PIASTRI & SARGEANT TAKE BRITISH F4 DOWN TO THE WIRE


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Round 26
Just three weeks after his maiden victory in the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost, Logan Sargeant was at it again. The American led home a Carlin one-two finish, with Jamie Caroline in second at Silverstone to put Carlin within touching distance of the Teams’ Cup.

Sargeant had to work hard for his victory. Starting on the inside of the track, the Carlin racer was presented with a track still damp from rain early in the morning, while drivers on the outside benefitted from starting on the dry racing line.

Piastri was delighted with his win, which still keeps him in the hunt for the title at Brands Hatch – Photo: Jakob Ebrey

Caroline profited most, spectacularly running around the outside of four cars through turn one to take the lead while Sargeant had to contend with trying to hold on to second as poleman Johnathan Hoggard dropped back to fourth.

Oscar Piastri started on the damp side of the track too and like Sargeant battled brilliantly in the opening stages to prevent himself from falling back through the order. Contact between Lundqvist and Hoggard soon promoted the Aussie to third and in the hunt for the win behind Sargeant and Caroline.

Just under half way through the race Caroline struggled for pace. Sargeant wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation with a sublime late braking move around the outside of his team-mate at Brooklands.

Caroline refused to give up and chased Sargeant for the duration with Piastri looming behind the Carlin pair. The trio were locked in a stalemate in the final laps, none of them able to make a pass and separated by just over a second as they crossed the finish line.

“It was so close out there,” said Sargeant. “I’m really proud of the move I made for the lead. That’s my best overtake of the season.

“It was tough on the inside of the grid at the start on the damp track. It seemed like the drivers on the outside were able to just drive past us.

“I was still able to get back up to second by the third corner which was good and then set about chasing Jamie down. He made a mistake and I capitalised upon it.

“I was pushing as hard as I could out there. I was struggling with the tyres towards the end and I think that was due to pushing perhaps a little too hard when trying to build a gap back to Jamie.

“Carlin have once again put together a great car and I’m so pleased to deliver them this win and the one-two with Jamie.”

Round 27
TRS Arden’s Oscar Piastri scored his sixth win of the campaign, ahead of rival Jamie Caroline at Silverstone to take the 2017 F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost title fight to the season finale at Brands Hatch in a fortnight.

From pole position Piastri was a man on a mission, determined to score maximum points and finish ahead of Caroline to keep his championship bid alive.

A flawless getaway saw him unchallenged into turn one, while Caroline ran around the outside of Alex Quinn and Hampus Ericsson in a similar fashion to his exquisite first corner heroics in the day’s earlier race.

It left the top two in the championship to battle it out at the front, but Piastri had the edge. He built and managed a gap back to Caroline to secure a comfortable victory, setting fastest lap on the way to the chequered flag.

“It’s special to win at Silverstone, the home of British Motor Racing and the Grand Prix,” said Piastri. “It’s a home race for the team with TRS Arden based about half an hour down the road in Banbury, so it’s great to get a win and two podiums this weekend.

“I did everything I could this weekend. It’s a shame Jamie finished right behind me in second which limited the amount of points I took out of his championship lead, but I’ve managed to take the title fight to the final meeting at Brands Hatch and anything can happen there.

“I saw Jamie got into second straight away and he’s always quick in the opening laps, but once I saw I was pulling away I was able to find a rhythm and it was quite easy out front.

“I then just concentrated on driving a clean and smooth race, avoiding any potential penalties for track limits.

“We saved our best tyres for this race with two new tyres available to us and we made a change to the car which definitely helped us. The car was great and that shows with our pace and recording the fastest lap.

“It’s going to be tough to get the drivers’ title, but I will give it my all. The same goes for the Teams’ Cup too. This win keeps us in contention and if I can get some more wins at Brands Hatch we might be able to steal it at the end.”
 


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