Alex Dunne dominated the opening round of the ROKiT F4 British Championship for Hitech GP taking two wins at Donington Park.
The series is home to three F1 juniors in 2022 including McLaren Young Driver Ugo Ugochukwu who stormed to a very impressive pole position for his first-ever car race.
The reigning Teams Champions JHR Developments lacked outright pace but still left Donington with victory in Race 2 through Georgi Dimitrov.
Ugochukwu was pleased with his efforts in qualifying and thanked Carlin for their hard work: “Yeah it was a great start I mean to get pole in my first race it’s very nice for me and think the whole team did an amazing job the whole winter they worked really hard so I think they deserve this pole.”
Dunne put on an overtaking masterclass in Race 2 finishing in P2 after starting in ninth place. The Irishman dominated the weekend scoring more than double the points of his nearest championship challenger Oliver Gray.
He was very happy with second place in Race 2 and emphasised the importance of patience when charging through the field: “I think starting from ninth in the reverse grid race is always quite tricky I knew that it was always about keeping my nose clean ad trying to pick everybody off one by one and maximising the points so I think that’s what we did today.”
British F4 also welcomes 15-year-old Ed Pearson to the series who is making the step from the Ginetta Junior Championship.
Pearson explained how he’s progressed over the winter with Virtuosi Racing and shed light on what it’s like driving with the halo: “I mean I’ve improved a lot, the team are great so they’ve helped me improve and yeah I think it’s going really well so far.
“I find it [driving with the halo] easy to be honest everyone says ‘oh you know it’s going to be terrible you won’t be able to see, it’s easy just one lap and you’ll get used to it.”
GB3 driver Luke Browning was also at Donington helping out his former British F4 team Hitech GP and gave a terrific insight into the contrasts between the GB3 and British F4 cars.
Browning said: “It’s a big difference, yeah it’s a big difference I mean I loved the British F4 car but yeah the new GB3 cars really like a proper F3 car, a proper floor, a lot more power its’ quick it’s really quick it’s really quick it feels nice to drive.”
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