Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic returned to the top step of the podium in the dry reverse top 12 grid race at Zandvoort for Round 6 of the 2024 ROKiT British F4 certified by the FIA season.
Abbi Pulling (Rodin Motorsport) started from Pole position with Phinsys by Argenti’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling alongside her. Ninovic started from third with Ella Lloyd (JHR Developments) from fourth.
It was Alex Ninovic from the second row that got the best start, getting up the inside of his teammate Pulling, into turn one. Ella Lloyd slotted herself into third, with Kai Daryanani (Fortec Motorsport) and Campbell-Pilling side by side for fourth into turn one.
The pressure was on Ella to keep her podium position with championship leader Deagen Fairclough (Hitech Pulse-Eight) trying every possible line to get past. After a tense tussle between the pair, Fairclough made his way into third.
Jack Sherwood (Rodin Motorsport) was the biggest mover throughout the race. After starting from 17th on the grid, Sherwood had made his way into 10th after one lap of racing and proceeded to work his way forward to come home an impressive fourth.
Alex Ninovic took his third race win of the year, with Abbi Pulling holding out Deagen Fairclough for the second spot on the podium. Fairclough and Sherwood were third and fourth respectively with Ella Lloyd finishing inside the top 5.
Yuanpu Cui (Phinsys by Argenti) went on to claim another Rookie Cup win, with Martin Molnar (Virtuosi Racing) in second and Xcel Motorsport’s Zack Scoular making his return to the podium in third.
The weekend’s third race saw another all Hitech Pulse-Eight front row with Deagen Fairclough and Reza Seewooruthun on row one, ahead of the Virtuosi Racing pair of Maxwell Dodds and Martin Molnar.
Fairclough held hi sadvantage into turn one, ahead of Seewooruthun, Molnar and Kai Daryanani. Alex Ninovic quickly managed to get himself up into podium contention from the fifth row of the grid, making his way past Daryanani to hunt down Molnar.
An incident involving Rowan Campbell-Pilling, Leo Robinson (JHR Developments), Zack Scoular and Nina Gademan (Fortec Motorsport) caused a safety car intervention that led to a brief red flag, to recover the damaged cars from the track.
With just under 10 minutes left on the clock, the race restarted with Fairclough leading the field ahead of teammate Sewooruthun. Alex Ninovic had contact once the race resumed which saw Jack Sherwood move into third while the Australian darted for the pits for a new front wing.
Fairclough would eventually cross the line first with a gap of 1.5 seconds back to Reza Seewooruthun and Jack Sherwood in second and third. Kai Daryanani finished fourth in a season-best result with Martin Molnar in fifth.
Molnar took to the top step of the Rookie Cup podium once again this weekend, with Ernesto Rivera (Hitech Pulse-Eight) and Matus Ryba (Phinsys by Argenti) joining him.
Deagen Fairclough and Alex Ninovic each secured an extra point for setting the Motul Fastest laps in Races 2 and 3 respectively.
JHR Development’s Chloe Chong was awarded this weekend’s Pirelli Hardest Charger Award for the most overtakes across Races 1 and 3, making up a combined 20 places and earning a set of Pirelli P-Zero tyres for testing.
Round 7 of the ROKiT British F4 Championship sees the series return to British shores when after a brief hiatus, the championship will race at Scotland’s Knockhill track in Fife on August 10-11 with Sunday’s action to be broadcast live on ITV4.
