FORD’S RISING STARS PREPARE FOR ANNUAL BRITISH F4 SCOTTISH SHOWDOWN AT KNOCKHILL

Seven different drivers have already taken a race victory in the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost this season, with almost two thirds of the grid celebrating at least one podium finish.

Given that strength in depth of competition, it should be little surprise that this weekend’s triple header at Knockhill promises to be a hard-fought and thrilling next chapter in the title fight.

The gap at the championship summit between James Hedley (Fortec) and Matthew Rees (JHR) stands at 24 points heading to Fife. Hedley has enjoyed more of the headlines, with four victories to his name, but the ultra-consistent Rees is keeping tabs, and his overtaking heroics in the reverse grid races – for which he gains additional points – are really making a difference.

McKenzy Cresswell, third in the points and now second in the Rookie Cup to team-mate Rees, suffered a setback after a tricky qualifying at Oulton Park, but took a maiden win in the reverse grid contest, and will be looking for a repeat ‘from the front’ this time out.

Joseph Loake propelled himself from ninth to fourth outright in one weekend at Oulton, the Brit ahead of Matias Zagazeta (Argenti) only by virtue of an extra race win – two versus the Peruvian’s sole triumph so far.

Fortec arrive with a 22-point margin over JHR in the Teams Cup, so the battle for sixth, seventh and eighth respectively between Joel Granfors, Abbi Pulling and Ollie Gray could take on extra significance as the season progresses.

Zak Taylor remains the leading Arden Motorsport challenger in the standings, but it was team-mate Thomas Ikin who led the line in Cheshire a fortnight ago, the Brit taking a third podium in successive meetings.

Factor in David Morales, the other Red Arrow, continuing to rise through the ranks, and the Banbury team could yet scale the standings further.

Roman Bilinski will be absent this weekend due to a clash with GB3, but the rest of Carlin’s regular quartet – Dougie Bolger, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Kai Askey – will be looking to maintain their recent momentum.

Bolger took a first Rookie win at Oulton and has been close on multiple occasions to an outright podium, something Inthraphuvasak achieved for the first time in Cheshire.

The rest of Argenti’s trio – Marcos Flack, Eduardo Coseteng and Aiden Neate – will be looking to continue their consistent, points-scoring form, and Georgi Dimitrov’s Richardson entry will be one to watch after a tough couple of outings in recent times.