Carlin new boy Roman Bilinski was quick to stake his claim for British F4 championship honours this season with the fastest time at Silverstone for the official 2021 season opening test, with the second season driver setting a 55.616 in the afternoon session to lead James Hedley, rookies Edoardo Coseteng and Mckenzy Cresswell and Matias Zagazeta by less than tenth of a second around the national circuit.
On another busy day of testing with 18 cars on track and a total of 1,955 laps completed, the new drivers and second year drivers are now coming fully up to speed as we rapidly approach the season opening race at the high speed Thruxton at the beginning of May.
It was a strong day for the rookies, with three of them in the top ten and setting some very competitive lap times. Filipino driver Edoardo Coseteng was third fastest for Argenti Motorsport, notching up 88 laps on the day and setting the benchmark within the team that also includes highly fancied second year driver, Matias Zagazeta. JHR Developments’ fastest time came from rookie Mckenzy Cresswell, who had a standout day – setting the fourth fastest time as well as lapping 132 times.
Thomas Ikin was also Arden Motorsport’s fastest driver of the day, with the British rookie racking up the miles in sixth place, and another JHR rookie in Matthew Rees setting the ninth fastest lap and completing 127 laps. Overall a very solid day for all first year drivers as they look to get up to speed.
The majority of the fastest times came in the afternoon session as the track began to rubber up, and it was only the second season drivers of Matias Zagazeta and Abbi Pulling that set their fastest times of the day in the morning session in fifth and seventh respectively.
Further down the field we had Thai driver Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak in eleventh, who will be looking to bring his podium finishing form from the recent F4 UAE Championship over to the UK for Carlin. Swedish hopeful Joel Granfors was twelfth for Fortec Motorsport, setting the least amount of laps in the morning session with 26, but more than made up for it after lunch with 76 laps and finishing within two and a half tenths after fastest man Bilinski.
Rookies Kai Askey, Oliver Gray, Marcos Flack and Dougie Bolger were inseparable from thirteenth to sixteenth, with just two tenths covering the four of them. Georgi Dimitrov and Nikolas Taylor rounded out the field with some representable running and competitive lap times that left the whole grid separated by just six tenths as we enter what appears to be one of the closest British F4 campaigns to date.
The 2021 F4 British Championship season begins at the high-speed Thruxton in Hampshire over the 08-09 May.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roman Bilinski | Carlin | 55.616 | 95 Laps |
| 2 | James Hedley | TBC | 55.648 | 88 Laps |
| 3 | Edoardo Coseteng (R) | Argenti Motorsport | 55.667 | 100 Laps |
| 4 | Mckenzy Cresswell (R) | JHR Developments | 55.675 | 132 Laps |
| 5 | Matias Zagazeta | Argenti Motorsport | 55.689 | 102 Laps |
| 6 | Thomas Ikin (R) | Arden Motorsport | 55.718 | 134 Laps |
| 7 | Abbi Pulling | JHR Developments | 55.732 | 48 Laps |
| 8 | Zak Taylor | Arden Motorsport | 55.741 | 123 Laps |
| 9 | Matthew Rees (R) | JHR Developments | 55.790 | 127 Laps |
| 10 | Joseph Loake | JHR Developments | 55.795 | 123 Laps |
| 11 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | Carlin | 55.842 | 111 Laps |
| 12 | Joel Granfors | Fortec Motorsport | 55.866 | 102 Laps |
| 13 | Kai Askey (R) | Carlin | 55.890 | 119 Laps |
| 14 | Oliver Gray (R) | Fortec Motorsport | 56.031 | 108 Laps |
| 15 | Marcos Flack (R) | Argenti Motorsport | 56.054 | 94 Laps |
| 16 | Dougie Bolger (R) | Carlin | 56.114 | 114 Laps |
| 17 | Georgi Dimitrov | Richardson Racing | 56.167 | 103 Laps |
| 18 | Nikolas Taylor | Fortec Motorsport | 56.230 | 131 Laps |
