British F4: Loake victorious on bruising weekend for title contenders at Silverstone

Joseph Loake made the headlines for JHR Developments after claiming a third victory of the season amid chaos for the title contenders in the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost at Silverstone.

Steven Hunter’s outfit made the trip to the 1.6-mile Northamptonshire venue with the wind in their sails after a double victory for McKenzy Cresswell last time out at Croft, plus a reduced deficit to Fortec in the battle for Teams Cup honours.

All three cars made the most of pre-event testing to register a top ten starting slot for the triple header, with Matthew Rees third, Cresswell fourth and Loake seventh.

A strong start from ‘Rees Lightning’ promoted the Welsh teenager up one spot on the run down to Copse, before challenging points leader Zagazeta for the race lead on the inside line. The pair ran side-by-side for much of the opening tour before Rees was forced to concede the position.

He kept the pressure on, but ultimately had to settle for the runner-up spot, with Cresswell banking solid points in fifth.

Loake and Cresswell demonstrated their overtaking prowess in the reverse grid race, improving seven and six positions respectively to advance forward to fourth and eighth in Rees’ absence, the 15-year-old forced to retire with damage.

With the ITV4 cameras rolling, Loake then put in one of his best drives of the season to navigate first-lap chaos after a coming together between Cresswell, Rees and Zagazeta at Becketts to seize the race lead.

From there, the Macclesfield racer came under fire from second-placed Marcos Flack, but held firm despite two safety car restarts to win by 0.3 seconds and give his own title hopes a boost.

On a difficult weekend for all the main championship contenders, JHR were also able to further thin Fortec’s lead in the Teams Cup to just 29 points with six races remaining, the next at Donington Park, Leicestershire on 9-10 October.

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