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Pirtek Racing’s rising star Jamie Caroline secured two more podium finishes at Silverstone to maintain his lead in the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost.

The rapid teenager went into the penultimate meeting of the season knowing that he could wrap up the title if results were to go his way, and he started the weekend with sixth place on the grid in a tightly-fought qualifying session on Saturday morning.

Jumping up to fourth on the opening lap of race one, Jamie would spend the full 20 minute encounter battling for the podium positions but a late spin as rain started to fall meant he had to settle for fourth spot.

Starting fifth in race two on Sunday, Jamie made a lightning start in his Carlin-run car to rocket into the lead on the run to turn one and pulled out a slender lead through the opening laps.

A small error allowed team-mate Logan Sargeant to close in and make a move for the lead mid-way through, although second place for Jamie allowed him to outscore his main title rival Oscar Piastri.

Jamie would then repeat that result in the final race of the weekend as he followed Piastri home for his 15th podium of the campaign and he now takes a 67.5 point lead into the final races of the season – with a maximum of 75 still available.

“The team continues to give me a great car but we’re struggling for straight line speed through no fault of our own and at a power circuit like Silverstone, that’s always going to make it hard,” he said.

“It would have been good to pick up a victory and wrap up the title up this weekend but it wasn’t to be. I’m still in the best position going to Brands Hatch and have the points on the board, although I’m not going to be taking anything for granted going into the final rounds as anything could happen.

“This weekend could have been better but it could also have been a lot worse. Brands Hatch is a circuit where I’ve always gone well in the past and hopefully that will be the same in a few weeks time.”

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Half a point. That’s all Carlin’s Jamie Caroline needs to have extended his championship lead of 74.5 points by at the conclusion of this weekend to be crowned FIA British Formula 4 Champion at Silverstone, the home of the British Motor Racing.

It sounds easy, but five other drivers could steal the crown. Chief amongst those are Oscar Piastri (TRS Arden) and Logan Sargeant (Carlin). The two had vastly differing fortunes three weeks ago at Rockingham Motor Speedway.

Piastri, who had finished every race this season in the points, saw his run halted with two non-finishes and a solitary point for his efforts.

Sargeant has clawed his way into contention, scoring more points than any other driver since the summer break, finishing no lower than fifth and claiming his maiden victory last time out.

If official testing at Silverstone a week ago is anything to go by, we’re in for a titanic battle between the title protagonists. Caroline set the pace, but Piastri was his closest challenger and a mere 0.082s adrift. The rivals were the only men to lap below the 57 second mark.

Alex Quinn (TRS Arden) and Linus Lundqvist (Double R Racing) were the other victors at Rockingham, taking their second and fourth wins of the campaign respectively. Elsewhere, Fortec’s Oliver York followed up his maiden win at Knockhill with a brace of podiums. The trio will need to bring home big points to stand a chance of fighting for the title.

Ayrton Simmons (TRS Arden) and Patrik Pasma (Carlin) also starred on the podium several weeks ago, the latter coming tantalisingly close to his first British F4 win having led from pole.

Double R’s Karl Massaad was brought back down to earth following his podium exploits north of the border by scoring only two points.

Hampus Ericsson took a hat-trick of Ford F4 Challenge Cup wins at Rockingham. The Fortec driver will want to do the same at Silverstone in a bid to move to the top of the Class standings. Standing in his way this weekend will be TRS Arden’s Olli Caldwell and Falcon Motorsport’s Lucca Allen.

In the overall standings, Caldwell is defending a slender 2.5 point lead from fellow Young Racing Driver Academy product Jamie Sharp. The Sharp Motorsport racer put in an inspired performance at the Speedway to climb five places and into a points-paying position.

Manuel Sulaimán (JHR Developments) and Lucas Alecco Roy (Carlin) made welcome appearances in the points, meanwhile Sam Smelt and GW Motorsport maintained their top 10 form.

Fortec’s Johnathan Hoggard returns after a brief pause in his campaign, while Harry Dyson will aim to join the top 10 party for JHR Developments on his Ford EcoBoost-powered debut.

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Linus Lundqvist staged a powerful comeback in the penultimate round of the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost at Silverstone, making up a full 22 places to make amends for a lacklustre qualifying outcome.

