By the mid-point of the qualifying session and first flying laps completed, Will Macintyre (Hitech Pulse-Eight) was looking solid in the provisional pole time he set on lap four at the first event for the ROKiT F4 British on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. Macintyre bettered that time on lap eight, however it was team-mate Jimmy Piszcyk (Hitech Pulse-Eight) that carved a further 0.081 seconds off the time late in the session to claim two championship points and the Omologato Pole Position Award. Piszcyk starts from pole position for the weekend’s race three.
Macintyre’s fastest time did give him the consolation of P1 on the grid for the weekend’s first race. The session once again showcased how close the competition, with the top fourteen separated by less than 0.5 seconds.
In Race One, Will Macintyre started from P1 alongside James Higgins (Fortec Motorsport), both unable to match Josh Irfan’s lightning start (Rodin Carlin) who led by the end of the opening lap. Irfan quickly built and managed a healthy 1.5s lead, however a lap-five track limits warning signalled the need to remain calm; he eventually crossed the finish line 0.4s seconds ahead of Macintyre and a hungry Jimmy Piszcyk who had been pushing to challenge Macintyre for second place.
Irfan is the first rookie of the season to take an overall win, following up on his overall third place in the reverse grid race at Oulton Park. He was not the only fast rookie out there with Gabriel Stilp claiming the fastest lap of the race and establishing the British F4 track lap record with a time of 2:02.423. He also claims the Motul Fastest Lap Award and a championship point.
The results sees a new championship leader for the first time since the first race of 2023, with Will Macintyre’s second place providing the points to overtake Louis Sharp who finished outside of the points today. Macintyre will be defending his 13 point lead in tomorrow’s two races.
