Rodin Motorsport’s James Higgins secured his second race win of the ROKiT British F4 Championship certified by FIA season, in this weekend’s reverse top 12 race at Donington Park’s GP circuit.
Maxwell Dodds (Virtuosi Racing) started from Pole position with JHR Developments driver Chloe Chong alongside him. The Rodin Motorsport duo of James Higgins and Jack Sherwood started from third and fourth respectively, however, it was fast-starting Sherwood who made up three places and led out of the first corner, only for his initial lead to be neutralised by an early Safety Car period when Maxwell Dodds (Virtuosi Racing) and Xcel Motorsports Zack Scoular came together and retired from the race due.
The pit lane was busy during the Safety Car laps with Jack Sherwood and Alex Ninovic (Rodin Motorsport) having to pit for mechanical issues sustained on the first lap. This promoted James Higgins and Chloe Chong into the top two positions.
At the restart, James Higgins led the field into turn one, with JHR Developments team-mates Chloe Chong and Ella Lloyd battling for the second spot on the podium with Lloyd edging past.
Rowan Campbell-Pilling (Phinsys by Argenti) and Deagen Fairclough (Hitech Pulse-Eight) had made their way into podium contention, after starting 11th and 12th respectively and both were soon applying pressure to Lloyd; she held a stern defence successfully holding off the championship leader for several laps, however after a tense battle, Fairclough made his way into second.
Higgins managed to stretch his lead out to 3.2 seconds over Fairclough and Lloyd who both ultimately joined him on the podium. Kai Daryanani (Fortec Motorsport) came home fourth with Reza Seewooruthun (Hitech Pulse-Eight) in fifth.
Campbell-Pilling claimed the Rookie Cup win with teammate Yuanpu Cui (Phinsys by Argenti) and Martin Molnar (Virtuosi Racing) second and third respectively.
The final race of the weekend saw Deagen Fairclough and Rowan Campbell-Pilling once again share the front row with Ella Lloyd and Alex Ninovic making up row two.
Fairclough got a good start with Ninovic easing into second place. The early stages of the race then saw Ninovic consistently applying pressure to Fairclough for the race lead, with Rowan Campbell-Pilling making his way past Ella Lloyd into third.
The top three each battled to each hold position, and it ultimately settled into this order for the remainder of the race with the fastest lap of the race being traded between Deagen Fairclough, Jack Sherwood and Zack Scoular with Fairclough securing all four Motul Fastest laps and accompanying championship points across the weekend.
Fairclough crossed the line to win his 10th race of the 2024 ROKiT British F4 season, followed by Alex Ninovic in second and Rowan Campbell-Pilling taking his inaugural British F4 podium in third. Leo Robinson (JHR Developments) finished fourth with James Higgins rounding out the top five.
Chloe Chong recorded her best result of the year, finishing in seventh place.
It was the same three drivers back on the Rookie Cup podium, with Campbell-Pilling, Cui and Molnar all making up another Rookie Cup top three.
Rodin Motorsport’s James Higgins was once again awarded the weekend’s Pirelli Hardest Charger Award for the most overtakes across Races 1 and 3 earning a set of Pirelli P-Zero tyres for testing.
Round 9 of the ROKiT British F4 Championship will see the championship return to Silverstone, this time on the National circuit configuration on September 21-22 with Sunday’s action to be broadcast live on ITV4.
