F4 British Championship

Norris Wins Second Race with Last Lap Lunge

2 Mins read

Lando Norris fought through the order to win the second race of the MSA Formula Weekend in Thruxton. He started tenth, but an exciting saw no driver dominate allowing the 15 year old from Glastonbury to take the lead on the final lap.

Dan Ticktum started on pole after fighting through from his poor qualifying on Saturday. Ticktum made a good start but was swamped by the driver in second; Rafael Martins. Meanwhile, Sandy Mitchell, who had dominated race one fell to ninth from seventh. It was a clean start with none of the drivers wanting to repeat the safety car from yesterday.

By the second lap, Ticktum overtook Martins to take the lead as Sennan Fielding continued his progress, getting up to tenth from sixteenth on the grid. However; the race started to get interesting as the slipstreaming allowed drivers to make a move irrespective of if they had the direct speed. While an incident between Norris, Mitchell and Ricky Collard seeing them lose positions allowing Fielding up to seventh.

With 15 minutes remaining, Ticktum lead from Martins, Colton Herta, Matheus Leist and Dan Baybutt. However; a lunge from Martins punctured Ticktum’s tyre. The leader was forced to pit and retired with further engine issues.

After losing ground Leist retook positions from Herta and Baybutt resulting in a Brazilian one-two and allowing Martins to extend his lead. With 10 minutes left, the race had no intention of slowing down as Baybutt took Leist, but it wasn’t entirely successful and found himself pushed onto the grass and fell to the back of the grid, pitting for repairs.

The incident had allowed Norris to leap up to fourth as Mitchell extended his lead further, setting the fastest lap. He had a small gap to Leist then Norris, Mitchell and Collard, with Herta falling off the pace.

Norris caught the leading Brazilians and quickly disposed of Leist and jostled for the lead with Martins before being pushed back. The ongoing fight ensured it was five car fight for the lead with Mitchell and then Collard catching up.

Leist had started to struggle with 3 minutes left and lost places to Mitchell and then Collard on the final lap. But on the last lap Norris took the lead once again as Martins lost momentum and another position to Mitchell.

Over the line, second to fifth was separated by 0.4 seconds with Norris taking the win in his Carlin car from Mitchell, Martins, Collard and Leist.

Thruxton Race 2 Result

[table id=256 /]

Credit: Nick Smith / TheImageTeam.com
1347 posts

About author
Single-Seater Specialist who worked for TCF from 2015-19. Come finding me wandering the paddock.
Articles
Related posts
F4 British Championship

Carlin dominant as Louis Sharp draws first blood

2 Mins read
Rodin Carlin were resounding leaders in the opening race of the 2023 ROKiT British F4 Championship.
F4 British Championship

Aiden Neate, Noah Lisle, and Sonny Smith complete British F4 grid

1 Mins read
Three more drivers have been added to the British F4 grid for a record-breaking 21 entries.
F4 British Championship

Gabriel Stilp finalises deal to compete in British F4 with Hitech

1 Mins read
2-time Junior X30 World Champion, Gabriel Stilp, has finalised a deal to compete with Hitech in the ROKiT F4 British Championship.