QUINN RESCUES FOURTH IN CROFT FINALE
Alex Quinn rescued vital championship and Rookie class points from a torrid F4 British Championship weekend at Croft with a fourth place finish in the sodden third and final race.
The Fortec Motorsports driver, having scored no points courtesy of two retirements in the two previous races in north Yorkshire, started from fourth place on the grid needing to bank some points from the weekend.
With weather worsening and the track getting progressively wetter, all drivers took a cautious mentality to the race, demonstrated by a tentative start in which Quinn remained in his position through the opening lap.
Quinn’s team-mate Jamie Caroline, noted for his good starts, had vaulted up the order and was soon threatening Quinn’s gearbox.
That stunned Quinn into action, the Racing Steps Foundation-backed driver getting into his stride and quickly pulling away from Caroline to cement his position and begin to place pressure on Carlin’s third placed Max Fewtrell.
But with two seconds separating Fewtrell, Quinn and Caroline, the trio were wary of making sudden moves on the slippery surface particularly as Caroline, like Quinn, did not finish the earlier race two.
All drivers therefore remained in their positions with the chequered flag dropped a lap early due to the circuit’s impending noise curfew.
Carlin’s Devlin DeFrancesco got ahead in the opening corners and remained there to score victory ahead of Double R’s Zane Goddard and championship leader Fewtrell.
“It was just impossible to see due to the spray which made it difficult to get close enough to make a pass, and although I tried my best to get third, it was impossible,” Quinn said later.
“I’m relieved to have banked some good points in that final race after a tough overall weekend. I had lost way in both the overall and Rookie championships, so to come away with absolutely nothing would have been a disaster.
“We will recover and be back on the pace, just like we showed in races one and three this weekend, at the next round at Snetterton.”
CROFT: (3.420km / 2.215 miles): RACE THREE results (top 10)
Position
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Driver (Nat)
Devlin DeFrancesco (CAN)
Zane Goddard (AUS)
Max Fewtrell (GBR)
Alex Quinn (GBR) / R
Jamie Caroline (GBR)
Sennan Fielding (GBR)
James Pull (GBR)
Rafael Martins (BRA)
Petru Florescu (ROM)
Luis Leeds (AUS)
Team / Car
Carlin
Double R
Carlin
Fortec
Fortec
JHR
Carlin
TRS Arden
Carlin
TRS Arden
Time / Gap
15m 54.569s
+3.496s
+7.158s
+8.390s
+9.285s
+14.893s
+15.337s
+19.287s
+20.136s
+23.223s
Fastest lap: Zane Goddard - 1m30.435s
Weather: Wet / Rain
R = Rookie
DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP
ROOKIE CUP STANDINGS
Position
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Driver (Nat)
Max Fewtrell (GBR)
Petru Florescu (ROM)
Luis Leeds (AUS)
James Pull (GBR)
Devlin DeFrancesco (CAN)
Sennan Fielding (GBR)
Alex Quinn (GBR) / R
Rafael Martins (BRA)
Jamie Caroline (GBR)
Zane Goddard (AUS)
Points
184
164
153
152
146
134
112
110
109
102
Position
1
2
3
4
5
Driver (Nat)
Alex Quinn (GBR)
Jack Martin (GBR)
Nicolai Kjargaard (DEN)
Ayrton Simmons (GBR)
Ross Martin (GBR)
Points
276
228
163
143
130
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Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography.
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Report: Racing Steps Foundation - Russell Hayes, Racing Steps Foundation PR & Communications Manager