Will Palmer took pole position, race one victory and fastest lap at Silverstone today (Saturday) as he dominated the first day of the weekend at the Northamptonshire venue. After the day’s racing had been concluded, MSV Chief Executive Jonathan Palmer unveiled the new-for-2016 Tatuus-Cosworth MSV F4-016 car in The Silverstone Wing.
Following an entire day of wet weather testing on Friday, a dry circuit greeted the teams on Saturday as they headed into the 20-minute qualifying session. Ecurie Ecosse Young driver Ciaran Haggerty set the initial benchmark lap with a time of 2m08.768s, which put him ahead of Tom Jackson and Sebastian Lanzetti with a quarter of the session completed.
The Chris Dittmann Racing car of Tom Jackson then assumed pole position but was knocked off top spot immediately by Will Palmer, who showed his true speed and went to the head of the time-sheets with a lap that put him 1.887s clear of the rest of the field. Haggerty regained second and closed the gap slightly to Palmer before Harri Newey took the position off the Scot and slotted in behind Palmer, 1.150s slower than his team-mate.
18-year-old Palmer would remain untroubled for the rest of the session and his team-mate Newey made it a HHC Motorsport one-two by holding onto second. Jordan Albert, who lives in nearby Silverstone village, utilised his local knowledge to line up third and Haggerty eventually had to settle for fourth, with Lanan Racing’s Rodrigo Fonseca fifth.
As the lights went out to start the first race of the weekend, Palmer made a clean getaway, unlike his stable-mate Newey who was relegated to sixth by the end of the first lap and Jordan Albert who dropped to fifth. Ciaran Haggerty moved up to second, having started fourth on the grid, with Mexican Fonseca third ahead of Riki Christodoulou, a non-points scoring guest driver who was deputising for the injured Hillspeed racer, Faisal Al Zubair.
Newey set about recovering from his poor start and passed Jordan Albert on lap three to take fifth, with him then beginning to close on the positions ahead. Fonseca in third suffered an issue, which required him to pit at the end of the lap with rear-end damage, which in turn promoted Newey to fourth. On the same lap, Newey took third from Riki Christodoulou, overtaking him around the outside in a bold move.
With a tight battle developing, Newey and Christodoulou made contact and both spun off and into retirement. That promoted the rest of the field, with Jordan Albert inheriting the final podium spot ahead of Tom Jackson with Sisa Ngebulana in pursuit. BRDC F4 debutant Omar Ismail sat in sixth with just four laps remaining, and would eventually lose out to Lanan Racing’s Jack Bartholomew, but still enjoyed a strong first race to take seventh.
Palmer continued to extend his advantage over Haggerty and was 5.738s clear of his rival as he started his final tour. The Scot in turn had a clear lead of 5.056s over Albert and the three would remain in that order as they took the chequered flag at the end of the lap. Tom Jackson settled for fourth with Ngebulana in fifth. The top-10 was completed by Bartholomew, Ismail, Hernan Fallas, Fernando Urrutia and Zubair Hoque. Fallas’ eighth-place finish gives him pole position for race two on Sunday morning.
The top-three drivers stepped out of their cars and on to the podium to be presented with their trophies by former British Touring Car racer and BRDC member, Jonathan Adam.
Speaking after the race, Palmer said: “It was just a case of making a good start, getting my head down and just pushing for the rest of the race. A big thanks to HHC Motorsport as we took pole position by nearly a second, a commanding win and the car has been fantastic so far.”
Championship leader Chris Mealin struggled in the race and finished in 16th, which allowed Palmer to move into second in the standings, just seven points behind the Manxman. The Lanan Racing pair of Fonseca and Bartholomew are in third and fourth respectively with Tom Jackson fifth.
