FLORESCU HEADS THE PACK AS BRITISH F4 REACHES KNOCKHILL
The British F4 contingent will once again tackle Knockhill as part of the TOCA package – Photo: Jakob Ebrey
Petru Florescu arrives at Knockhill having regained the lead in the standings of the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford at Snetterton a fortnight ago. The Romanian claimed his fifth win of the season, recovering from a difficult qualifying and showing the steely determination which has made him a formidable competitor in 2016.
Florescu leads the way from Carlin team-mates Max Fewtrell and Devlin DeFrancesco. Both had differing fortunes last time out; the former bouncing back to finish on the podium in the final race, whilst the latter never finished off the podium all weekend. James Pull is another to watch following a qualifying breakthrough since the summer break.
JHR Developments driver Sennan Fielding took Snetterton by storm with two race victories and is a likely candidate to break the Carlin stranglehold at the top.
The same can be said of TRS Arden’s Luis Leeds who lies just 31 points adrift of Florescu. The double race winner failed to score as many points as he would have liked two weeks ago, but showed the kind of pace which suggests he’s a real threat.
With 52 points separating Leeds from the next driver in the standings, the fight for the title looks to have become a six horse race between the aforementioned drivers.
However, there’s a host of Ford EcoBoost-powered talent which could well crash the party; namely Fortec Motosport’s star rookies Alex Quinn and Nicolai Kjaergaard. The latter recently claiming a hat trick of Rookie wins.
Jamie Caroline had a weekend to forget last time out, whilst Frank Bird added another impressive top ten finish to his name.
Double R Racing’s Zane Goddard and TRS Arden’s Rafael Martins are both race winners and will be gunning for the top step again.
Jack Martin and Ayrton Simmons are hoping for a more straightforward weekend so they can really showcase their true pace. The same can be said of JHR's Billy Monger who is more than capable of racing towards the sharp end of the grid.
Meanwhile the grid’s latest addition Alexandra Mohnhaupt arrives with newfound confidence after an impressive debut and will look to break into the top ten.
The Ford EcoBoost-powered action gets underway with three test sessions today ahead of official qualifying at 11:05 and Round 19 of the Championship at 16:35 on Saturday. The action then ramps up even more on Sunday with the second race of the weekend at 11:00 and the final race starting at 16:25 which will be screened live on ITV4.
Alex Battipaglia
