Privateer Bell wins first ever BRDC F4 race after two Jakes collide

Photo: BRDC F4

Privateer entry Matt Bell became the first ever winner of a BRDC Formula 4 Championship race after benefiting from a coming together between Jake Dalton and Jake Hughes as they battled over the lead at Silverstone.

Hughes had converted his strong pre-season pace into pole position during the morning’s qualifying session, but it was rival pacesetter Dalton who jumped into the lead at the start ahead of Hughes and Bell.

On lap five, Hughes made a move on Dalton at Luffield but contact was made. That allowed Bell through into a lead he maintained until taking the chequered flag at the end of lap ten.

“It feels amazing,” said the 23-year-old. “Amazing is probably not a good enough word for it to be honest with you because I still can?t believe it. It?s been a long run up to here and it?s a great start.

“The front two were obviously flat out quite early on and I was just biding my time a little bit to be honest. 20 minutes is a long race but I think I had a little bit of extra pace in me and I think we were all pretty even. I was just biding my time really and take any opportunity I could with them battling and obviously my pace was there because I set the fastest lap of the race.”

Hughes held onto second place, finishing 1.3 seconds behind Bell for Lanan Racing. Seb Morris finished in third place for Hillspeed, holding off a recovering Dalton.

Ginetta Junior champion Charlie Robertson finished in fifth place in his first ever car race, narrowly ahead of karting graduate Jack Barlow and Struan Moore. Diego Menchaca finished in eighth, clinching the reverse grid pole for race two, with Matthew Graham and Pietro Fittipaldi completing the top ten. The Brazilian driver made up 11 places after a technical infringement in qualifying forced him to start from last.

Race results