Chris Dittmann Racing headed to sunny Northamptonshire at the weekend (June 23-25) as the F4 British Championship raced at Silverstone; the home of British motorsport, on the iconic Grand Prix circuit for the first time.

After a mixed bag of results in Friday’s free practice, it was straight into qualifying on Saturday morning for the three young racers. Air temperatures soared into the high 20’s, setting up a further challenge for rookie racer Gustav Jonsson who was unable to push the car to its limits due to tyre graining, qualifying eighth quickest. Daniel Guinchard finished the session in 11th but with a second quickest time of sixth where he would line up for race one. Feeling off the pace on Friday, it was a similar story for Jack on Saturday, finishing 18th quickest on the road.

Race one got underway after a slight delay, where it was a solid start for Jack as he jumped four places into 14th. He quickly gained a further position after a daring pass on Sonny Smith, driving to the chequered flag to finish 13th. Lining up sixth, Daniel did well to maintain his position, before contact from behind hindered his pursuit of fifth place, though with a time penalty given to Deagen Fairclough, he was classified fifth. Pipped off the line by Noah Lisle, Gustav was fighting hard to retake the position. Despite strong pace, he couldn’t find a way past, crossing the line eighth overall and second of the rookies, marking his first Rookie Cup podium appearance of the weekend.

Race two pole sitter Isaac Barashi stalled on the grid for the second contest, allowing Jack to pass into second, getting into the lead after sending his car down the inside of Kai Daryanani at Stowe. Daniel faced a troubled start after stalling on the grid as well, falling to the back of the pack, whilst Gustav had a storming first lap to gain six places into eighth. Jack remained calm and measured as he defended his lead, holding the first position for over half of the twenty-minute contest before an untimely brake sensor failure had him come to a halt on track, cutting his race short.

Behind him, Daniel and Gustav got their heads down, showing strong pace and race craft, with the former gaining seven places to take the flag 12th, as Gustav gained a further four to finish fourth on the road. With a post-race penalty given to third place Fairclough, Gustav was later classified third overall, as well as taking the Rookie Cup win.

After a quick start, Daniel was pushed wide on the opening lap of race three, dropping down the order to 20th, with Gustav up one into sixth and Jack in 15th having gained three positions. Back on track and picking up speed, Daniel chipped away at the cars ahead, passing teammate Jack to go into 15th where he crossed the line, Jack just behind in 16th. Defending well from Fairclough, Gustav eventually conceded the position, finishing the race seventh overall and second of the rookies, rounding out his hattrick of Rookie Cup podium appearances.

The team will now enjoy a summer break, with the F4 British Championship set to return to action at Croft over the weekend of July 28-30.

Daniel Guinchard #49

G1 – 6 , R1 – 5
G2 – 11, R2 –  12
G3 – 11, R3 – 15

Championship: 10 (95 points)

“We were really strong in practice, but we didn’t quite get it together for qualifying. It’s a shame because myself and Gustav were definitely quick enough to be top five, but everyone is so close, so sixth isn’t too bad. I had a good start to race one and we were hounding fifth on the road, making the move to take the position on the Hangar Straight, but was passed again going into the chicane. I had a little bit of contact from behind which unfortunately meant I lost a little bit of ground to the cars in front, but I just settled into the rhythm of the race. I kept it clean as a few drivers were getting penalties for track limits, so I made sure to keep the car on the track. I ended up finishing fifth after penalties given to other drivers, so overall it was quite a good race.

“I’m disappointed that I stalled off the line in race two. That shouldn’t happen, but I hold my hands up. Despite being back down at the back of the grid, I put in a really strong performance. I had good pace and made some good moves that took me from 19th up to 12th, and with points awarded for each overtake in race two, that’s a big positive.

“We were really quick in race three. We got off the line quickly but had some contact on the opening lap that pushed me off the track. Once I got going again, the pace was really strong and I had a good recovery from 19th back to 15th. We made some great overtakes which show how strong we are both pace wise and in terms of race craft. Unfortunately, the results don’t really reflect what could have been. There were positives and negatives to the weekend, but the summer break will be a good opportunity to go away, get refreshed and hopefully come back stronger at Croft.”

Gustav Jonsson #23

G1 – 7, R1 – 8 (Rookie – 2)
G2 – 14, R2 – 3 (R – 1)
G3 – 8, R3 – 7 (R – 2)

Championship: 12 (77 points)
Rookie Cup: 1 (274 points)

“I’m a bit disappointed with qualifying as we had the pace during the two practice sessions to be higher up and possibly take pole. I had a lot of [tyre] graining on my last lap, so I wasn’t able to get my ideal time in. We were really strong in the first half of the session, so we know we have the potential in future weekends.

“We raced hard in race one. I had a good battle with Noah Lisle, but I touched Daniel’s [Guinchard] car a little bit, making me lose some time which was disappointing. Once I got back up to speed, I was trying to make some moves on Lisle, but he was defending really well. We were putting in similar times to the cars in front, so it was difficult to make any progress. Even so, finishing second of the rookies meant we took another good haul of points for the Rookie Cup, so that’s a big positive.

“Race two was good, we had really strong pace and were able to make some really nice moves to get ahead. We finished fourth on the road but were later promoted to third after a penalty was given to another driver. It’s nice to bring home another trophy on the overall podium and show how quick we can be.

“There was a bit of drama at the start of race three, which we were able to get through and gain some positions. After that it was all about defending, which we managed quite well. [Deagen] Fairclough managed to get past me, so I switched focus to keeping [Louis] Sharp and [James] Higgins behind me until the flag. Overall it was a decent result, and more points in the bag. I’m feeling good about Croft after we tested there a few weeks ago. The whole team was fast there and I’m getting more comfortable in the car now so we should have a good time.”

Jack Sherwood #78

G1 – 18, R1 – 13
G2 – 3, R2 – DNF
G3 – 18, R3 – 16

Championship: 17 (32 points)

“Qualifying didn’t go our way. It was down to me as I felt I was lacking in pace even though the car felt strong, especially compared to Friday practice, so that’s quite frustrating. We’ve always been trying to play catch up and in a championship as close as this, if you don’t have a good first two sessions in FP1 and FP2 it’s such a struggle to make progress. The good news is that we know that if we get our qualifying cleaned up, we have the pace to get the job done on race day, so we’ll definitely be focusing on that over the summer break.

“Race one was quite strong, we made up a few positions from 18th to 13th. We did what we could with what we had after a disappointing qualifying. I just took the opportunities that I could, because we weren’t quite there pace wise. The racing is always good around Silverstone, so we were able to make up a few positions and then settle into the race.

“Race two was off to a really good start. I made the move on Kai [Daryanani] into turn seven, and then just drove away with it until unfortunately, we had a brake sensor failure. It’s a really tough one to take because the team had worked so hard after race one to fine tune the engine, and the car was so fast. We pulled out one second in one lap which shows how quick we were. I thought the win was going to be ours, but that’s racing.

“We had a decent start to race three, I got caught up in all of the chaos ahead of me but managed to avoid any contact. After that I settled into the rhythm of the race and kept it on track until the flag. I didn’t quite have the pace to keep in front of Daniel [Guinchard], so there wasn’t much point in fighting it when he passed me. It was a tricky race but we made up two positions so it could be worse.

“I’ve really enjoyed being at Silverstone this weekend, it will be good to have a bit of time off now and come back fighting at Croft. I’ve never raced there before so it will be a new experience for me but we’ll work hard to make sure it’s a good one.”