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July 29, 2017

TRS Arden drivers all take podiums at Snetterton

Oscar Piastri, Ayrton Simmons, Alex Quinn and Olli Caldwell all take a spot on the podium during the first two races at Snetterton in British F4
Press
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July 29, 2017

TRS Arden drivers all take podiums at Snetterton

Oscar Piastri, Ayrton Simmons, Alex Quinn and Olli Caldwell all take a spot on the podium during the first two races at Snetterton in British F4

TRS Arden enjoyed a brilliant first day to the action at Snetterton, as all four drivers ended up on the podium in the British F4 Championship and British F4 Challenge Cup, as the team returned from the summer break in fine trophy hunting form.

Super Saturday for the team started with TRS Arden recording a historic maiden front row lock out in the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost at Snetterton. 

Oscar Piastri maintained the rapid pace he showed in free practice with team-mate Ayrton Simmons not far behind. Whist Piastri was unable to lap quite as quickly as he did in free practice, his lap of 1m 51.236s was still more than good enough for pole, putting him 0.215s clear of team-mate Simmons. The latter’s performance made all the more impressive given that the Epping racer missed out on the entirety of free practice one due to technical gremlins. Teammates Olli Caldwell and Alex Quinn qualified 5th and 6th respectively, with the positions reversed on the second-fastest lap time classification which would dictate the grid for the third race of the weekend.

The first race took place just after lunchtime and saw a masterclass from Aussie Piastri, as he headed home a superb one-two for TRS Arden ahead of Ayrton Simmons in Round 16 of the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost at Snetterton.

Piastri executed a faultless race from pole. An excellent getaway saw him lead the field into turn one and he gradually built up a comfortable gap to the chasing pack, as team-mate Simmons performed a
flawless defence of second place from Double R Racing’s Linus Lundqvist and Carlin’s Logan Sargeant.

Teammate Quinn came home him a strong 5th position just a bit behind the chase for the final podium position, whilst Caldwell came home to finish 7th, which ensured he was the highest placed Ford F4
Challenge Cup runner - therefore he claimed his first win in the class in
only his third race!

Race two saw Quinn head the TRS Arden quartet, as he made a strong start from 4th on the grid to get himself into the podium places and battled with Oliver York for 2nd position. The duo began to eat into race leader Jamie Caroline's lead before the safety car was deployed on lap five.
The leading two managed to just hold off Quinn to the end of the race, despite the Cornish man setting consecutive fastest laps to put the pressure on for victory - ultimately coming home 3rd.

Simmons and Piastri, starting from 8th and 9th position due to the reverse gird nature of the second race, finishing sixth and seventh respectively. Spectators were treated to some spellbinding formation flying in the final laps as Simmons, Piastri and Caldwell jockeyed for position. Caldwell came home to comfortably take his second Ford F4 Challenge Cup win, just hours after his first triumph in the class.

Oscar Piastri “I focused on managing the tyres and bringing home the win. I still pushed quite hard because I didn’t want the guys behind to catch up, but I made sure I’ve got plenty of life in the tyres for the remaining races this weekend.
We’ve had this kind of pace all season, but we haven’t quite had the outright pace in qualifying and then converted it in the race. So to get pole today and convert it is a great feeling and hopefully we’ll be able to do that a few more times.”
Olli Caldwell“It feels really good to get my first Ford F4 Challenge Cup win, as the race progressed I felt more comfortable and was really pleased that I had the pace of experienced guys like Quinn and Caroline. My overall aim is to get on the podium and given the way things are going combined with how well the team is working I think that’s
definitely possible."
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