The first round of the 2024 British F4 Esports Championship turned out to be a rather good one for Guild Esports, with Remy Gilbert enjoying a two-point advantage over team-mate Leo Brown in the drivers’ standings once the dust had settled.
Hot on their heels was the experienced Graham Carroll of Ferrari Esports, with last season’s UK FF1600 Esports Cup champion Henry Moore, driving for Guild’s Academy team, impressively not far behind.
With the championship heading to Zandvoort for the first time, Round 2 would see a dramatic reversal in fortunes for Guild, with Moore showing his more senior teammates why he is perhaps the team’s strongest title contender.
Race 1
Somewhat surprisingly, it was BS+ COMPETITION’s Elias Raikaa who took pole position, just ahead of Carroll, with Moore joined on the second row by Mensah Racing Driven By Us’ Matt Caruana. Championship leaders Gilbert and Brown were 10th and eleventh respectively, leaving them with much work to do.
Off the line Raikaa hung it out wide at Tarzan, using the banking to hold off the advances of Carroll. Meanwhile, Caruana launched an attack on Moore for third, before using a double slipstream to overtake both Carroll and Raikaa on the main straight. Moore capitalised on the squabbling ahead to move into second.
There was a cessation of hostilities between the leading group until the final few minutes, as Moore drafted past Caruana for the lead. Caruana reversed the move on the following lap as they headed onto the final lap, holding position until the chequered flag.
Carroll would complete the podium, with pole-sitter Raikaa coming home in fourth.
Race 2
Aston Martin’s Manuel Biancolilla claimed the reverse grid pole position for race two, on account of finishing 12th in the first encounter. This placed the frontrunners right into the midfield quagmire, where the drama began almost immediately.
Biancolilla made a clean getaway at the start, closely followed by William Chadwick. Further back, on-the-road championship leader Carroll was dramatically eliminated after a tussle with Raikaa.
Raikaa would soon be involved in another incident with race one winner Caruana, with both taking evasive action to avoid a spinning vehicle ahead, ending both their races on the spot after sustaining heavy damage.
Moore, meanwhile, showed a level of maturity beyond his years to shuffle his way through the pack to sixth. However, all was nearly lost after Moore made side-by-side contact with G2 Esports’ Joni Katila, sending the latter into the barriers. Seemingly undamaged, Moore continued in fifth position.
On the final lap, Chadwick made an audacious move on Biancolilla for the lead, with Giuseppe Lo Faro capitalising to jump into second. They crossed the line in this order, with Biancolilla just falling short after leading the whole race.
Erstwhile championship leaders Guild Esports endured a disastrous Round 2, with Remy Gilbert’s 10th position in Race 2 its best result. Graham Carroll also had a mixed event, encountering his first DNF and losing the championship lead to the consistent Henry Moore.
Guild and Carroll will be looking to bounce back at Snetterton on the 16th of October.
2024 UK FF1600 Esports Cup, Round 2
Mark Fletcher emerged as the man to beat from Round 1 at Brands Hatch Indy, but Crofton Woodhatch and Hans Jakob Sivertsen Mollatt looked to have the pace to compete right at the sharp end, barring any misfortune.
Mollatt snatched pole position for race one at Zandvoort, while Woodhatch sat alongside less than a tenth of a second behind. Championship leader Fletcher was sixth on the grid, three-and-a-half tenths off.
Race 1
Mollatt and Woodhatch got away equally out front but later clashed at Mastersbocht on lap one. Woodhatch was in the gravel while Mollatt continued in the lead, just ahead of the canny Fletcher.
At the halfway point, Fletcher gained an excellent run through the Arie Luijendijk corner and drafted through into the lead, as several drivers succumbed to incidents behind, including Round 1 race winner Shoma Shintani.
Despite losing first to Mollatt soon after, Fletcher timed his attack until the very final moment and drafted into first as the chequered flag flew. The pair were separated by just 0.02s!
Race 2
The entire top ten was reversed for race two, leaving Fletcher plenty of work to do. On pole was Ryan Elliott, with Shintani recovering well enough in race one to start third.
Ian Joyner joined the pair in a three-pronged battle for the lead. Unfortunately, exiting Hugenholz Joyner ran wide into Elliott’s left rear and spun. Before the ensuing chaos, Fletcher had an incident all by himself and was out of the race.
Lewis Wherrell joined the fight for first and tagged Shintani into the pitwall with around 10 minutes to go, giving Elliott some breathing room to gather his thoughts. Wherrell subsequently ran deep at Tarzan and Shintani did well to hold onto his podium position, with the top eight separated by just 1.5s.
On the final lap, Sam Sanders drafted around Shintani to take the lead on the home straight, before Mollatt surreptitiously made his way to the front of the baying pack a couple of corners later.
At the penultimate corner, Shintani ran wide and rejoined into the path of Mollatt, diverting him into the inside barrier and into retirement. On the drag race to the line, Wherrell grabbed the lead from Sanders with Shintani recovering to third on the road.
The result means Wherrell holds a nine-point lead over Fletcher in the championship standings.
2024 British F4 Esports Championship, Round 2 Zandvoort Race 1 results
- Matt Caruana, Mensah Racing Driven By Us
- Henry Moore, Guild Racing
- Graham Carroll, Scuderia Ferrari HP Esports Team
- Elias Raika, BS+COMPETITION
- Joni Katila, G2 Esports
2024 British F4 Esports Championship, Round 2 Zandvoort Race 2 results
- William Chadwick, FreeM UK by Altitude eSports
- Giuseppe Lo Faro, AZZ Tech Racing by Grid Finder
- Manuel Biancolilla, Aston Martin Aramco Esports Team
- Isaac Price, G2 Esports
- Henry Moore, Guild Racing
Driver standings after Round 2
- Henry Moore, Guild Academy, 127 points
- Graham Carroll, Scuderia Ferrari HP Esports Team, 112 points
- Matt Caruana, Mensah Racing Driven By Us, 106 points
- William Chadwick, FreeM UK by Altitude eSports,100 points
- Remy Gilbert, Guild Racing, 93 points
Team standings after Round 2
- Guild Racing, 178 points
- Scuderia Ferrari HP Esports Team, 167 points
- Mensah Racing Driven By Us, 127 points
- Guild Academy, 127 points
- G2 Esports, 126 points
2024 British F4 Esports Championship and UK FF 1600 Esports Cup schedule
Round 1 – 25th September – Brands Hatch IndyRound 2 – 2nd October – Zandvoort- Round 3 – 16th October Snetterton 300
- Round 4 – 23rd October Oulton Park Full
- Round 5 – 30th October Silverstone GP
- Round 6 – 13th November Knockhill
- Round 7 – 20th November Donington GP
- Round 8 – 27th November Brands Hatch GP
Images courtesy of Rhys Caryl / RC Sim Photography
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