Jake Dalton kept alive his faint hopes of securing the 2013 BRDC Formula 4 Championship with his third win of the campaign in Round 19 at Snetterton.
Championship leader Jake Hughes had led a Lanan Racing one-two in qualifying, with his new team-mate Dalton joining him on the front row after making the switch from MGR Motorsport in the run up to the meeting.
Hughes led the field into Riches for the first time, with Dalton just fending off the advances of a quick-starting Struan Moore behind. The front two quickly edged clear at the front of the 19 car field until a slippery surface caught both drivers out at Hamilton on lap two.
While they both continued in formation, Hughes had suffered damage and this allowed Dalton a relatively straight-forward move into the lead at Montreal on lap three. With Hughes left to defend from the field behind, the leader was able to pull away and take the win by almost five seconds to cap off a superb debut with the Lanan Racing team.
“I’ve come into this weekend hoping I can turn my fortunes around, as I’ve had some disappointing results recently, and it’s nice to get back on form and take the victory again,” said Dalton.
Hughes was left to battle for his place on the podium from the pack behind. Moore pulled off a similar move to Dalton on lap seven to take second, holding the place until the finish for his first podium finish since his race win during the championship’s first trip to Snetterton in June.
A superb defensive drive from Hughes saw him hold off Charlie Robertson until the chequered flag to take third, his eighth podium of the season extending his championship advantage to 41 points over Seb Morris. Morris himself was running fifth for the majority race after gaining two places early on, however he dropped back on the final lap to cross the line eighth.
Matthew Graham benefitted to take fifth, while a fantastic drive from Matt Mason saw him work his way up from tenth on the grid to sixth at the finish on his series debut. The MGR Motorsport racer’s joy was short-lived however when he was excluded from the results after a stewards report declared he was ‘driving in a manner not compatible with general safety’, referring to an incident immediately prior to the finish line where he braked heavily with other cars around.
Morris and Mason’s demise promoted Gustavo Lima up to sixth, with Morris seventh on the final classification. Jack Barlow ended up eighth, taking pole position for race two in the process, while completing the top ten were MGR Motorsport team-mates Diego Menchaca and Pietro Fittipaldi.
Further down the order, James Fletcher found himself battling up the order after a technical infringement in qualifying saw him excluded from the results, the Team KBS racer having qualified second. Despite his best efforts, the former Formula Renault racer could only finish fifteenth, however he showed his potential with the fastest lap of the race.
2013 BRDC Formula 4 Championship Round nineteen result:
1. Jake Dalton, Lanan Racing, 10 laps
2. Struan Moore, Hillspeed, +4.831s
3. Jake Hughes, Lanan Racing, +5.885s
4. Charlie Robertson, HHC Motorsport, +6.298s
5. Matthew Graham, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +9.763s
6. Gustavo Lima, HHC Motorsport, +13.107s
7. Seb Morris, Hillspeed, +13.173s
8. Jack Barlow, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +14.816s
9. Diego Menchaca, Mark Godwin Racing, +15.112s
10. Pietro Fittipaldi, Mark Godwin Racing, +28.765s
