Home Formula 4British F4 O’Sullivan wins from charging Hedley at Snetterton to close on British F4 lead

O’Sullivan wins from charging Hedley at Snetterton to close on British F4 lead

by Peter Allen

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Zak O’Sullivan cut Luke Browning’s British Formula 4 lead to three points with victory in race one at Snetterton ahead of a charging James Hedley.

Browning kept the lead from pole position at the start, but his advantage over O’Sullivan was just 0.192 seconds at the end of the first lap.

Carlin driver O’Sullivan found a way past his Fortec-run rival before they got to the back straight on lap two, and Browning was quickly shuffled down the order – crossing the line at the end of the lap side-by-side with Christian Mansell for fourth place.

Alex Connor moved up into second place while Hedley climbed to third having started down in ninth on the grid. Connor then spun at Nelson on lap three and dropped to the back, promoting JHR Developments driver Hedley into second.

O’Sullivan now had a 1.5-second advantage up front, and although Hedley managed to reduce that, the leader held on to clinch his seventh win of the season.

Having managed to edge back in front of Mansell, Browning took third, ensuring he remains out front in the championship.

Mansell held off Abbi Pulling and Casper Stevenson to take fourth, with Pulling putting a move on championship contender Stevenson in the middle of the race to demote the Argenti Motorsport driver to sixth.

Connor recovered to ninth in the end after setting the fastest lap, just behind his Arden team-mates Roman Bilinski and Frederick Lubin.

Race results (11 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Zak O’Sullivan Carlin 21m21.033s
2 James Hedley JHR Developments +0.830s
3 Luke Browning Fortec Motorsports +3.831s
4 Christian Mansell Carlin +9.301s
5 Abbi Pulling JHR Developments +9.554s
6 Casper Stevenson Argenti Motorsport +10.046s
7 Roman Bilinski Arden +13.825s
8 Frederick Lubin Arden +14.917s
9 Alex Connor Arden +15.975s
10 Reema Juffali Argenti Motorsport +16.437s
11 Rafael Villagomez Fortec Motorsports +17.927s
12 Matias Zagazeta Carlin +19.210s
Fastest lap: Connor, 1m54.328s

Championship standings
1 Browning 329   2 O’Sullivan 326   3 Stevenson 289   4 Hedley 238   5 Connor 217   6 Pulling 146   7 Mansell 121   8 Bilinski 127   9 Roberto Faria 99   10 Lubin 81