A first ever British F4 win for James Pull has put him back into F4 British Championship contention. He led away from pole in a rain affected race at Rockingham, with his win making him the ninth different victor this season.
The rain had stopped by the time the race got underway, but the track was still extremely damp. This was proved as Billy Monger, who started sixth, went off on the green flag lap. He hit a polystyrene board but was able to start the race as usual.
Polesitter Pull maintained the lead off the line, but it was Alex Quinn who made a lightning start. The rookie eventually settled into second as there was small incidents behind. The biggest gain was made by Jamie Caroline, the wet weather specialist gained eleventh places to take eighth after one lap.
It wasn’t long before disaster befell the field though as Zane Goddard and Devlin DeFrancesco were off in the second sector. DeFrancesco leaped out the car with Goddard continuing. Top six finishes were also sacrificed by Billy Monger, Romanian Petru Florescu and Frank Bird in separate incidents.
Back at the front, Pull and Quinn broke away with Max Fewtrell jumping Sennan Fielding for third. Behind them was Rafa Martins, the Brazilian spent the race moving backwards, but benefited from strong defending and incidents from other cars.
Caroline proved his start was not pure fluke by clawing his way back up the field. After making his way past Martins, he eventually demoted Fielding and chased Fewtrell. After starting eighteenth, Caroline was now after a podium though the gap proved too much for even him to close.
Standing water slowed the field as the race entered its final lap. Pull had long since left Quinn behind and celebrated his maiden British F4 win. Fewtrell would complete the podium, ensuring the third place driver extended his championship lead.
The impressive Caroline took fourth from Fielding and Martins. As for the top eight, that was rounded out by Luis Leeds and Dane Nicolai Kjaergaard. With only sixteen finishers the Fortec Motorsports driver will be pleased with reverse grid pole.
