Chris Dittmann Racing demonstrated promising pace and now occupies the top three positions in the Challenge Cup standings of the Wera Tools F4 British Championship, certified by FIA, after a challenging weekend at Thruxton.
Representing the team at the Hampshire circuit were Tommy Harfield, Charlie Edge, and Alba Larsen. The weekend began with two practice sessions on Friday, though Charlie missed the first due to academic commitments, sitting an exam. Saturday proved busy, starting with a dry qualifying session. After a red flag delay, Tommy qualified 14th, with Alba 22nd and Charlie 23rd.
The opening race took place in dry conditions, despite rain earlier in the day. Tommy struggled off the line and dropped to the back, while Alba and Charlie made early progress, climbing to 16th and 17th respectively. Tommy recovered to 19th as the Safety Car was deployed, which then led to a red flag.
The race resumed behind the Safety Car with a reduced duration of 10 minutes. As light rain began to fall, the track briefly went green before another incident brought out the Safety Car again. No further racing laps occurred, cementing final positions: Tommy ninth, Alba 11th, and Charlie 13th.
Race two was delayed by almost an hour due to adverse weather conditions. Once the skies cleared, the race began behind the Safety Car before going green after one lap. Tommy made strong progress, climbing to 11th, while Alba also had a solid run, improving to 18th at the flag. Tommy crossed the line in ninth, while Charlie showed strong pace in the closing stages to finish 21st.
Sunday’s third and final race was held under bright, dry conditions. Alba made an excellent start, gaining four positions and running as high as 14th early on. Tommy endured a more difficult race, dropping a wheel on the grass and spinning to the rear of the field. He mounted an impressive recovery to climb back to 15th, but a snap of oversteer led to contact with another car, forcing him to retire. In the latter stages, Alba lost some momentum and slipped back to 18th, just ahead of Charlie.
Chris Dittmann Racing will return to action in Wera Tools British F4 in two weeks’ time, as the series heads to Oulton Park in Cheshire over the weekend of 20–22 June.
Chris Dittmann, Team Principal
“We’ve been very fast in both wet and dry conditions, especially with Tommy, but he didn’t get the lap together in qualifying which put him on the back foot all weekend. He had mega pace in all the races, and salvaging some points in races one and two was good, but he made a few mistakes in the last one.
“Charlie and Alba did a positive job on their first visits to Thruxton, which meant there was lots of learning to be done. It was tough in the wet, so both did well. They had strong races on Saturday, and they both got stuck in on Sunday too, so I think they’ll take plenty away from the experience.”
#21 Tommy Harfield
G1 – 14, R1 – 9
G2 – 14, R2 – 9
G3 – 14, R3 – DNF
Championship: 5 (75 points)
Challenge Cup: 1 (172 points)
#27 Charlie Edge
G1 – 22, R1 – 13 (Rookie: 6)
G2 – 22, R2 – 21 (R: 8)
G3 – 22, R3 – 19 (R: 7)
Championship: 17 (14 points)
Rookie Cup: 6 (84 points)
Challenge Cup: 2 (156 points)
#14 Alba Larsen
G1 – 21, R1 – 11 (Rookie: 5)
G2 – 23, R2 – 17 (R: 7)
G3 – 23, R3 – 18 (R: 6)
Championship: 19 (11 points)
Rookie Cup: 8 (69 points)
Challenge Cup: 3 (103 points)
