Daniel Ticktum took a superb home victory at Silverstone on Saturday, fighting through from third on the grid to pass both Guanyu Zhou and Sacha Fenestraz to win for a fourth time in 2018.
The Motopark driver made a move on Zhou around the outside of Luffield on the opening lap to run second before shadowing Fenestraz until he was able to pass the Carlin driver on the Hangar Straight and into Stowe Corner.
Ticktum felt he had managed his tyres better than his rival so it was able complete the move and once there, he was untroubled until the chequered flag.
“Winning on home soil is a great feeling, I am very happy,” said Ticktum. “Today, all drivers in the top three had a similar speed, so I knew that it was going to be difficult. Therefore, I had to use every chance.
“Early on, I managed to overtake Guanyu on the outside and towards the end I benefited from the fact that Sacha’s tyres degraded.”
Ticktum recovered from dropping outside the top ten in race two to finish on the road in seventh but was handed a 1.5 second time penalty for passing Fenestraz whilst off-track which relegated him back behind the Carlin driver to eighth.
The Saturday results mean he heads into Sunday’s final race with a ten point advantage over Marcus Armstrong in the championship standings, although he maintains that his focus is purely on that race and not on possible fighting for the title.
“Now, I am leading the drivers’ standings again, but I am still working from race to race,” said Ticktum. “When I would be thinking too much about a possible title win, I would be putting myself under pressure too much.”