Pirtek Racing’s rising star Jamie Caroline returned to the podium with another impressive on-track performance in the third round of the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford at Thruxton.
The teenager went into the weekend seeking to build on a hat-trick of top ten finishes at Donington Park at the wheel of his Jamun Racing-run car, with the ultimate aim being to challenge for a second podium finish of the campaign.
Qualifying around the quickest circuit on the calendar saw Jamie post the ninth quickest time, with his best lap being just half a second away from pole.
A small issue with the brakes on his car saw him finish the opening race of the weekend in tenth place, with race two on Sunday morning providing the 17-year-old with the chance to shine.
Starting from tenth place, and carrying ITV4’s onboard camera, Jamie produced another astonishing start to rocket up to fourth place on the opening lap and then made up two further places on lap two before setting about chasing leader Luis Leeds.
Two Safety Car periods would disrupt his challenge as Jamie secured second place; matching the result he secured in the season opener at Brands Hatch.
An incident on the way to the grid in race three that caused damage to the nose of his car would ultimately lead to a retirement, with Jamie leaving Thruxton sitting seventh in the championship standings.
“It’s good that I’ve come away from the weekend with another podium finish, although I’m also a little bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to get the win,” he said. “I was hoping we could pick up a good result in race one but unfortunately there was a bit of an issue with the brakes that left me in P10 and that meant I had work to do in race two.
“I’ve always been confident when I’m on cold tyres and that meant that when the lights went out, I was able to push hard and make up places, although I didn’t expect to get up so far so quickly. I was keeping the pressure on Leeds ahead and without the second Safety Car, I think I could have pushed him for the win.
“Unfortunately, I had some understeer going into the chicane on the restart which meant I lost the gap and I had to focus more on defending from the car behind, so while it was good to be back on the podium, I know it could have been more.
“Race three is best forgotten so I’ll just turn my focus to Oulton Park and hopefully I can challenge for the win I really want.”
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