F4 British Championship

Leist Wins after Dramatic Crash wipes out Field

2 Mins read

It was Matheus Leist who took home his second win of the year in a race that saw multiple large incidents in the opening laps, in which all but one championship contender failed to finish inside the top nine.

Lando Norris had started on pole ahead of race one pole sitter, Leist. It was Norris who had the best getaway running off in the first turn as the rest of the cars got through Copse safely. However; the formation wouldn’t last long.

Enaam Ahmed collided with Josh Smith into Maggots, breaking the Racing Steps backed driver’s suspension. It seemed likely a safety car would be called but more chaos ensued as the cars headed towards Brooklands.

Ricky Collard, who had been fighting for fifth, hit Dan Ticktum spinning the rookie of track. Ticktum would later make contact with Collard under safety car leaving the TRS Arden with front wing damage while Ticktum retired as a result, deciding to avoid the media.

Meanwhile Rafael Martins spun as a reaction. This knocked Sandy Mitchell across the track, taking out Tarun Reddy as the rest of the field scattered to avoid the stricken cars.

The safety car was deployed as the leaders came onto their second lap. Norris, saw the carnage on the run down to Brooklands and slowed as a precaution. However; Toby Sowery in second didn’t see and wiped the leader off the track. Norris continued a lap down as Sowery retired.

All the action meant that Leist now lead the race from Colton Herta under safety car as the marshals desperately tried to remove the cars sprinkled around Brooklands.

Collard had been in third, but had sustained front wing damage and was not able to keep up with the front two. He was passed by Ahmed on the restart and limped around in fourth before the team called him in to retire. The result would have given him the lead in the championship.

Further carnage in the later stages saw James Pull knocked off by Daniel Baybutt, while they were running fourth and fifth. Leist would narrowly win from Herta, with Ahmed a distant third.

Behind the top three were mostly the back of the grid drivers who’d survived, lead by Darius Karbaley, with Norris finishing last on track, in tenth.

The result means Norris collects one point and move to eleven points in front of Collard going into the final race. While a podium finish helps Herta and Leist moves up.

Credit: Nick Smith / TheImageTeam.com
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