British F4: Cresswell takes emphatic brace of victories for JHR at Croft

McKenzy Cresswell injected new life into his F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost title bid with an emphatic brace of victories for Motul-backed JHR Developments at Croft last weekend (18-19 September).

The 15-year-old arrived at the 2.12-mile Yorkshire venue as an outside shot for the crown in Britain’s FIA Formula 4 series, trailing team-mate Matthew Rees at the championship summit by 44 points.

However, a superb performance in a hard-fought qualifying session netted the rising star his second and third pole positions of the campaign respectively, both of which he was able to convert into lights-to-flag victories to propel himself up the championship order.

Both started – and ended – in similar fashion, with Cresswell forced to defend into Clervaux from Rees and his other chief title rival, Matias Zagazeta, once apiece. Having forced both to go the long way round on the outside line, Cresswell annexed the lead successfully on both occasions, before powering clear to build up his advantage.

His brace of wins move him up from fifth to third in the standings, now just 25 markers shy of new leader Zagazeta with nine races left to run in the 2021 schedule.

A podium finish for Rees keeps him in the hunt, second ahead of Cresswell, and the Welsh teenager retains the advantage in the Rookie Cup, with JHR also hounding Fortec in the Teams’ stakes.

Joseph Loake completed a positive weekend for Steven Hunter’s outfit, claiming a hat-trick of points finishes to cement his own seventh spot in the points.

After a quick turnaround, the team heads next to Silverstone, Northamptonshire this coming weekend (25-26 September).

McKenzy Cresswell (#16) said:

“From FP1 the car felt really nice, and I think I was P2. I think there was definitely more pace in it as well because when I was on my new tyre run I only did one push lap and then there was a red flag. FP2 was the same sort of thing – I didn’t go for a new set of tyres whereas everyone else did but I still managed to get P2, which a good result.

“In qualifying the car was on fire – it was excellent, and we managed to get the double pole which is obviously where you want to start as it’s a little bit difficult to overtake at Croft.

“I got a good start from pole and from then on it was pretty much a test session. Race Two didn’t go quite as well. I was starting dead last on the reverse grid. At Sunny in there was a Safety Car board at the next marshal post but I was so far back in the train I couldn’t see it. Literally everybody stopped on track, and I had nowhere to go, so went on the grass to avoid them and then once you’re on the grass that’s it, there’s nothing you can do, and I went in the barrier.

“There wasn’t actually too much damage for how big of an impact it was. It did the front left suspension and a bit of the front right but was certainly better than it was at Thruxton which damaged the tub. It’s been an amazing weekend. Our championship charge is very much back on-track now and with two wins we’ve got momentum on our side heading into next weekend’s event at Silverstone.”

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