Sebastian Priaulx claimed a lights to flag victory in the first British Formula 4 race of the weekend while Ayrton Simmons narrowly closed the gap to championship leader Kiren Jewiss.
After taking the first pole of the season, Priaulx made a strong get away to pull away from the rest of the field. He spent the first half of the race building a small gap to Jonathan Hoggard, setting fastest lap of the race in the procress, to finish just over two seconds ahead of the Fortec racer.
Paavo Tonteri completed the podium, finishing just ahead of fellow Finn Patrick Pasma.
Points leader Jewiss started ahead of Simmons, but the JHR Development driver made the better start. Jewiss spent the remainder of the race trying to find a way past Simmons, but Simmons put up a strong defence to take fifth.
It wasn’t enough to keep the third-year driver in the title fight. Simmons cut Jewiss’ lead by just two points but, with only 50 points remaining, it wasn’t enough to keep his championship hopes alive.
Red Bull juniors Dennis Hauger and Jack Doohan took seventh and eighth, ahead of Luca Allen and Sebastian Alvarez.
