Henry Moore made a solid start to his 2025 British F4 Esports Championship season, taking a win and fourth-place finish in the first round at Donington Park.
The Team Benik driver was only 10 points ahead of Matt Caruana, however, as the HYMO Setups by EMM racer also tasted victory in the season opener.
The pair proved to be close in qualifying for the second round at Thruxton, too, with Caruana shading the young Englishman by 17 thousandths of a second to line up third on the grid.
Dani Moreno was on pole for TC Esports and sat alongside Drive Lounge Racing’s Leo Brown on the front row.
Race 1
Moreno held off the advances of Brown through the Campbell, Cobb and Seagrave complex, but both would lose out to Caruana before the opening lap’s end.
HYMO’s William Chadwick had made good ground on lap one to sit fourth exiting Club, but, as has been the case many times in British F4, he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, succumbing to suspension damage after contact with championship leader Moore.
Caruana dropped back to fifth place after an issue at Club, as Moreno re-took the lead, this time from Moore. Benik’s Remy Gilbert was in third as Brown followed in fourth. The top four appeared to settle into a holding pattern at this point and opened up a gap to the gaggle of cards battling for sixth.
With around four minutes to go, however, the leading group decided that the gloves were off, with their battling allowing Caruana to join the fight. Moore jumped into the lead, as Caruana did the over-under on Gilbert exiting Club.
Moreno switched with Moore heading onto the final lap, but the lead battle took a bizarre turn on the run to the flag as both drivers were hit with slow-down penalties. Moore had to slow more than Moreno, gifting the latter the win as Gilbert snatched second.
Race 2
The top 11 finishers were reversed for Race 2, allowing Ryan Micallef onto Race 2 pole position – a solid effort given he started Race 1 from the rear of the field. Micallef would line up alongside Shoma Shintani, last year’s UK FF1600 Esports Cup champion, on the front row.
Micallef made a prompt escape as the lights went green, with Williams’ Shintani fending off stablemate Pablo Espes and Alpine’s Connor Jupp.
Espes – and seemingly half of the field – would later be eliminated from the race, leaving Micallef, Jupp, Shintani and Caruana to fight it out for the lead. With around 13 minutes left, Caruana enjoyed a triple slipstream run out of Church to slingshot into the lead, with Beckham Jacir, Moore and Gilbert now joining the lead group.
Moore cycled himself up to fourth, as Jacir made an aggressive move on Caruana for the lead with two laps to go. The positions were reversed quickly, but heading into Club for the penultimate time, an unfortunate collision between Jacir and Caruana launched the latter into a spin.
Micallef and Jacir headed into the chicane side-by-side on the last lap. The pair made contact, cut the final corner, and in a carbon copy of Race 1, both had to slow down to avoid being penalised.
Moore and Gilbert capitalised to cross the line 1-2 for Team Benik (after having to pull off some evasive manoeuvres to avoid collecting the slowing cars ahead), with Micallef claiming third after Jacir copped a time penalty.
It was another clumsy end to the race, but most notably, Henry Moore had once again established his championship credentials with a patient and methodical drive to another maximum point-score.
Moore now has a healthy points lead in the Drivers’ championship, as does Team Benik in the Teams’ battle, with the next round at Snetterton two weeks away.
2025 UK FF1600 Esports Cup, Round 2
Matt Kendall was the big winner from Round 1, claiming a double podium to lead the standings after leaving Donington Park.
However, 2024 frontrunner Crofton Woodhatch took pole position and a race win, and he was the man to beat again in qualifying, claiming pole position from Hayden Bramley by just over a tenth of a second.
Behind was Franek Sikorski and Jayden Sherwood in third and fourth, respectively, with championship leader Kendall down in fifth, four-tenths in arrears.
Race 1
Woodhatch made a solid start, leading the pack through the back-end of the circuit until Bramely slipstreamed ahead approaching the Club chicane.
It would get worse for Woodhatch on the next tour, as he was slapped with a slowdown penalty through Church, promoting Sherwood into second. Although Woodhatch would move back ahead, another mistake at Church dropped him off the back of the lead battle, as Bramley and Sherwood worked together to build a gap.
Their strategy worked until the penultimate lap, when Sherwood made his move for the lead into Club, allowing Woodhatch to close the gap. The final lap was therefore a three-way fight for victory, with the trio heading into the final corner side-by-side.
Woodhatch and Sherwood tripped over each other on the inside, while Bramley usurped both by holding an outside line into Club, taking his first UK FF1600 Esports win as a result.
Sherwood was second, Woodhatch third, and erstwhile championship leader Kendall came home a disappointing seventh.
Race 2
The reverse grid draw saw Yuanxi Lin on pole position for Race 2, with a full top-10 reversal meaning Bramley would have to battle on his hands to make it a double victory.
Lin held onto the lead through lap one, with Round 1 frontrunner Charlie Summers on his tail. Woodhatch, Bramley and Sherwood all survived the early salvos and made progress through the field, with the three line astern in their quest for the podium.
Lin and Teemu Myllykangas had by now switched positions up front, but Bramley’s charge to the front ended soon after at Church. The Race 1 winner tangled with Woodhatch on corner entry, clipping the innocent Jonatahn Smith to the outside, sending the latter into a spectacular roll.
Bramley was out, but Woodhatch continued, albeit well off the lead battle, as Sherwood manoeuvred himself into the lead.
It was to be a four-way battle for victory on the final lap, with Myllykangas heading Sherwood on the approach to Club. Sherwood made a bold move around the outside of the chicane to take the chequered flag first, with Myllykangas close behind, just ahead of Lin.
Summers came home fourth with the recovering Woodhatch fifth. Erstwhile points leader Matt Kendall could only muster eighth, however, likely making this round one of his two drop score options.
Round 3 of the British F4 Esports Championship and UK FF1600 Esports Cup will take place on the 15th October at Snetterton 300, with all the racing broadcast live on iRacing’s YouTube, Twitch and Facebook channels, produced by RaceSpot TV.
2025 British F4 Esports Championship, Round 2, Thruxton Race 1 results
- Dani Moreno, TC Esports
- Remy Gilbert, Team BENIK
- Henry Moore, Team BENIK
- Matt Caruana, HYMO Setups by EMM
- Leo Brown, Drive Lounge Racing
2025 British F4 Esports Championship, Round 2, Thruxton Race 2 results
- Henry Moore, Team BENIK
- Remy Gilbert, Team BENIK
- Ryan Micallef, Azz Tech Racing
- Dani Moreno, TC Esports
- Will Reford, G2 Esports
Drivers’ standings after Round 2
- Henry Moore, Team BENIK, 159 points
- Dani Moreno, TC Esports, 141 points
- Remy Gilbert, Team BENIK, 124 points
- Matt J Caruana, HYMO Setups by EMM, 117 points
- Leo Brown, Drive Lounge Racing, 95 points
Teams’ standings after Round 2
- Team BENIK, 283 points
- TC Esports, 190 points
- HYMO Setups by EMM, 132 points
- G2 Esports, 105 points
- Williams Sim Racing, 101 points
2025 British F4 Esports Championship and UK FF 1600 Esports Cup schedule
Round 1, Donington Park GP, 24th SeptemberRound 2, Thruxton, 1st October- Round 3, Snetterton 300, 15th October
- Round 4, Oulton Park International, 22nd October
- Round 5, Silverstone GP, 29th October
- Round 6, Knockhill, 12th November
- Round 7, Zandvoort, 19th November
- Round 8, Brands Hatch GP, 26th November
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