Josh Hill secured his first ever victory in the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain with a win in Round Four at Knockhill. With his proud father, former F1 World Champion Damon Hill, watching from the sidelines, the 19-year-old grabbed hold of the lead midway through the race and held on to record a great victory.
It was championship leader Scott Malvern who started the race on pole, with Hill's team mate Scott Pye joining him on the front row of the grid. Hill sat behind in third, with Kevin Mills Racing driver Daniel Cammish in fourth. Malvern got the jump at the start, stretching out a lead of over a second before the end of the opening lap. His lead was quickly taken away after the introduction of the safety car bunched the field back up again. The safety car was caused by Pye, whose car developed a gearbox problem on the green flag lap and gave way on the first lap, leaving him stopped at the side of the road in a dangerous position.
Malvern made a good restart, but was followed closely by Hill. With the youngster putting him under pressure, Malvern made an uncharacteristic error, locking up as they entered the hairpin. Hill jumped at the mistake, sliding past to take the lead. Behind, Cammish held a solid third place, unable to maintain the pace of the leaders but facing no pressure from behind. A battle for fourth was emerging, with Enigma Racing’s Antti Buri pressuring Fluid Motorsport's Dennis Lind, slipping through on lap 8. This pushed Lind back into the clutches of Jake Cook, with the two swapping places throughout the remainder of the race. Guest driver Garry Findlay was running a solid seventh before a mechanical problem cut his race short.
Back at the front, Hill was unable to shrug off Malvern and build a lead, with the two running nose to tail for the remainder of the race. Hill was able to cope with the demands though and came home to record his first win and first podium finish of the season. Malvern scored his fourth consecutive podium in second, to maintain his advantage at the top of the championship. Cammish rounded off the podium with his second third place finish of the year. Behind, Burri finished fourth, with Cook getting the upper hand on Lind on the final lap to come fifth. Danish driver Emil Bernstorff came an impressive seventh, working his way up from eleventh on the grid, with Scholarship Class winner Luke Williams in eighth. Fluid Motorsport's Jesse Anttila and James Tucker rounded out the top ten.
