The Arden duo of Oscar Piastri and Alex Quinn lined up 1st and 2nd on the grid after a great opening qualifying session of the weekend. Quinn made the best getaway, slotting into first position as the cars streamed through Copse Corner.
Quinn and Piastri pushed each hard, just ahead of the chasing Fortec Motorsport Driver of Oliver York in the early stages, trading fastest laps and building an advantage in the process. Ayrton Simmons meanwhile had begun to recovery from his 11th place grid start – making his way up four positions on the opening lap and continued to make progress during the 20 minute race.
Olli Caldwell had a difficult qualifying session down in 18th position, but like teammate Simmons – made up good ground early on in the race as he hunted again for another Ford F4 Challenge Cup Podium.
As the race wore on, Quinn managed to break away from Piastri as the latter came under pressure from York and Championship Rival Jamie Caroline. The heavens opened on the penultimate lap of the race – leading to a dramatic finish as the drivers, all on slick tyres had to navigate the final lap of the race.
Quinn held on after easing off on the final lap to take his third victory of the 2017 campaign. Piastri held 2nd until Caroline went for a wild move, spinning on the entry into turn three – causing the Aussie to
take evasive action, allowing York through in the process. Piastri completed the podium in 3rd position.
Simmons battled well to 5th position at the flag after a great recovery drive – setting the fastest lap in the process. Caldwell came home 3rd in the F4 Challenge Cup, recovering from a difficult
qualifying.
Races two and three will take place tomorrow – with the reversed grid race first up at 11:15am and the third and final race of the weekend live on ITV4 at 4:30pm, just before the British Touring Car
Championship race. The third race will see Piastri start from pole position, with Quinn starting 3rd, Simmons 7th and Caldwell from 18th position – as the Team aims to make up further ground to the lead of the Team’s Championship Standings.
Alex Quinn “I knew the start was my best and safest opportunity to get the job done so I’m really happy to have pulled it off. It
wasn’t easy after the start though because Oscar was very quick at the beginning, but I eventually managed to pull out a bit of a gap. Then I saw a massive black cloud overhead and knew the rain was coming. I stayed calm, didn’t push too hard and it paid off.”
Oscar Piastri “I felt I was faster than Alex in the opening laps, but as the race progressed I didn’t have the life in the tyres that he
did which meant I couldn’t quite keep up with him.
On the last lap Jamie went for a bold move and spun in front of me. I had nowhere to go other than slam on the brakes and that let York through. I’m not happy with the result, but it could have been a lot worse. We finished on the podium and in front of
Jamie so that’s still positive.”