Jake Hughes put his race one demons to rest by claiming his second victory of the season in the final race of the weekend at Brands Hatch.
Hughes started the race from pole position and led from start-to-finish, building up a lead of over three seconds by the end of lap two. The Lanan Racing driver controlled the gap for the remainder of the race, easing off towards the end en-route to a 1.9s win.
“This feels amazing,” said Hughes. “After yesterday and losing it on the last lap, this makes up for it! I’m happy with my weekend, I’ve secured a lot of points.”
Hughes’ fellow front row starter Jake Dalton was forced to immediately defend from his MGR team-mate Diego Menchaca. The Mexican, who started third, made his move at Surtees on lap two, with Dalton then fading with an apparent problem, finishing the lap in eighth.
As Menchaca cruised to his first podium of the season in second, Dalton’s problems promoted Matthew Graham into third, completing the Sean Walkinshaw Racing racer’s best weekend of the season so far.
Seb Morris took fourth for Hillspeed after spending the vast majority of the race fending off the attentions of James Fletcher, the Team KBS driver taking his best finish of the weekend in fifth.
Jack Barlow took sixth ahead of HHC Motorsport’s Gustavo Lima, while Luke Williams produced a superb drive to take eighth for Chris Dittmann Racing from fifteenth on the grid. Privateer James Greenway achieved his long-awaited first top ten finish in ninth, while Raoul Hyman rounded out the top ten.
Dalton meanwhile eventually finished 15th, dropping him from atop the championship into third in the points, with Hughes now holding a sixteen point advantage over Morris with nine races remaining.
2013 BRDC Formula 4 Championship Round fifteen result:
1. Jake Hughes, Lanan Racing, 14 laps
2. Diego Menchaca, Mark Godwin Racing, +1.910s
3. Matthew Graham, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +3.112s
4. Seb Morris, Hillspeed, +5.247s
5. James Fletcher, Team KBS, +5.704s
6. Jack Barlow, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +6.214s
7. Gustavo Lima, HHC Motorsport, +6.848s
8. Luke Williams, Chris Dittmann Racing, +21.646s
9. James Greenway, Privateer, +21.899s
10. Raoul Hyman, HHC Motorsport, +22.336s