Sharp shines in lights-to-flag Croft British F4 win

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Louis Sharp took a lights-to-flag victory in the opening race of the British Formula 4 weekend at Croft. 

The Rodin Carlin driver put in a faultless drive to claim his third win of the season in windy conditions, securing the fastest lap in the process. 

Sharp was challenged by James Higgins off the line, but held off the Fortec Motorsport driver. It wasn’t long before Sharp was able to begin edging out a lead over his fellow front-row starter as Higgins battled to keep Will Macintyre behind him. 

Even when Higgins shook off Macintyre, he was unable to close the gap to the race leader. Sharp set multiple fastest laps on his way to the win, finishing 3.768 seconds clear of Higgins in second. 

Higgins spent the middle part of the race leading a four-car train for second, with Josh Irfan and Deagen Fairclough joining Macintyre in the battle. The four spread out in the latter stages of the race, with nobody able to make a move on the Croft circuit and the group holding positions in second through to fifth. Irfan in fourth secured the rookie victory. 

Dion Gowda took sixth after a lonely race, ahead of Mika Abrahams, who slipped backwards at the race start, then spent the remainder of the race battling to maintain his position. The train of drivers behind him grew until the chequered flag, but nobody could find a way through. Abrahams finished seventh, just ahead of James Piszcyk, Kenato Le and Gustav Jonsson. 

Race results (16 laps)