Once the on-track action had stopped, the new 2016 BRDC F4 car was unveiled in The Silverstone Wing by MSV Chief Executive Jonathan Palmer. The new Tatuus-Cosworth MSV F4-016 is based on the Tatuus FIA F4 car but with a significant number of enhancements, which takes the overall performance of the car well above the current BRDC F4 single-seater as well as other FIA F4 series, including MSA Formula, making 2016 BRDC F4 a logical feeder to F3 and GP3.
With a carbon fibre chassis, a new Cosworth 230bhp 4 cylinder normally aspirated engine and high downforce aerodynamics, along with a range of other substantial improvements, the Tatuus-Cosworth MSV F4-016 is a significant step forward and will provide a strong proving ground for young racers aspiring to reach the highest rungs on the motorsport ladder.
Jonathan Palmer said: “Our new BRDC F4 car is an extremely exciting new concept that is the culmination of a year of careful deliberation by MSV. Our current BRDC F4 car pioneered the introduction of affordable junior single-seater racing in 2012 and has been highly acclaimed. We have now used our unrivalled and growing experience of junior single-seater racing to introduce a new car that will not just take over from our original BRDC F4 chassis but fill an obvious gap in the international single-seater career ladder.”
Races two and three take place on Sunday beginning at 10:30am and 16:20pm respectively, with the final race of the weekend being broadcast live on Motors TV.2015 Duo BRDC F4 Race One result, Silverstone
1. Will Palmer, HHC Motorsport, 10 Laps2. Ciaran Haggerty, Ecurie Ecosse/GBR, +5.800s3. Jordan Albert, SWR, +12.806s4. Tom Jackson, Chris Dittmann Racing, +19.070s5. Sisa Ngebulana, HHC Motorsport, +22.157s6. Jack Bartholomew, Lanan Racing, +23.122s7. Omar Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing, +24.261s8. Hernan Fallas, Mark Godwin Racing, +25.976s9. Fernando Urrutia, Douglas Motorsport, +26.690s10. Zubair Hoque, SWR, +29.970s11. Sebastian Lanzetti, Hillspeed, +31.181s12. Ameya Vaidyanathan, Hillspeed, +1 Lap13. Michael O'Brien, Mark Godwin Racing, +1 Lap14. James Reveler, 23 Racing, +1 Lap15. Chris Mealin, Lanan Racing, +1 Lap16. Rodrigo Fonseca, Lanan Racing, +1 LapDNF. Harri Newey, HHC Motorsport, 6 LapsDNF. Riki Christodoulou, Hillspeed, 6 LapsDNF. Jack Lang, Lang Sport/Gorse Motors, 4 LapsDNF. Akhil Rabindra, Douglas Motorsport, 0 Laps
2015 Duo BRDC Formula 4 Championship standings after race seven of 24
1. Chris Mealin, Lanan Racing, 146 points2. Will Palmer, HHC Motorsport, 138 points3. Rodrigo Fonseca, Lanan Racing, 131 points4. Jack Bartholomew, Lanan Racing, 121 points5. Tom Jackson, Chris Dittmann Racing, 120 points6. Jordan Albert, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, 106 points7. Ciaran Haggerty, Ecurie Ecosse/GBR, 91 points8. Harri Newey, HHC Motorsport, 83 points9. Zubair Hoque, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, 81 points10. Sisa Ngebulana, HHC Motorsport, 77 points11. Michael O’Brien, Mark Godwin Racing, 71 points12. Sebastian Lanzetti, Hillspeed, 66 points13. Jack Lang, Lang Sport/Gorse Motors, 62 points14. Fernando Urrutia, Douglas Motorsport, 60 points15. Akhil Rabindra, Douglas Motorsport, 57 points16. Ameya Vaidyanathan, Hillspeed, 56 points17. Faisal Al Zubair, Hillspeed, 53 points18. James Reveler, 23 Racing, 39 points19. Paul Sieljes, Chris Dittmann Racing, 33 points20. Hernan Fallas, Mark Godwin Racing, 32 points21. Omar Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing, 15 points
