Gabriel Stilp took his maiden British F4 victory at Donington Park for Hitech in an excellent drive.
The British driver led home Aqil Alibhai and title contender Louis Sharp in a disrupted end to the weekend.
Stilp was delighted to secure his first win in British F4 and talked through his critical move to take the lead at the Melbourne hairpin: “Just sent it in at the turn seven and then just was eyes ahead on the front two. Then, I had a bit of breathing space on me.
“Then, coming out of the chicane, they obviously were slowing down and got a bit slower than me because they were defending.
“They defended. I wasn’t really planning to go for a move. I was like, If I want to win, I’ve got to go for it. I just went for it.
“I got into the lead and then tried to squeeze Mika on the exit, and he was still there, sending it on me at the last corner. After lap one, I was just in the lead and then Mika got back past.”
The title battle is heating up with just one round remaining at Brands Hatch. Sharp leads the British F4 championship by just one point over Will Macintyre after the penultimate round.
Macintyre took second place in Race 2 of the weekend, recovering from a problematic qualifying at Donington.
After the podium, the Hitech driver said to insideF2: “It’s a bit of an odd one. First, reverse grid podium of the year. It’s not ideal for me. I want to be on the other two, the other three podiums this weekend. It is what it is. Luck just hasn’t gone to my side at all this weekend.”
The British driver enjoyed superb consistency during the middle of the 10-round campaign, taking seven consecutive podiums from non-reverse grid races.
Macintyre delved into how he’s put together his championship-challenging campaign: “I think I’ve just been maximising on other people’s mistakes, really. I had a really solid qualifying at Knockhill.
“Before that, Croft, Louis was really, really good, but Silverstone, I was really solid quality again, and Louis wasn’t as fast.
“I think I’ve just been really consistent up in the top five every single race meeting. It seems like only the first round here, and now here, I just haven’t been at the front.
“It’s really weird because it’s just not a pace thing because you’re seeing the racing. I’ve been making moves and making places up in most races. It’s not a pace thing, it’s just realistically, I don’t think Donington likes me at all.”
