Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Mercedes junior Ethan Jeff-Hall claimed his maiden single-seater victory as he led an Argenti Motorsport one-two in the reversed-grid race at Silverstone.
Jeff-Hall made an impressive move around the outside of August Raber and Adam Al Azhari to snatch the race lead. Team-mate Raber attempted to fight back but couldn’t find a way back through and had to settle for second.
Meanwhile, of the top four in the championship standings, only Jimmy Piszcyk was within the points-paying positions early on, as problems for Fionn McLaughlin, Martin Molnar and Tommy Harfield dropped them down the order.
Al Azhari held the race lead off the line while Raber battled Joseph Smith for second. The race leader was able to escape down the road, but once Raber found a way past Smith he began to close the gap.
Raber was within half a second of Al Azhari when the safety car was brought out after Haami Sadiq put his car in the gravel.
Once racing resumed with 10 minutes remaining, Raber managed to get alongside Al Azhari and had a nose ahead. Al Azhari tried to fight back, but a move around the outside by Jeff-Hall demoted him to third. Ary Bansal then passed to put Al Azhari in fifth.
Once ahead, Jeff-Hall was able to hold off Raber. The two Argenti drivers remained close until the chequered flag, but there were no opportunities for Raber to make a move.
Bansal held off Al Azhari for third, ahead of Rowan Campbell-Pilling and Smith.
Further down the order, McLaughlin and Dries Van Langendonck both ran into problems on the opening lap. Both ran wide at Becketts and were able to get going again, but needed to come to the pits.
Just before the safety car was brought out, a wide moment for Harfield dropped him down the order and forced him to pit. He was able to get back out and recovered to finish 12th but wouldn’t take points from the race.
Molnar was the next driver to run into problems. Shortly after the track went green again, Henry Joslyn damaged his front wing, which Molnar picked up. That sent him spinning into the gravel. Molnar was also able to continue but dropped down the order after a trip to the pits.
Ella Lloyd managed to avoid the drama around her to finish seventh overall, just ahead of Piszcyk. Theo Palmer and Arjen Kraling completed the top 10.
Race results (22 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ethan Jeff-Hall | Argenti Motorsport | 20m10.347s |
| 2 | August Raber | Argenti Motorsport | +0.619s |
| 3 | Ary Bansal | Fortec Motorsports | +1.075s |
| 4 | Adam Al Azhari | Rodin Motorsport | +2.059s |
| 5 | Rowan Campbell-Pilling | JHR Developments | +2.817s |
| 6 | Joseph Smith | Hitech | +4.204s |
| 7 | Ella Lloyd | Rodin Motorsport | +5.135s |
| 8 | Jimmy Piszcyk | Rodin Motorsport | +5.769s |
| 9 | Theo Palmer | Xcel Motorsport | +5.978s |
| 10 | Arjen Kraeling | Argenti Motorsport | +6.504s |
| 11 | Thomas Bearman | Hitech | +7.108s |
| 12 | Tommy Harfield | Chris Dittmann Racing | +9.387s |
| 13 | Oleksandr Savinkov | Virtuosi Racing | +10.811s |
| 14 | Alba Larsen | Chris Dittmann Racing | +14.353s |
| 15 | Fu Yuhao | Xcel Motorsport | +14.410s |
| 16 | Xavier Avramides | Hitech | +15.918s |
| 17 | Cole Hewetson | Xcel Motorsport | +18.413s |
| 18 | Tom Ingram Hill | Fortec Motorsports | +19.739s |
| 19 | Henry Mercier | Argenti Motorsport | +20.321s |
| 20 | Dries Van Langendonck | Rodin Motorsport | |
| 21 | Charlie Edge | Chris Dittmann Racing | |
| 22 | Henry Joslyn | Fortec Motorsports | |
| 23 | Martin Molnar | Virtuosi Racing | |
| Ret | Chase Fernandez | Xcel Motorsport | |
| Ret | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech | |
| Ret | Haarni Sadiq | JHR Developments | |
| Fastest lap: Molnar, 55.167s
Championship standings |
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