Dries Van Langendonck held his nerve to claim a pivotal victory in the opening Wera Tools F4 British Championship, certified by FIA race of the weekend at Silverstone, extending his advantage at the top of the standings in the process.
Starting from pole position, the Rodin Motorsport withstood a torrent of pressure from Theo Palmer (Hitech) after his chief title protagonist Lewis Wherrell (JHR Developments), dramatically spun into the Copse gravel trap while battling for the lead.
Van Langendonck’s seventh win of the season now means that the McLaren Development Driver heads into Sunday’s two races around the Home of British Motor Racing holding a 61-point lead over Wherrell.
Official track action began on Saturday with a thrilling qualifying showdown that culminated in teenage sensation Van Langendonck claiming his fourth CADOLA Watches Pole Position Award of the year.
The combination of the near capacity 31-car field and the short 1.64-mile National circuit saw a change to the traditional weekend format, with the field split into two 15-minute sessions for qualifying
As a result, the group with the fastest qualifying time occupying the odd-numbered positions, ordered by their respective lap times. The other group would then occupy the even-numbered grid positions, also ordered by their qualifying times.
Van Langendonck ultimately came to the fore in Group 2 as he lit up the timesheets with a best lap of 54.478s; which proved to be more than enough to beat the benchmark that rival Wherrell had set in Group 1. Completing the top-three was fellow title contender, Palmer.
Such were the minuscule margins that ran through the way through the field during both practice and qualifying, nine tenths of a second remarkably blanketed the entire grid when deciding the grid for races one and three.
It was Wherrell that made the best start as the red lights went out for race one, with the multiple race winner streaking into lead as the field streamed into Copse. Van Langendonck was quick to reply though and mounted a challenge of his own heading down the Wellington Straight.
Holding the inside line into Brooklands, Wherrell held firm to retain the lead and soon settled into a groove out front. The race was however, soon neutralised as the Lotus Safety Car made the first of two interventions.
On the first restart, the critical moment, not only the race but also the title battle, occurred. Running side-by-side with Van Langendonck across the line, Wherrell opted to take the wide line to maintain his lead through Copse but got caught out by the dirt that was situated off-line.
As soon as the Englishman hit the marbles, the British racer was a passenger as he slid into the gravel trap and out of the race. His demise therefore handed Van Langedonck the lead, however his fight for overall honours was far from over.
Soaking up waves of pressure from Palmer in the closing stages, following a Safety Car period to recover Wherrell’s stricken car, Van Langendonck used all of his skill and expertise to hold on to take a critical victory and the Lotus Fastest lap to pus his advantage up to 61 points. Palmer, meanwhile, banked solid points in second place to close the gap on Wherrell in front of him.
Virtuosi Racing’s Joseph Smith completed the podium in third after he came out on top of a sublime battle with his team-mate Jarrett Clark and Hitech’s Chiara Bättig.
Haarni Sadiq (JHR Developments) meanwhile secured runners-up laurels to Van Langendonck in the Rookie Cup on his way to sixth, finishing narrowly ahead of Chris Dittmann Racing’s Tommy Harfield.
Completing the top ten was Cole Hewetson (Xcel Motorsport), series returnee Arjen Kraling (Argenti Motorsport) and Alfie Slater (Rodin Motorsport) – who matched his season-best finish.
Races two and three of the Wera Tools F4 British Championship, certified by FIA from Silverstone are scheduled to take place at 09:50 and 15:15, respectively on Sunday.
ITV4 will be broadcasting race three for the UK audience, while international viewers can watch the two remaining encounters on the British F4 YouTube channel.