POINTS LEADERS ON FORM AS BRITISH F4 HEADS TO CROFT

It’s all change at the top of the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost heading to Croft this weekend (23/24 June). Kiern Jewiss is now the man leading the chase for the UK’s most coveted single-seater title, having wrestled top spot away from Ayrton Simmons at Oulton Park thanks to his fourth win of the season and two further podiums.

Jewiss arrives with the best recent form of any driver. His team, Double R Racing, also has an excellent record at Croft and holds the lap record at the North Yorkshire track.

A difficult qualifying put Simmons on the back foot a fortnight ago. However, he took his opportunities well around a circuit that’s notoriously hard to overtake on, namely winning the reverse grid race. The JHR Developments ace will be further buoyed by his pacesetting performance in a two day test at Croft several weeks ago.

The other driver to shine in that test was Jack Doohan. The Arden racer came into it full of confidence after clinching his maiden single-seater win at Thruxton and topped day two of proceedings. His team-mate and fellow Red Bull Junior Team driver Dennis Hauger also arrives on the up having taken his maiden win. A just reward for a driver who had come within touching distance of victory on several prior occasions.

Flying Finns Paavo Tonteri (Double R Racing) and Patrik Pasma (Arden) are separated in the standings by just two points. There was little to choose between them throughout the Oulton Park meeting. The pair could frequently be found duelling on track. Expect more of the same as they hunt for their first wins in the series.

Johnathan Hoggard endured another frustrating weekend last time out and will want to recapture the winning feeling he had back in April at Donington Park. Meanwhile, Fortec Motorsports team-mate Hampus Ericsson showed signs that he has turned a corner this season and is returning to the front-running level he reached towards the end of 2017.

Josh Skelton’s excellent run of consecutive points scores came to an end at Oulton Park, but he responded well to get back into the top 10 in the final race of the weekend and will look to build on that. Elsewhere, JHR Developments team-mate Manuel Sulaiman arguably had his best weekend of the season so far with three top 10 finishes.

Sebastian Priaulx (Arden) and Jamie Sharp (Sharp Motorsport) endured a torrid time at Oulton Park and will want to turn things around to head into the summer break on a high. Lucca Allen (Fortec Motorsports) and Sebastian Alvarez (Double R Racing) will also hope for more after battling well throughout the last meeting, but only coming away with a point each for their efforts.