The 2014 BRDC Formula 4 Winter Championship kicks off this weekend (8/9 November), with ten cars signed up to compete in the first four rounds at Snetterton.
The second annual running of the end-of-season series will see the assembled grid tackle four races around the Norfolk circuit, before competing in four more at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time.
The grid will as usual see a mix of returning drivers and new faces to the series, with F4 race-winners Gaetano di Mauro and Will Palmer heading into the event as title contenders with PetroBall Racing and HHC Motorsport respectively.
Both drivers have been quick in pre-event testing over the past two days, with Brands Hatch victor di Mauro setting the pace in wet conditions today (7 November), while Palmer topped the times in the dry yesterday around the Snetterton 300 circuit he won twice at earlier this year.
Hoping to challenge them will be fellow returnees Rodrigo Fonseca at Douglas Motorsport, SWR-Caterham F1’s Jordan Albert, and Connor Jupp who makes the switch from Meridian Racing to single-seater debutants Mectech Motorsport.
From the new faces, Alex Gill joins the series with MGR Motorsport as a potential front-runner having been a race-winner in Protyre Formula Renault, while Mexican Fernando Urrutia and Brazilian Enzo Bortoleto will be aiming to impress with SWR and PetroBall respectively.
One driver to keep an eye on will be Harri Newey, son of F1 design supremo Adrian, who made his single-seater car debut in French F4 in October. Newey will run with HHC, as will karting graduate Zubair Hoque.
The Winter Series champion will receive free entry for the 2015 main season, with runner-up and third placed drivers receiving 50 per-cent and 25 per-cent off their entry fees for next year respectively.
Newey Has Been Amongst The Drivers Clocking Up The Miles In Pre-Event Testing – Credit: ASautosport Photography
