British F4: Motul-backed JHR continue Teams Cup charge at Brands Hatch

Motul-backed JHR Developments enjoyed another strong weekend in the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost at Brands Hatch as the Derbyshire outfit continued their push in the Teams Cup.

Arriving off the back of a double victory last time out at Snetterton, the team’s quartet of rising stars – Matthew Rees, McKenzy Cresswell, Joseph Loake and Abbi Pulling – clocked promising times in practice, including the quickest time of the second session for a resurgent Pulling.

Onto qualifying and the team continued their perfect record, with Rees claiming a fifth pole position in a row, and Cresswell the other as JHR’s one-lap pace shone through yet again around the 1.2-mile Indy circuit.

With the opening race of the weekend in Kent deemed the reverse grid contest by the organisers, all four drivers had their work cut out, but rose to the task in fine style.

W Series reserve driver Pulling led the team’s charge, making solid progress up through the order to run fifth after a mid-race safety car intervention. She then took full advantage of a mistake ahead to pass championship leader Hedley on the run up Hailwoods Hill, before a last-gasp move out of Clearways earnt the 18-year-old her first podium finish of the season in a photo finish with Dougie Bolger.

Pulling then repeated the feat in remarkable fashion in a thrilling wet-dry-wet second contest on Sunday morning. A late call to remain on slick tyres whilst others opted for wets paid dividends; Pulling fell to the back after an incident early on but surged back through the pack thereafter to annex third spot and make it back-to-back trips to the rostrum.

She then bolstered her points haul with an eighth placed finish in the ITV3-televised finale to get her title challenge back on track.

After rising through the field to ninth and tenth respectively in the opener, Rees and Cresswell were unlucky to lose out in the changeable conditions in race two. Rees looked to be on course for a third victory of the campaign, until the rain returned and brought Hedley’s wets back into play in the final stages of the race.

The Welsh teenager still finished second on the road, and outscored Hedley in race three to reduce the arrears to 20 points in the standings, with Cresswell a further nine back after taking the runner-up spot in the finale.

Loake ended a difficult weekend on a high note with seventh, but the Macclesfield racer will be looking for a repeat of his Thruxton race-winning exploits when the series reconvenes next month.

Cresswell still leads Rees by a four-point margin in the Rookie Cup, with JHR now just 18 markers behind Fortec in the Teams’ Cup heading to Oulton Park on 31 July – 01 August.

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