Chris Dittmann Racing took a hat-trick of podiums at the weekend (August 9-11), as Bart Harrison claimed three Rookie Cup top three finishes on a strong weekend for himself and the team.
After testing on Wednesday and practice on Friday, where Bart finished FP2 second quickest, and third fastest in the combined times, giving plenty of hope for the rest of the meeting.
On Saturday morning qualifying took place, but the session was disrupted by three red flags, which affected the team’s runs. Despite that, Bart put in some good laps and finished sixth overall and third of the Rookies, just 0.3s from pole position.
Race one, held later that afternoon, was red flagged on the opening lap, and when it restarted, Bart did well to keep a fellow Rookie driver behind, despite constant pressure. He managed a Safety Car period and at the flag, was classified ninth overall and third of the Rookies – his fifth podium of the season.
Race two took place on a less blustery Sunday morning, where Bart started sixth on the grid for the 20-minute race. He had to fend off the car behind in the early stages but held onto his position, before the race was cut a few minutes short after a late red flag, meaning he finished sixth overall and second in the Rookie Cup.
The youngster started in sixth place once again for the closing race of the weekend. Even with pressure from behind yet again, he had a mature drive, holding position all the way to the chequered flag as well as taking another second place in the Rookie Cup, taking his third podium of the weekend and eighth of the year.
After a strong weekend for the team, with continued improvements in pace and driving by Bart, everyone is now focussed on the next three races of the 2024 F4 British Championship season, which take place at Donington Park over August 24/25.
Bart Harrison
G1 – 7, R1 – 9
G2 – 7, R2 – 6
G3 – 6, R3 – 6
Championship: 17 (26 Points)
Rookie Cup: 4 (155 Points)
“Qualifying was good as we were fast, so that gave us a lot of confidence going into the races. We struggled with pace in the first race: I had a bit of understeer and dropped a couple places at the start, which is down to me, but overall, it was a good day. This weekend has been our first with points in every race, so it means I’m feeling really positive. I think our car on new tyres was really good and we might have had an even better weekend if we hadn’t lost some laps due to track limits in qualifying, but we’ve shown that we can do it which is promising for the next round. Knockhill has been exciting; there aren’t many straights, so it’s just coming at you all the time. I’ve loved it.”
