F4 British Championship

Zagazeta claims race one win in red-flagged Knockhill bout

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Zagazeta consolidated third in the championship with second win of 2021. (Credit: Jakob Ebery Photography)

Matias Zagazeta converted a rapid pole position into a second victory of 2021 for Phinsys by Argenti at a red-flagged opening race at Knockhill, making a lightning start ahead of Joel Granfors and Matthew Rees to move within 50 points of championship leader James Hedley.

The Peruvian had to manage a mid-race restart following his team mate Marcos Flack’s car becoming stranded at Clarks corner, but showed composure and experience in taking a stronghold on the race lead which he never surrendered.

Granfors held on to second ahead of Matthew Rees, who reduced his deficit to Hedley in the championship fight to just ten points, with the Fortec title leader only managing to move up as far as tenth in a frenetic race.

Eduardo Coseteng equalled his best race result of the season so far with an assured drive to fourth place, with JHR Developments’ Joseph Loake finishing just over a second behind in fifth. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak brought home his Carlin machine in sixth, with his race being marred by a tangle with Aiden Neate at MacIntyre, which would leave the Argenti rookie out of the race.

Kai Askey finished behind his Thai team mate in seventh, with Mckenzy Cresswell fighting back to eighth but ultimately losing ground to team mate Matthew Rees in the rookie cup championship battle, now trailing behind by 33 points.

Oliver Gray was able to ward off team mate James Hedley with both Fortec drivers rounding out the top ten. Dougie Bolger was unlucky to come home in eleventh after being muscled out at MacIntyre on the opening lap in what has otherwise been a very impressive showing from the Japanese rookie so far this weekend.

David Morales posted a career best twelfth place finish after taking to the gravel in avoidance of the Zak Taylor and Abbi Pulling incident at the apex of the hairpin, with the former returning from the race. Pulling would later finish thirteenth after pitting and rejoining the back of the safety car, but was unable to move further up.

The weekend continues with the reverse grid contest at 10:10am on Sunday (15 August).

Race 1 Classification

Pos.DriverTeamDifference
1Matias ZagazetaPhinsys by Argenti15 Laps
2Joel GranforsFortec Motorsport+ 0.925
3Matthew Rees (R)JHR Developments+ 1.329
4Eduardo Coseteng (R)Phinsys by Argenti+ 2.342
5Joseph LoakeJHR Developments+ 3.643
6Tasanapol InthraphuvasakCarlin+ 5.147
7Kai Askey (R)Carlin+ 5.983
8Mckenzy Cresswell (R)JHR Developments+ 6.525
9Oliver Gray (R)Fortec Motorsport+ 7.126
10James HedleyFortec Motorsport+ 7.381
11Dougie Bolger (R)Carlin+ 7.563
12David MoralesArden Motorsport+ 8.165
13Abbi PullingJHR Developments+ 10.266
14Zak TaylorArden MotorsportDNF
15Aiden Neate (R)Phinsys by ArgentiDNF
16Marcos Flack (R)Phinsys by ArgentiDNF

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