Mika Abrahams (Hitech Pulse-Eight) has claimed his first ROKiT British F4 season victory in Sunday’s reverse top 12 race, becoming the second race winner of the season.
After a lengthy rain-delay curtailed all track activity from the start of the day, it wasn’t until late afternoon, at a saturated Donington Park circuit, before the grid eagerly got stuck into action.
In a change to the race format for 2024, Race two was a reverse top-12 starting grid, with the rest of the field starting in the order of their fastest lap from Saturday’s Qualifying session.
This saw rookie Joel Bergstrom (JHR Developments) start from pole position alongside driver Yuanpu Cui (Phinsys by Argenti ) in second position, however it was Fortec Motorsport’s Alex Berg, from the second row of the grid, who moved into the lead off the start. Following Berg was Mika Abrahams (Hitech Pulse-Eight) who made up three spots on lap one. After a brief safety car period, the pairing drove away from the field and established a healthy gap.
The battle for the final spot on the podium was hotly contested, with Jack Sherwood (Rodin Motorsport), Deagen Fairclough (Hitech Pulse-Eight) and Yuanpu Cui (Phinsys by Argenti) all racing fearlessly in a tight pack.
Alex Berg (Fortec Motorsport) and Mika Abrahams (Hitech Pulse-Eight) pulled the gap to third out to a comfortable 5.58 seconds into the final minutes of the race, however a 5 second time penalty applied at the chequered flag snatched the win from Berg, and elevated a delighted Abrahams to the top step.
Deagan Fairclough, who had earlier been battling for the third step of the podium, found himself elevated to second place, and his second podium of the weekend, when Berg was demoted to third.
Deagen Fairclough also secured an additional point in the race having secured the Motul Fastest Lap Award.
Deagen Fairclough (Hitech Pulse-Eight) leaves Round 1 of the 2024 ROKiT British F4 championship at Donington Park (National) with a 16 and 19 point lead in the Drivers’ Championship from James Higgins and Alex Ninovic respectively, both of Rodin Motorsport.
Yuanpu Cui (Phinsys by Argenti) leads the Rookie Cup ahead of Bart Harrison (Chris Dittmann Racing) and Cui’s Phinsys by Argenti team-mate Rowan Campbell-Pilling.
Campbell-Pilling was awarded this weekend’s Pirelli Hardest Charger Award having gained seven places during the only qualifying race of the weekend.
Due to time constraints on the limited schedule, Race 3 of the season opening round wasn’t possible to be scheduled, within the shortened day’s racing activity, and will if possible be rescheduled for a later round in the season.
The ROKiT British F4 Championship now moves to Brands Hatch for the next three races of the season on 11-12 May.
