HEDLEY LEADS CHASING PACK AS BRITISH F4 HEADS TO BRANDS HATCH

James Hedley remains the benchmark as the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost heads to Brands Hatch (Indy), Kent this weekend (26-27 June), but the signs are there to indicate the chasing pack aren’t far behind.

The Fortec Motorsport racer arrives at the 1.2-mile Indy circuit having marginally extended his lead at the summit to 25 points, but with JHR Developments’ Matthew Rees, a double winner last time out at Snetterton, now as his closest challenger.

Rees was on superlative form in Norfolk, maintaining his perfect record of qualifying performances – four pole positions from a possible four – as well as two lights-to-flag triumphs to cement his title credentials.

In doing so, he leapfrogged his ultra-consistent team-mate McKenzy Cresswell, but another brace of podium finishes ensures he arrives a solid fourth, eight points clear of Joel Granfors (Fortec).

The pair also sit locked together at the top of the Teams Cup, with Fortec 28 points to the good in that regard, whilst Cresswell still holds a slender 3-point lead over Rees in the Rookie stakes.

Arden Motorsport had plenty to celebrate at a sun soaked Snetterton a fortnight ago, with a second podium in successive meetings for Zak Taylor, still fifth in the points, and a first trip to the overall rostrum for Thomas Ikin, who added another Rookie win to his tally in the process.

Coupled with a promising start to life in the series for David Morales, the Red Arrows have every reason to feel optimistic ahead of another action-packed triple-header.

Ditto another newcomer in Georgi Dimitrov. After being forced to sit out Thruxton on the doctor’s orders, the British-Bulgarian racer responded in fine style with a maiden victory in the reverse grid thriller at Snetterton, clocking Richardson Racing’s first win since their return to single seaters in the process.

Marcos Flack was another driver to demonstrate the strength in depth of this season’s field, the Phinsys by Argenti racer making it ten different podium finishers from six races with his first silverware in the ITV4-televised finale.

He leads Fortec’s Ollie Gray in the standings by virtue of his podium finish, but a mere ten points blankets positions fifth through tenth as one of the closest championship battles in recent years continues to take shape.

Matias Zagazeta (Argenti) and Abbi Pulling (JHR) are just two points apart at the foot of that group, having thrilled the returning trackside audience with their on-track battles at Snetterton.

Both will be looking to give their respective championship bids a boost in Kent, as will the other second-year driver in the field – Carlin’s Roman Bilinski – after a frustrating trip to Snetterton last time out.

The rest of Carlin’s quartet – Dougie Bolger, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Kai Askey – will all be looking to add to that podium statistic, Askey having fallen just short in the reverse grid race last time out.

Eduardo Coseteng will be looking for a return to his front-running exploits at Thruxton in the final Argenti Motorsport car.

Fans can watch the action live from Brands Hatch this Sunday (27 June) on ITV3 due to scheduling clashes with the Tour de France.