F4 British Championship Rookie Cup points leader Zane Maloney says the characteristics of the Thruxton circuit means drivers are unable to push their cars flat-out where they should otherwise be able to.
The Barbadian finished second in the opening F4 round of the weekend, just nine tenths behind race winner Luke Browning.
“The thing with this track is that there’s a massive tow on the long straights,” Maloney said. “But then also in the dirty air in that massive tow you can’t go flat where you should be.
“I got close but not close enough to attack [Browning], which is really hard.”
The 15-year-old had a shaky start to the race as he dropped from second on the grid to fifth by the end of the first lap.
“I was a bit too eager at the start; I had some wheel-spin,” explained the Carlin driver.
However, a safety car to recover the stricken cars of Mario Martinez and Reema Juffali gave Maloney the chance to settle back in to the race.
“After the safety car I made up a couple of places and from then on I was just trying to pick them off one by one. I was just trying to think through every move that I was going to do and not just divebomb someone .”
Before long, Maloney had climbed back up to second place and, with Browning just inches ahead, began to pull away from those behind.
His second place finish today means Maloney will start race two from fourth on the grid, behind Josh Skelton in third, Bart Horsten in second and Sebastian Alvarez who takes reverse-grid pole.
