Stilp scores maiden win, Sharp takes one-point lead into British F4 finale

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Gabriel Stilp claimed his maiden British Formula 4 victory in a red-flagged final race at Donington Park. 

The race ended with less than four minutes on the clock when series newcomer Alvise Rodella came to a stop on track. There was not enough time to get the race going again, but enough time had passed to award full points for the race. 

Mika Abrahams put in a strong fight after starting from pole position. A poor start meant he lost the lead to Louis Sharp, but Abrahams came back at the first corner and reclaimed the position as Sharp went wide. Freddie Slater joined them to make it a three-car fight for the lead, only to run wide through the gravel and damage his front wing. 

Abrahams and Sharp were then joined by Stilp and Aqil Alibhai in a four-car fight. Stilp and Alibhai briefly passed Abrahams, only for the pole sitter to fight back to the lead.

A wide moment then dropped Abrahams back again. He tried to fight back, but was handed a 10-second penalty for a false start. 

The race was then neutralised by an incident for Josh Irfan, which prompted the safety car. 

Abrahams tried to continue the fight on the restart but dropped backwards. He was sixth when the red flag came out, but dropped to the back of the field on the corrected timings. 

Stilp held off Alibhai to take his first victory ahead of Sharp. Third was enough for Sharp to regain the championship lead, after a two-place penalty following the previous race.

Rival Will Macintyre had climbed up from outside the top 10 to finish fourth, just 0.293s behind Sharp. They head into the final round of the championship separated by only one point. 

James Higgins took sixth, ahead of James Piszcyk and Noah Lisle. Deagen Fairclough, Kenato Le and Isaac Barashi completed the top 10. 

Race result (8 laps)