Chris Dittmann Racing enjoyed a winning start to its F4 British Championship campaign at the weekend (April 27/28) as Bart Harrison claimed a Rookie Cup victory and additional podium at Donington Park.

After a couple of busy practice sessions on Thursday, Bart had a good start to qualifying on Saturday morning, putting in some good laps and running inside the top 10 for the first part of the qualifying session. However, despite finishing just 0.4s from pole position, he would start 17th overall and sixth of the Rookies.

The youngster started 10th for race one, thanks to his second fastest qualifying time, and had a solid start. A few laps into the contest he unfortunately lost a place but made it up later by charging forward and sticking his elbows out, crossing the line 10th overall second of the Rookies – clinching a maiden podium.

With heavy rain on Sunday morning causing a long delay to the schedule, only race two was able to be completed on the day, with race three to be organised at a future date. Having good pace before an early Safety Car, Bart sailed through, keeping it clean and gaining an excellent four positions. He held his place, fighting off the cars behind and at the chequered flag finished a respectable ninth overall and first in the Rookie Cup, adding a visit to the top step of the podium on his debut weekend.

Considering the weather conditions on the early part of Sunday It ended up being a fantastic day for the team with Bart thoroughly enjoying his first weekend in the F4 British Championship. The team now moves on to the second round of the season in a couple of weeks’ time at Brands Hatch on 10th-12th May.

Bart Harrison

G1 – 11, R1 – 10 (Rookie: 2)
G2 – 17, R2 – 9 (Rookie: 1)

Championship: 8 (9 points)
Rookie Cup: 2 (33 points)

“Qualifying was really close between everyone. We didn’t get the positions we wanted to, but we had a decent start for race one from P11 and made a place to run P10. We were fast when it started spitting with rain, so that helped us a lot and I had nothing to complain about. I was getting my arms out, it was fun. I enjoyed it.

“The start of race two was horrendous, so when everyone started bunching up in front, I got excited because I knew we could make some places back. We got stuck in, I kept it on the road, and we finished with a Rookie win. This week we have been starting further back than I’ve been hoping for, but I’ve still enjoyed it and am happy to come away with two trophies.”