Matt Caruana and William Chadwick shared the wins as the British F4 Esports Championship headed to Zandvoort for the second round of the season.
The first round of the 2024 British F4 Esports Championship turned out to be a rather good one for Guild Esports, with Remy Gilbert enjoying a two-point advantage over team-mate Leo Brown in the drivers’ standings once the dust had settled.
Hot on their heels was the experienced Graham Carroll of Ferrari Esports, with last season’s UK FF1600 Esports Cup champion Henry Moore, driving for Guild’s Academy team, impressively not far behind.
RACE 1
Somewhat surprisingly, it was BS+ COMPETITION’s Elias Raikaa who took pole position, just ahead of Carroll, with Moore joined on the second row by Mensah Racing Driven By Us’ Matt Caruana. Championship leaders Gilbert and Brown were 10th and eleventh respectively, leaving them with much work to do.
Off the line Raikaa hung it out wide at Tarzan, using the banking to hold off the advances of Carroll. Meanwhile, Caruana launched an attack on Moore for third, before using a double slipstream to overtake both Carroll and Raikaa on the main straight. Moore capitalised on the squabbling ahead to move into second.
There was a cessation of hostilities between the leading group until the final few minutes, as Moore drafted past Caruana for the lead. Caruana reversed the move on the following lap as they headed onto the final lap, holding position until the chequered flag.
RACE 2
Aston Martin’s Manuel Biancolilla claimed the reverse grid pole position for race two, on account of finishing 12th in the first encounter. This placed the frontrunners right into the midfield quagmire, where the drama began almost immediately.
Biancolilla made a clean getaway at the start, closely followed by William Chadwick. Further back, on-the-road championship leader Carroll was dramatically eliminated after a tussle with Raikaa.
Raikaa would soon be involved in another incident with race one winner Caruana, with both taking evasive action to avoid a spinning vehicle ahead, ending both their races on the spot after sustaining heavy damage.
Moore, meanwhile, showed a level of maturity beyond his years to shuffle his way through the pack to sixth. However, all was nearly lost after Moore made side-by-side contact with G2 Esports’ Joni Katila, sending the latter into the barriers. Seemingly undamaged, Moore continued in fifth position.
On the final lap, Chadwick made an audacious move on Biancolilla for the lead, with Giuseppe Lo Faro capitalising to jump into second. They crossed the line in this order, with Biancolilla just falling short after leading the whole race.
Erstwhile championship leaders Guild Esports endured a disastrous Round 2, with Remy Gilbert’s 10th position in Race 2 its best result. Graham Carroll also had a mixed event, encountering his first DNF and losing the championship lead to the consistent Henry Moore.
Guild and Carroll will be looking to bounce back at Snetterton on the 16th of October.
Article written by Ross McGregor and originally posted on Traxion.gg
Photos courtesy of Rhys Caryl
