Quinn was the better off line of the front-row starters, but Carlin’s Pasma positioned his car perfectly to remain in first. The Finn then endured immense pressure from Quinn, covering off every move that the 2016 British F4 Rookie Champion could throw at him.
Quinn continued to stalk his prey, biding his time and making the decisive move on lap 13. The Cornish racer getting a better run out of Deene hairpin and boldly running around the outside of Pasma through Yentwood. Unleashed, Quinn immediately recorded his fastest laps of the race and was able to comfortably take the chequer.
As Quinn and Pasma duked it out in front it brought Simmons, Sargeant and York into play. At one point the leading quintet were covered by less than two seconds in a fight for top honours. Simmons did well to take the final podium spot, balancing attack with defence while managing heavily worn out tyres.
Olli Caldwell just missed out on the Ford F4 Challenge Cup victory, finishing just behind his rival Hampus Ericsson after moving up five positions from his qualifying position.
Oscar Piastri’s rapid progress through the field after a difficult race one, saw him overtake eight cars on the opening lap, was abruptly halted on lap two with a trip through the gravel at Tarzan after a battle with Caroline. Piastri persevered however, recording the fastest lap of the race on his way back up to 10th place by the chequered flag.
Race three saw Simmons start as the lead TRS Arden from second on the grid, with Piastri 6th, Quinn 7th and Caldwell 8th on the starting line up. Simmons found himself immediately under attack from the fast-starting Linus Lundqvist and Oliver York as he was squeezed down the order at the hairpin.
Lap one saw Quinn as the highest Arden driver in 5th position, just ahead of Simmons as the two drivers battled into the Deene Hairpin, Simmons moved ahead and went about hunting the podium positions - overtaking Lundqvist for 4th and harrying championship leader Jamie Caroline for 3rd position, ultimately running out of laps.
Quinn dropped back after his earlier great start and had to fight back through the pack to finish a solid 6th position.
Behind the top five the battle for Ford F4 Challenge Cup honours raged between TRS Arden’s Olli Caldwell and Fortec Motorsports’ Hampus Ericsson; the two drivers making up several places early on from 10th and eighth on the grid. However Caldwell’s race came to a premature end soon after as he was forced to retire the car due to a technical problem with his dash, despite holding 6th and the Challenge Cup lead for the majority of the race.
Piastri’s miserable weekend continued, with his TRS Arden-prepared racer pointing the wrong way on the exit of Deene on the opening lap after contact that he was blameless for, ultimatley leading to an
early retirement soon after for the championship contender.
Alex Quinn “It’s good to be back on the top step in race two. I had to work hard for it. I had a lot of attempts to overtake, but Patrik defended so well and that made it difficult to get past. Eventually I got the run on him coming out of turn two and got
around the outside at turn three. It was a really tricky move and a little bit scary, but I’m happy I pulled it off."
Ayrton Simmons "We had old tyres on in that race which made it harder to keep up with Alex and Patrik, but we didn’t drop too far back from them which was good. I think I was helped by the fact that they were battling with each other.
I had to defend a lot in that race too. I had to balance attacking with defending, managing the tyres and driving smart. I’m happy with my performance."
The next round of the British F4 Championship takes place at Silverstone in three weeks time on the 16-17 September for races 24-27, as the season leads towards its climax.