Mexican driver Rodrigo Fonseca claimed victory in the maiden Duo BRDC Formula 4 race at the Rockingham Motor Speedway  (Saturday), after a first-lap incident eliminated many front-running drivers from contention. Ameya Vaidyanathan and Jack Lang stood on the F4 podium for the first time with Chris Mealin and Jordan Albert rounding out the top-five.

Harri Newey, son of legendary Formula 1 designer Adrian, posted the fastest time in qualifying to take pole position by 0.398s. He led a HHC Motorsport one-two with his team-mate and championship leader Will Palmer in second. His efforts would prove to be in vain however as Newey slowed when heading on to the grid for the start of the race in the afternoon and was unable to take his place at the front of the field. As his blue-and-white machine was wheeled off the track, Palmer and Sean Walkinshaw Racing’s Jordan Albert were promoted to first and second and duly led the pack into the banked first turn at the Northamptonshire venue.

However, heading into the turn-two hairpin, Albert and Palmer both locked up and went off the track. A plethora of drivers behind followed them off the circuit and in the ensuing chaos, Palmer, Tom Jackson, Hernan Fallas and Fernando Urrutia were all eliminated from the race with accident damage.

The Safety Car was deployed to neutralise the field and clean up the accident with Fonseca emerging at the head of the pack, with Jack Lang and Akhil Rabindra in the top-three. When the Safety Car pulled into the pits at the end of lap four, Lang immediately had a queue behind him, which allowed the Lanan Racing car of Fonseca to open up a gap on the rest of the field. Further back, recovery drives were being undertaken and Albert, Chris Mealin and Jack Bartholomew were all busy working their way back through the pack.

As the race entered its final stages, Fonseca maintained a two-second advantage over Lang as the second placed man came under attack from Vaidyanthan, who had passed his fellow Indian Akhil Rabindra for third. On the final tour of the circuit, Vaidyanthan pulled off an audacious move around the outside of the Lang Sport/Gorse Motors machine at Deene Hairpin to claim second place.

Sebastian Lanzetti attempted an opportunistic move on Ciaran Haggerty for fifth at the Tarzan hairpin on the last tour, but tapped the Ecurie Ecosse Youngster into a spin and dropped Haggerty to 14th. Following the race, Lanzetti was handed a 60-second time penalty for his part in the accident, which demoted the South African to 15th. Akhil Rabindra tried to claim the final podium place by sliding up the inside of Lang at the final corner but spun and dropped from fourth to 12th as the chequered flag flew.

Mealin, Albert and Bartholomew drove well to recover to fourth, fifth and sixth respectively and an impressive performance from returning driver Paul Sieljes saw him take seventh. The top-10 was completed by Mark Godwin Racing's Michael O'Brien with Faisal Al Zubair and Zubair Hoque in ninth and tenth.

Maiden podiums for Vaidyanthan and Lang lent the post-race presentation an emotional feel, with the Indian driver particularly overwhelmed as he took second in just his fourth BRDC F4 race. The drivers were handed their trophies by 2007 British GT Champion Bradley Ellis.

Rodrigo Fonseca commented on the podium: "I'm really happy with this result. We were improving throughout the day, which has been good, and hopefully we can keep taking victories across the year."

Second-placed Vaidyanathan said: “This is my first year in motorsport and to get a podium in my fourth-ever BRDC F4 race is unreal. You can see how much it means to my team and my family and it is just a great feeling.”

Jack Lang added: “We had pace and I made it up to second when the Safety Car came out. We were right behind Rodrigo but I had pressure from a number of drivers behind. It was just survival. I broke far too early into the Deene Hairpin on the final lap which let Vaidyanathan past for second sadly.”

Michael O'Brien will start from pole position for the reverse-grid race tomorrow with Chris Dittmann Racing's Paul Sieljes alongside him on the front row.

2015 Duo BRDC F4 Race One result, Rockingham

1. Rodrigo Fonseca, Lanan Racing, 12 Laps2. Ameya Vaidyanathan, Hillspeed, +4.257s3. Jack Lang, Lang Sport/Gorse Motors, +5.822s4. Chris Mealin, Lanan Racing, +6.666s5. Jordan Albert, SWR, +7.612s6. Jack Bartholomew, Lanan Racing, +8.115s7. Paul Sieljes, Chris Dittmann Racing, +8.635s8. Michael O'Brien, Mark Godwin Racing, +9.160s9. Faisal Al Zubair, Hillspeed, +10.276s10. Zubair Hoque, SWR, +12.717s11. Akhil Rabindra, Douglas Motorsport, +16.446s12. Sisa Ngebulana, HHC Motorsport, +17.856s13. Ciaran Haggerty, Ecurie Ecosse/GBR, +21.760s14. James Reveler, 23 Racing, +24.105s15. Sebastian Lanzetti, Hillspeed, +1:11.888s*DNF. Tom Jackson, Chris Dittmann Racing, 1 LapDNF. Will Palmer, HHC Motorsport, 0 LapsDNF. Hernan Fallas, Mark Godwin Racing, 0 LapsDNF. Fernando Urrutia, Douglas Motorsport, 0 LapsDNF. Harri Newey, HHC Motorsport, 0 Laps

* Handed 60-second time penalty for causing a collision

2015 Duo BRDC Formula 4 Championship standings after race four of 24

1. Chris Mealin, Lanan Racing, 90 points2. Rodrigo Fonseca, Lanan Racing, 84 points3. Will Palmer, HHC Motorsport, 74 points4. Jack Bartholomew, Lanan Racing, 71 points5. Jordan Albert, SWR, 62 points6. Ciaran Haggerty, Ecurie Ecosse/GBR, 62 points7. Tom Jackson, Chris Dittmann Racing, 58 points8. Harri Newey, HHC Motorsport, 56 points9. Jack Lang, Lang Sport/Gorse Motors, 45 points10. Sebastian Lanzetti, Hillspeed, 44 points11. Ameya Vaidyanathan, Hillspeed, 43 points12. Michael O'Brien, Mark Godwin Racing, 38 points=. Sisa Ngebulana, HHC Motorsport, 38 points14. Akhil Rabindra, Douglas Motorsport, 37 points=. Zubair Hoque, SWR, 37 points16. Faisal Al Zubair, Hillspeed, 35 points17. Fernando Urrutia, Douglas Motorsport, 31 points18. James Reveler, 23 Racing, 18 points19. Paul Sieljes, Chris Dittmann Racing, 15 points20. Hernan Fallas, Mark Godwin Racing, 8 points

Two further F4 races will take place today with race two commencing at 10:25am and race three at 16:15pm, with the final race of the weekend being broadcast live on Motors TV