Mercedes junior Guinchard takes first British F4 win at Oulton Park

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Mercedes-AMG junior driver Daniel Guinchard has scored his maiden car racing win in the second British Formula 4 race at Oulton Park.

The Argenti Motorsport driver started from fifth on the grid but made a great start to beat Carlin’s Ugo Ugochukwu into third position at the first corner while JHR Developments duo Joseph Loake and Noah Lisle both got away well from the front row.

Lisle however spun and fell to the back in the early stages. That allowed Guinchard to close within half a second on lap three of Loake, who then slowed and retired with front-left suspension damage after an unseen incident.

In clean air, Guinchard displayed excellent pace, finishing up 3.677 seconds clear as he made up for the heartbreak of losing victory to a mistake in the corresponding race at Thruxton a fortnight ago.

The Carlin trio had no answer to Guinchard’s speed, with Louis Sharp coming from seventh on the grid to repeat his second-place from race two. McLaren protege Ugochukwu completed the podium ahead of Williams junior Ollie Gray.

Championship leader Alex Dunne made up great progress from 10th on the grid to be challenging Ugochukwu on the start of lap two but found himself wide and off track exiting Old Hall, sending the Hitech driver spinning back down to 11th place. He was able to pass Adam Fitzgerald but couldn’t find a way by Ed Pearson and finished ninth.

Race result (15 laps)