Pirtek Racing’s Jamie Caroline endured a challenging weekend on track where his pace wasn’t rewarded with results as the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford headed to Knockhill for the seventh round of the year.
Jamie made the trip to Scotland eager to challenge towards the head of the field, and produced a strong performance in qualifying to secure the third quickest time at the wheel of his Fortec Motorsport-run car.
A five place grid penalty carried into the weekend meant Jamie started the opening race of the weekend from eighth on the grid but a solid run when the lights went out saw him cross the line in fifth spot; a result that would later become fourth when Carlin’s Petru Florescu was excluded from the meeting.
The reverse grid for race two put Jamie on the front row, but an unfortunate mistake as he waiting for the lights to go out saw his car creep forwards and resulted in officials handing him a ten second time penalty.
Whilst he would race hard throughout to take the flag third on the road, the time penalty demoted him to 13th place and outside the points.
Having incurred a ten place grid drop for race three after officials deemed that he had moved more than once in defending his position in race two, Jamie was left with work to do in the final race of the weekend and managed to battle his way to eighth spot.
It meant the teenager was able to cement his top ten championship position, despite heading away from the circuit wondering what might have been.
“It’s been a tough weekend and the results weren’t what I was hoping to get,” he said. “Qualifying went well but in race one, I had to try and fight my way forwards and to finish in P4 was good.
“Race two was unfortunate and I hold my hands up that I made a mistake at the start. Although I stopped the car again and lost a place, a jump start is a jump start so I can’t argue with the penalty.
“Personally though, I think the grid penalty for race three was harsh, and it prevented me from challenging for at least a podium. Whether I’d have had the car to win, I don’t know, but if I’d started from my original position and got into the lead, I’d have done everything I could to defend it.
“Had it gone my way, I could have picked up three podium finishes this weekend and hopefully my luck will change soon.”
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