The ROKiT British F4 Championship Certified by the FIA is set for its 2024 season opener this weekend at Donington Park, with 22 future stars of the sport to make up this year’s grid.
Changes to the race weekend format for 2024 include a reverse top 12 starting grid for Race two, with the rest of the field starting in the order of their fastest lap from Official Qualifying.
Races one and three will keep the same format from last season. The Race one grid will be set in order of the drivers second fastest lap from Qualifying and Race three will be in order of the fastest lap achieved in the same session.
Drivers across the ten race weekends of the ROKiT British F4 Championship will compete for a multitude of prizes. The championship winner will get the chance to spend time with eight-time Formula One World Constructors’ Champions Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team undertaking a session in their simulator as well as a FRECA test courtesy of Pirelli and a season of support, of expert human performance coaching from BWT Alpine Formula 1 ® Team. Awards such as the Motul Fastest Lap, C1rcuit Pole Position award and the Pirelli Hardest Charger will all be earned at every round.
The championship looks set to be highly competitive affair, with a strong blend of returning drivers, drivers graduating to F4 and all-new rookie drivers.
Deagen Fairclough makes his return to the championship after finishing third overall in the points in 2023 with eight podiums including three wins. Fairclough makes the move to Hitech Pulse-Eight for this season and following a strong showing in pre-season testing looks likely of being a title contender. Another name to watch will be James Higgins of Rodin Motorsport. Also joining a new team for 2024 and with wins under his belt from 2023, Higgins is another driver looking to be in the mix heading into the new season.
Mika Abrahams (Hitech Pulse-Eight), Kai Daryanani (Fortec Motorsport) and Jack Sherwood (Rodin Motorsport) will all be drivers to watch as they make their return to the championship after full campaigns in 2023.
The 2024 season has seen an increase in female talent joining the grid with Chloe Chong, Ella Lloyd (JHR Developments) and Nina Gademan (Fortec Motorsports) making their debuts in the championship. Abbi Pulling (Rodin Motorsport) also makes her return to the ROKiT British F4 championship for the first time since 2021.
New faces for 2024 include a field of ten rookies, each with strong racing pedigrees as they begin their journey in single seaters. Swedish OKJ karting champion, Joel Bergstrom is joined at JHR Developments by Italian karting champion and Ginetta Junior’s youngest ever race winner, Leo Robinson for the upcoming season. Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Junior Driver Yuanpu Cui (Phinsys by Argenti) and Sheffield’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling (Phinsys by Argenti) will be entering their maiden year of car racing. Yuhao Fu, Martin Molnar (Virtuosi Racing) and Chris Dittmann Racing’s Bart Harrison also enter the season as rookies, all with solid karting credentials to their names.
Alex Ninovic (Rodin Motorsport) and Alex Berg (Fortec Motorsport) both arrive at ROKiT British F4 with prior F4 experience. Ninovic continues with Rodin Motorsport as he makes the move across from Spanish F4 while Berg has a race win to his name from the F4 United States Championship.
Brits Reza Seewooruthun (Hitech Pulse-Eight) and Maxwell Dodds (Virtuosi Racing) will be using circuit knowledge to their advantage as both drivers enter the championship with experience in the Ginetta Juniors.
2024 sees Xcel Motorsport join the teams’ fray; they may be new to British F4, however hold strong credentials earned from previous titles in UAE’s F4 series. Xcel are fielding Zack Scoular, who raced with them in UAE F4 and August Raber, who graduated from Xcel’s kart team.
The Team’s championship looks likely to be a hotly contested affair, with such strength in depth of the drivers in the field, and 2023 champions Rodin Motorsport will have their work cut out to secure a third consecutive year of honours. Eight teams will be battling through the season with the highest two scoring entries per team each weekend counting towards the Teams’ Championship points.
Join ROKiT British F4 at Donington Park, Leicestershire this weekend 27-28 April.
Qualifying for Donington starts at 1025hrs on Saturday morning with Race One on Saturday (1450hrs) and a further two races on Sunday (0925hrs and 1345hrs).
For the opportunity to meet the stars of British F4, some of whom could soon become household names (there are three graduates of the series on the F1 grid this season), join the F4 autograph session at the F4 Race Centre in the F4 paddock at 1200hrs on Sunday 28 April.
Tickets and full timetable are available here: https://www.donington-park.co.uk/2024/april/btcc
