Pirtek Racing’s rising star Jamie Caroline secured a brace of top four finishes as the F4 British Championship Certified by FIA – powered by Ford head to Rockingham for the eighth meeting of the year.
The teenager went into the weekend keen to bounce back from two difficult meetings at Snetterton and Knockhill, with hopes high of a stronger showing at the wheel of his Fortec Motorsport-run car.
Mixed weather conditions in qualifying worked against Jamie, who was unable set a quick time when the circuit was at its best and found himself down in 18th place as a result.
Worsening weather arrived just in time for the opening race of the weekend later on Saturday, but the rain played to Jamie’s strengths with a storming start seeing him make up eleven places before the opening lap was done.
Although he would briefly slip back to eighth spot, a typically battling drive allowed him to race through to fourth place by the finish.
Avoiding a dramatic clash ahead of the start of race two on Sunday morning, Jamie again found himself running towards the head of the field and added more points to his championship tally with a repeat of his race one result.
The final race of the weekend would prove to be a more challenging affair however as, starting once again towards the back as a result of the grid being decided by his second best qualifying time, he was only able to make it through to 14th spot by the finish; a trip across the grass avoiding a spinning car having forced him to back off.
Jamie ends the weekend sitting tenth in the championship standings.
“I really paid the price for the fact that we were in the wrong place at the wrong time in qualifying,” he said. “It was always going to be difficult from the back of the grid but despite that, I think we could have had a podium finish in race one. I made a bit of a mistake that meant I lost some of the places I’d made up and had to do the work again, but P4 from the back was a decent result.
“I always go better in the wet than in the dry but it was good to get another fourth place in race two and then in race three, I made a decent start but had to go off the track when one of my team-mates had a spin. It meant there was loads of rubbish in the radiators and I had to back off a bit, so that was that.
“It’s not been the easiest of weekends and I’m just looking forward to Silverstone.”
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