Jamie Caroline retained his healthy lead in the F4 British Championship Certified by FIA – powered by Ford despite a challenging weekend on track at Croft.
Pirtek Racing’s rising star went into the fifth meeting of the season on the back foot as a result of a ten place grid penalty handed out for an incident at Oulton Park in round four, which meant he started the opening race of the weekend from twelfth on the grid.
As has become the norm, Jamie rapidly made up places when the race got underway to sit sixth after lap one, and he would continue to race his way forwards to finish just off the podium in fourth.
Another solid start in race two saw Jamie move up to second place but after an early Safety Car period, he saw himself shuffled back to sixth.
Undeterred, Jamie worked his way back to fourth spot but a clash with Ayrton Simmons at Tower three laps from the end saw him slip back to seventh by the finish.
A gearbox problem in race three prevented Jamie from pushing for what would have been a record-breaking ninth win of the season although more solid points for fifth place means he retains a 67.5 point lead in the standings going into the summer break.
“The penalty going into the weekend was always going to make it more difficult, but things just didn’t go our way,” he said. “The team did a fantastic job to prepare the car for the weekend after the incident at Oulton Park and I was hoping to bring home some strong results for them.
“Fourth wasn’t a bad result in race one from where we started but I was frustrated that things just went against us. Race three was tough because there was an issue with the gearbox that meant we didn’t have the pace in the car, but we’ve scored in all three races and maintained the points lead.
“The aim now is to consolidate that lead when we get to Snetterton after the summer break.”
Pirtek is Europe’s number one provider of hydraulic solutions and mobile hose replacement, with over 170 centres supported by over 700 mobile service workshops throughout Europe; offering solutions to a number of business sectors, including the automotive industry.
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