Matt Bell took a lights to flag victory in Round Five of the 2013 BRDC Formula 4 Championship at Brands Hatch.
The privateer started the race from pole position courtesy of finishing eighth in the weekend’s opening race, and the 23 year old produced a great start to lead into the Paddock Hill for the first time ahead of James Fletcher, the latter making his F4 debut with Team KBS.
Bell’s lead was up to almost two seconds when the safety car came out for the first time this season at the end of lap four, Hillspeed’s Seb Morris having crashed out on the Brabham straight following contact with Jack Barlow.
Bell executed the restart perfectly to maintain the lead and although Fletcher stayed close to his rear wing, the former Formula Renault racer couldn’t challenge for the lead, allowing Bell to take his second win of the season.
Sennan Fielding held third early on, having passed Jake Hughes on the opening tour, however he soon came under pressure from a determined Charlie Robertson. The HHC Motorsport driver had worked his way up the field from seventh on the grid, dispatching Hughes on lap thirteen.
Robertson passed his former Ginetta Junior rival a lap later for third, with Fielding’s race going from back to worse later in the lap at Surtees, with contact from Matthew Graham spinning him into retirement.
Robertson held on for his second podium of the weekend in third ahead of Hughes, while Round Four winner Jake Dalton benefitted from the Fielding/Graham incident to grab fifth, Graham having slipped to seventh behind Falco Wauer.
Diego Menchaca, Gustavo Lima and Ross Gunn completed the top ten, while impressing further back was Gosia Rdest, the Douglas Motorsport racer moving up from 20th on the grid to finish 14th.
2013 BRDC Formula 4 Championship Round five result:
1. Matt Bell, MattRBell Racing Team E-Lites, 23 laps
2. James Fletcher, Team KBS, +0.637s
3. Charlie Robertson, HHC Motorsport, +1.174s
4. Jake Hughes, Lanan Racing, +1.893s
5. Jake Dalton, Mark Godwin Racing, +2.389s
6. Falco Wauer, Team KBS, +3.974s
7. Matthew Graham, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +2.787s
8. Diego Menchaca, Mark Godwin Racing, +9.263s
9. Gustavo Lima, HHC Motorsport, +10.494s
10. Ross Gunn, Motionsport, +11.003s
