Chris Dittmann Racing showed good speed and promise in the F4 British Championship at the weekend (September 20-22), but the loss of fast laps in qualifying left the team wondering what could have been.
Bart Harrison was joined by Gustav Jonsson at Silverstone, as the young Swede returned to the series and team, after he claimed the Rookie Cup in 2023. Both had testing and practice in warm and sunny conditions, but the weather would turn for the weekend, keeping everyone guessing.
Gustav picked up where he’d left off, almost securing second quickest of anyone in qualifying on Saturday, only to have his time removed in the closing seconds. Subsequent analysis by the team showed he had the incorrect lap time deleted, but with the decision not able to be appealed, he would have to settle for eighth, while Bart finished 10th of the Rookies.
Rain fell just before the first race, later that afternoon, though the track dried quickly. Bart unfortunately spun on the opening laps, while Gustav ran seventh, before capitalising on a battle ahead to take two spots in one go, moving into fifth. He continued to lap quickly, closing in on the battle for second, but was thwarted in any further overtaking attempts.
It was a wet morning on Sunday ahead of the second contest, where the race was quickly red flagged after a car failed to get off the line, leading to an incident, though thankfully everyone was unharmed. The race resumed behind the Safety Car but was red flagged again and would not restart, with conditions too treacherous.
The third race began behind the Safety Car, with no rain falling but the track still very wet. When it pulled into the pits it was called back again one lap later as two cars went off into the gravel. On the second restart, Gustav was sixth and Bart up to 15th, sixth of the Rookies, as the Swedish racer almost took fifth on several occasions but slipped to eighth as he lost momentum, both drivers taking the flag in those places.
Chris Dittmann Racing will head to Brands Hatch in Kent for the final two weekends of its 2024 season, with the GB3 Championship side of the workshop racing there this weekend, September 28/29, while the F4 British Championship competes there over October 5/6.
Bart Harrison #77
G1 – 21, R1 – 21 (Rookie: 10)
G2 – 19, R2 – PP
G3 – 19, R3 – 15 (R: 5)
Rookie Cup: 4 (193 points)
“I ended up enjoying the wet more than the dry, as in qualifying I had my two best laps taken away and that didn’t set the weekend off very well, but we made progress each time we went out. A lot of it was a guessing game on track because visibility was so difficult, especially in the first few laps when everyone is together, so it made it tricky.”
Gustav Jonsson #36
G1 – 7, R1 – 4
G2 – 5, R2 – PP
G3 – 8, R3 – 8
“We had some good laps in qualifying and would have started the races near the top, but it looks like they took the wrong laps away and because it’s a judge of fact, you can’t do anything about it. Race one was good in the dry, moving up to P4, and could have been a podium but the car in front was doing track limits but they didn’t put any penalties in. Race two I moved up to P3, but the race was red flagged. I had P8 in race three where we expected to have good pace, but I couldn’t really do anything. Last year was good, so it’s nice to come back to the team and meet everyone again. We have shown we have the speed and a good car, and we could have had some wins if we didn’t lose the laps in qualifying.”
