It was a second win of the F4 British Championship weekend for Fortec Motorsports driver Johnathan Hoggard. The 16-year-old recovered from his disastrous race two performance to hold off Patrik Pasma in the closing stages.
Both Hoggard and Pasma have been the standout performers this round, with Hoggard the quickest driver on Saturday, while Pasma leaves the weekend with a podium in every race.
After an opening lap safety car, Pasma was not prepared to let Hoggard escape on a slick Knockhill circuit, remaining under a second behind him for the opening half. A brief second safety car for Sebastian Alvarez’s stricken car allowed Hoggard a chance to break on the restart.
Pasma quickly found himself under pressure from Ayrton Simmons, but after dealing with the 17-year-old, geared himself back up for a final six lap attack, closing up to within a second once again, with Hoggard holding off the charge for his fifth win of the year.
“I struggled a bit at the start as didn’t know the lines and what speed to carry into the corners, but I soon got my head down and pulled away,” said Hoggard.
Pasma and Simmons completed the podium with the latter continuing the reduce his deficit to Kiern Jewiss in the championship. Jewiss had been running third in the early stages, but pressure from Simmons saw him run wide at the chicane allowing first both his championship rivals passed on track. He’d finish fifth.
Dennis Hauger, the second driver to take advantage of Jewiss’ mistake, will be disappointed about his first race weekend without a podium. Sadly for the Norwegian, the result means he’s now out of realistic championship contention with two rounds to go.
Sixth would go to the recovering Jack Doohan, after the Australian collided with Seb Priaulx at turn 3 on the opening lap, triggering a safety car.
The top eight would be rounded out by Paavo Tonteri, concluding an anonymous weekend for the Finn, with Josh Skelton behind. Jamie Sharp, Manuel Sulaiman and Priaulx completed the race finishers.