A four-time winner in British F4 so far during his rookie season, Lundqvist again proved on frontrunning form at Silverstone by topping Friday free practice – taking high hopes into the subsequent qualifying session on Saturday morning.

Once there, however, things did not pan out according to plan for the Double R Racing Swede. Contact with the barriers, coupled with a questionable tyre choice on a drying track, meant Lundqvist wound up an uncharacteristic 15th on the grid for the first of the weekend’s three races – and a lowly 18th for Race 3.

“Qualifying was a complete disaster,” said Lundqvist. “It was looking so well on Friday and the car felt near perfect, and I’m sure we would have had that kind of pace in qualy as well. I damaged the car by hitting the barrier, though, and with the benefit of hindsight I think we probably should have gone out on slicks from the start. It really hurts to know we messed up and lost that opportunity, but I mainly have myself to blame.”

Lundqvist, however, would not give up that easily. Powering back up the field, the 2016 Scandinavian single-seater champion hauled himself from 15th to sixth in the opening race, and then bettered that score further still in Race 3 – going from 18th to fifth in an entertaining display of overtaking prowess.

In total, Lundqvist made up no fewer than 22 positions across the two races, while adding further championship points for ninth in Race 2.

“I’m glad I managed to repair some of the damage of qualifying, and hopefully at least it was a good show,” concluded Lundqvist. “I’ve learned a lot here at Silverstone and I think it’s important to work on your race craft as well, and I certainly did this weekend! Still, I’m disappointed to not even take a podium away from here on a weekend when we really should have won races. We had the pace for it, as demonstrated on Friday. I just have to do a better job next time, grow with this experience and keep it all together.”

Linus Lundqvist remains fifth overall in the F4 British Championship standings, with just one final round to go at Brands Hatch two weeks from now.

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In 1999, Sepang International Circuit, Southeast Asia’s most impressive purpose-built F1 facility, hosted the first Malaysian F1 Grand Prix.

For almost two decades, the race has been at the pinnacle of motorsport in the country, and ignited a myriad of motorsport-related industries, rejuvenating sectors of the economy and attracting major international investment.

For the region’s motorsport community, the Formula 4 South East Asia (SEA) Championship – certified by the FIA, is the Grand Prix’s most exciting legacy, providing a professional, prestigious and comprehensive launch pad for young talent.

The series is organised and run by promoters Asian Autosport Action which has, since 1996 under the banner of Meritus GP, helped nurture seven talented drivers on their way to success, including former F1 drivers Rio Haryanto of Indonesia, India’s Narain Karthikeyan and Takuma Sato, who this year became the first-ever Japanese driver to win the Indy 500.

Many others, including Malaysians Jazeman Jaafar, Daniel Woodroof and Afiq Ikhwan Yazid, got their start with entry-level championships such as the AsiaCup, which is now upgraded to the Formula 4 SEA Championship.

While F4 SEA offers young motorsport athletes a unique opportunity, the championship’s organisers have far wider goals.

Malaysia’s investment in F1 generated massive interest from the younger generation eager to explore opportunities in motor racing and are now pursuing motorsport-related careers such as automotive and mechanical engineering, race car dynamics and analytics, sports journalism, event management and education. For the past 20 years, the team behind Formula 4 SEA has been training and developing Malaysians and building an Asian autosport ecosystem to create and employ a highly-skilled workforce and promote entrepreneurism.

In the wake of Formula 1, this sporting ecosystem continues to grow, commencing with the Formula 4 SEA Championship – the first FIA step to F1 in South East Asia - which educates local and regional race drivers as well as a support crew of technicians, engineers, administrative staff, PR and television producers, photographers and a host of professionals who have chosen to specialize in this high-tech global industry.

The final Malaysian F1 Grand Prix will be held at the end of September, where the F4 SEA Championship drivers will share track time with their F1 heroes.

Carrying the legacy of the Malaysian Grand Prix into the future, the F4 SEA Championship is already on pole position to produce the region’s next F1 star. For South East Asia’s young talent, the race is just beginning.

Malaysian Prime Minister Y.A.B. Dato Sri Mohd Najib said: "The Formula1 World Championship is a great podium to promote Malaysian engineering skills and our talented sportsmen such as Nazim Azman and Isyraf Danish. I look forward to celebrating the success of our FIA Formula 4 SEA Championship at Sepang on the 1st October.”

 

         

 

 

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