The Duo BRDC Formula 4 field heads to Snetterton this weekend (11/12 July) for rounds 10, 11 and 12 of the 2015 season, as the title battle heats up following a dramatic meeting at Silverstone last time out.
Will Palmer leads the championship standings after claiming two victories at the Northamptonshire track. The 18-year-old dominated the weekend, taking his second pole position of the year in qualifying by posting a fastest lap nearly one second ahead of his team-mate and second fastest qualifier, Harri Newey.
He converted pole position into a lights-to-flag victory in race one, claiming fastest lap along the way, before finishing in fourth place in race two. Starting at the head of the grid in race three, Palmer stormed away to claim a second win by more than eight seconds. He took 88 points from the two-day meeting and moves onto 193 points in the overall standings.
The other winner at Silverstone was Lanan Racing’s Rodrigo Fonseca, who took a stunning victory in race two having started 15th on the grid. The Mexican racer scythed through the field, producing some stunning overtaking manoeuvres to move into second place with just a few laps remaining. Fonseca made his move on leader Sisa Ngebulana into Club and held first place until the chequered flag to take what he described as his “best race ever”.
After the first six races of the season, Manxman Chris Mealin led the championship, having secured victories at Oulton Park and Rockingham. However, the 21-year-old endured a difficult weekend at Silverstone, finishing 16th in race one, being disqualified for contact in race two before recovering to seventh in the final race. That dropped him to third in the standings and he will be looking to bounce back this weekend in Norfolk.
Tom Jackson is fourth overall, having taken his second BRDC Formula 4 podium of the season at Silverstone with third in race two. The Maidstone-based racer has quietly accumulated points and, with fourth and 10th place finishes to add to his podium, has moved up the rankings with 152 points, only nine behind Mealin in third.
Sean Walkinshaw Racing’s Jordan Albert has impressed in the first half of the season, taking his maiden F4 win at Oulton Park earlier in the year. He backed up his fine form at his home track of Silverstone with three top-five finishes, including a podium in race one. He sits in fifth, just ahead of 16-year-old Jack Bartholomew, the third of the trio of Lanan Racing cars.
Championship leader Palmer’s HHC Motorsport team-mate Harri Newey is currently seventh in the standings, despite showing impressive pace at the first three rounds of the year. Newey, son of Formula One designer Adrian, has been in the top-two in the qualifying session at each round this year but has only claimed two podium finishes and is winless so far due to a mixture of incidents and bad luck. The 16-year-old will be one to watch on the Snetterton 300 circuit and he will be aiming to take his maiden BRDC F4 victory.
Ecurie Ecosse Young Driver Ciaran Haggerty took his second podium of the year at Silverstone and is eighth in the standings ahead of Sean Walkinshaw Racing’s Zubair Hoque. Michael O’Brien rounds out the top-10 as he switches to competing for Chris Dittmann Racing and the 20-year-old will be looking to add his second win of the year at Snetterton. 16-year-old Omar Ismail will also be hoping to build on his strong debut weekend at Silverstone, where the Solihull youngster finished an impressive seventh place in the opening race.
A packed grid of drivers will take to the 2.97-mile Snetterton 300 circuit this weekend and all will be looking to steal an advantage on their rivals as the season approaches the halfway mark.
