for his first series win. 

The Hitech GP driver put in a perfect performance to finish more than five seconds ahead of the rest of the field. 

His team-mate Gabriel Stilp was able to get alongside him off the line, but was unable to hold on around the outside of turn one. Instead, he settled in behind Macintyre and the two broke away from the rest of the field.

Behind them was a close battle for third. Aiden Neate was under pressure from James Piszyck, who was in turn under pressure from Louis Sharp. Neate was able to hold off Piszyck and Sharp, and closed the gap to Stilp in the race’s second half. 

Neate found a way past Stilp, but the gap to Macintyre was already insurmountable. As Sharp and Stilp battled for third, Neate broke away slightly to protect his second place, his best result of the season. 

Sharp took third from Stilp in the closing stages of the race, with Stilp dropping to fourth ahead of Piszyck.

The main battle throughout the race was the fight for what would become sixth. Kanato Le held the position for much of the time in a lonely race for the Ginetta Junior graduate, but a puncture dropped him out of contention. Daniel Guinchard moved into that position, but had Deagan Fairclough and Aqil Alibhai close behind. The order wouldn’t stay static for long, with Fairclough and Alibhai managing to find a way past Guinchard to finish sixth and seventh respectively. 

Guinchard came under pressure from team-mate Gustav Jonsson late on, but the two Chris Dittmann Racing drivers were split by series newcomer Mika Abrahams at the finish. 

Race results (17 laps)