Adam Al Azhari and Rowan Campbell-Pilling scored a win apiece as the Wera Tools F4 British Championship certified by FIA concluded a blockbuster weekend of racing at Knockhill.
On what was a scorching Sunday in Scotland, the UK’s premier single-seater series served up two captivating contests which culminated in Rodin Motorsport’s Al Azhari and JHR Developments’ Campbell-Pilling enjoying a share of the spoils.
Having endured a challenging past few events, Al Azhari kicked the action off by making a welcome return to the top step of the podium as he triumphed ahead of Tommy Harfield (Chris Dittmann Racing) and August Raber (Argenti Motorsport) in a truncated reverse grid encounter.
Starting second on the grid, the Emirati driver out-dragged pole sitter Raber on the run down to the first corner to take the lead, while Chase Fernandez (Xcel Motorsport) tucked himself up behind them as he maintained third place.
The race was neutralised almost immediately by the safety car as the stricken machines of Alba Larsen (Chris Dittmann Racing), Henry Joslyn (Fortec Motorsport) and Thomas Bearman (Hitech TGR) needed to be recovered following contact at McIntyre’s.
Racing resumed with nine minutes remaining and it proved to be an untroubled run to the chequered flag for Al Azhari, as he delivered a wheel-perfect performance to clinch his third win of the campaign.
Behind him, Challenge Cup front-runner Harfield emerged as the driver to watch in the closing stages as he pulled off a number of eye-catching overtakes to clinch a fourth podium of the year while Raber, who was racing Fernandez wheel-to-wheel, finished third.
Fernandez’s best efforts to relieve Raber of third place would ultimately be unsuccessful but the Donington Park race-winner was able to salvage fourth, whilst Jimmy Piszcyk (Rodin Motorsport) and Ary Bansal (Fortec Motorsport) completed the top six.
Further down the order, championship contender Martin Molnár (Virtuosi Racing) and Campbell-Pilling progressed up to seventh and eighth respectively, ahead of top rookie Theo Palmer (Xcel Motorsport) and standings leader Fionn McLaughlin (Hitech TGR).
In addition to claiming overall runner-up laurels and Challenge Cup honours, Harfield also snared the Lotus Fastest Lap Award and an additional championship point from the race.
The weekend’s third bout was the 25-minute Feature Race, with grid positions derived from best Qualifying times. Broadcast live on ITV4 and ITVX, an exciting encounter saw Campbell-Pilling become the 11th different winner of the season whilst the top two in the championship standings dramatically clashed late in the race.
Looking to bounce back from the disappointment of losing victory via a time penalty in Saturday’s Race One, Campbell-Pilling made no mistake in a frenetic finale, leap-frogging pole sitter Bearman as the lights went out.
While the second-year driver looked comfortable out front, he did have to contend with two safety car periods. The first came after Argenti Motorsport’s Ethan Jeff-Hall stalled on the line before his team-mate Henry Mercier then crashed at the chicane.
Arguably the biggest talking point of the contest came in the closing stages, as title combatants McLaughlin and Molnár became embroiled in an almighty scrap for the third and final step on the podium.
Red Bull Junior McLaughlin held the advantage on-track but Molnár began to ramp up the pressure by showing the nose of his car on a number of occasions; try as he might though, he couldn’t find a way past the series leader.
As the race headed towards an exciting crescendo, Molnár finally made his move with a sensational late dive down the inside of McLaughlin at the hairpin. Unfortunately though, the pair clashed on the exit which sent McLaughlin into retirement and Molnár out of the points.
The stricken Hitech TGR machine of McLaughlin, as well as the gravel-ladened car of Ella Lloyd (Rodin Motorsport) who had spun out at the chicane, subsequently forced officials to throw the red flag and bring the race to a premature end.
That left Campbell-Pilling to claim his first win of the season ahead of Bearman, whilst Bansal emerged as the main beneficiary of the championship protagonists coming together to complete the rostrum in third.
Joslyn – who started the race in 15th – and Al Azhari were able to progress up the order to finish fourth and fifth respectively, narrowly ahead of Harfield. Rounding out the top ten was Xavier Avramides (Hitech TGR), Xcel Motorsport duo Yuhao Fu and Theo Palmer, and multiple race-winner Raber.
Despite finishing a lowly 18th, Hungarian ace Molnár was able to walk away with the honour of claiming the Lotus Fastest Lap Award.
Capping a fabulous day, Rowan Campbell-Pilling also secured the Pirelli Hardest Charger Award for the lowest cumulative finishing positions over the weekend, earning his team JHR Developments a set of Pirelli P-Zero tyres for testing.
Leaving Knockhill, McLaughlin remains at the summit of both the Drivers’ Championship and Rookie Cup. Meanwhile, Hitech TGR and Harfield continue to control the Teams’ Championship and the Challenge Cup respectively.
Next up for the Wera Tools F4 British Championship certified by FIA is a return to Donington Park – albeit this time on the Grand Prix layout – for Rounds 22, 23 & 24 of the 2025 season on the 30-31 August.
