Exactly six months after he claimed his first podium at the last race of the 2016 F4 British Championship, 15-year-old Ayrton Simmons recorded his first overall win at Brands Hatch. The TRS Arden driver started on pole for the reverse grid event and held on to claim the 25 points.
Only 15 finishers to race one on Saturday ensured that the top seven cars were reversed for the race two grid. Simmons was joined on the front row by Billy Monger, though the Ford F4 Challenge Cup driver did not remain in that position for long.
A poor start from Monger initially saw him drop back into the clutches of the highest starting Carlin car of Patrik Pasma. The Finn was not one to wait for an opportunity, immediately gaining second place.
A race long battle between Simmons and Formula Ford 1600 graduate Pasma ensued with the Arden driver eventually breaking away, winning by 4.960 seconds.
Monger would eventually cruise home to third, though lamented the missed opportunity to become the first Challenge Cup driver to win a race overall. Behind him, Logan Sargeant maintained his position for another fourth place finish.
The biggest improvement came from his teammate, as race one winner Jamie Caroline worked his way up to fifth. A strong start had seen the Pirtek driver jump one spot, before disposing of another rival at Paddock Hill bend just a few laps later.
The remaining two podium finishers from race one rounded out the top seven, with Oscar Piastri hanging on by under two tenths of a second from Alex Quinn. Rounding out the top eight was Oliver York as front-runner Linus Lundqvist once again failed to finish the race.
Caroline maintains his lead in the championship and will start on pole for the final Brands Hatch Indy race at 16:20 local time.
