Dries Van Langendonck extended his British Formula 4 championship lead as he returned to action at Croft last weekend with two straightforward wins.
The Belgian looked like his enforced break from the campaign, having accumulated 12 penalty points on his licence, fired him up as he bagged a double pole to get the weekend under way.
His first race start was perfect and the Rodin driver headed away unchallenged to the flag. Chief title rival Lewis Wherrell (JHR Developments), starting in second, was passed by Ethan Jeff-Hall (Argenti Motorsport) and that was the podium settled. There were some keen battles elsewhere with Chiara Battig having to defend from Hitech team-mate Theo Palmer to earn fourth.
The partially reversed-grid second race was the first wet contest since Oulton Park last season and there was an expectation for at least one safety car intervention – but the drivers had other ideas. Jaber Alsabah had pole but he struggled on the start and dropped to third behind George Proudford-Nalder and Scott Kin Lindblom. At the front the race was every bit as settled as the weekend opener with no further changes in the top three, Proudford-Nalder securing Virtuosi’s first F4 win at Croft.
Jeff-Hall was lightning quick on the start as well, moving from sixth to fourth and he stayed there until the flag too. Eyes were on Van Langendonck and Wherrell and it was the championship leader who made the better early running to climb into sixth from 12th, with Wherrell ninth.
The finale, the 350th British F4 race, was back to fully dry conditions with Van Langendonck’s main competition seemingly coming from Battig – who maintained her pre-event testing pace by securing second on the grid, a new best for a female driver in the category.
At the front again it was great starting that was key to the end result. Van Langendonck got away cleanly with Wherrell making amends for race one by jumping into second with Ethan Lennon third ahead of Battig. Once again things at the front were relatively settled although Wherrell tried hard to keep up with the poleman.
The gap between the two see-sawed between three tenths to half a second and Wherrell came closest to putting in an attack on the last tour at the complex after the leader had a wide moment earlier in the lap at Hawthorn. Despite this, Van Langendonck secured his sixth win of the season and holds a 33-point lead heading to Silverstone. Battig came under pressure from Palmer throughout the race but held on to another fourth.
Bruised Jepp fights back for Mini glory
Jepp was in the wars at Donington Park two weeks ago, but was in the wins at Croft
Photo by: JEP
In the previous Mini Challenge Trophy round at Donington Park two weeks ago, Richard Jepp was left with bruised ribs and a badly damaged car. The Pro-Am team worked around the clock to be fit for Croft and the 41-year-old rewarded them with pole position for Sunday’s race and a double win.
Championship leader Alex Keens led the opener initially with Jepp shadowing and closely followed by Josh Selvadorai, Luca Marinoni Osborne and Matt Luff. A five-car fight ensued with a couple of three-wide moments in which all the drivers showed the greatest respect for each other. The race culminated with Jepp in front with MRM driver Selvadorai just 0.438 seconds behind, after nearly getting the lead at the hairpin, and Keens third.
Jepp made the most of pole leading into Clerveaux from Marinoni Osborne with Keens in third at the start of race two. The two awning mates tried to break the tow from Keens but were unable to do so and then a safety car intervention cancelled out any chance of another grandstand finish.
Leo Richardson hit some fluid at the end of the home straight and made contact with former Renault UK Clio Cup frontrunner James Colburn, who impressed greatly on his series debut. The latter survived but the former collected Harry Smith bringing out a caution that lasted to the flag, Jepp therefore making it two out of two from Marinoni Osborne, Keens – who again extended his points lead – and Colburn.
Rogers narrows the Sprint Challenge gap to team-mate Marshall
Two more wins for Rogers as Team Parker duo continued their Cayman domination
Photo by: JEP
Australian sim racing star Josh Rogers took two Porsche Sprint Challenge GB wins at Croft to narrow the deficit to championship leader Joe Marshall to 23 points with six races to go.
Rogers, at yet another new circuit, took pole for race one but Marshall moved ahead exiting Tower on the first lap, his task then eased as Rogers had an overheating drama and had to stop and restart the car. This dropped him to 12th as Marshall took a seventh win.
Marshall’s Team Parker Racing car then led all the way in race two but track-limit penalties totalling 15 seconds dropped him to fourth and gave team-mate Rogers a fourth win of the year.
Rogers led race three from Xentek Motorsport’s Sam Harvey as Marshall battled with Matt Kyle-Henney (Clean Racing) for third. He made a dive at Tower on lap five of 15, side to side contact forcing Kyle-Henney into retirement with steering damage. Marshall closed on Harvey but never enough to challenge.
Voisin close to Carrera Cup crown after Croft success
It’s now eight wins this year for Century Motorsport’s dominator
Photo by: JEP
Callum Voisin continued his impressive march to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB title with an eighth win in the opening Croft race, held on a damp but drying track.
Century Motorsport driver Voisin blasted into an early lead from pole that he struggled to increase thanks to two safety car periods, the first coming as title rival Will Jenkins (Team Parker Racing) slithered into the Tower tyre wall on the second lap. As the race resumed, Carl Cavers (Century) looped his car at Clervaux and hit the barriers backwards triggering another interruption.
When the race finally went green, Voisin was serene, building a gap over Stephen Jelley (Team Parker) who fell away as the road dried but preserved a Pro-Am win as Isaac Phelps (Century) took a season’s best second and Jack Sherwood (Team Parker) was third.
Sid Smith (Graves Motorsport) was on pole for the partially reversed-grid race and stormed away as Sherwood fended off Voisin for second. Voisin finally went by exiting Tower just after half distance but was too far back from Smith to attack, however he is now on the brink of securing the title next time out at Silverstone, as Phelps took third.
Smith charged clear from reversed-grid pole in race two
Photo by: JEP
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– The Autosport.com Team
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