First overall British F4 Championship win for 15-year-old Ollie Stewart as Beauly racing driver shines on return to Thruxton
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Ollie Stewart returned to action at Thruxton last weekend, where the young Scot brought home the first championship win of his British F4 career in a lights to flag victory at the UK's fastest circuit.
After a tougher weekend at the Hampshire circuit at the beginning of the season, Stewart was determined to make amends and show the vast improvements made over the course of the season this time out.
In a closely contested field, the Scottish racer managed to put his car in the top 10 in qualifying, finishing the session 10th fastest and securing pole position for the reversed grid second race.
Race one began with a good start and one place gained off the line, before dropping back shortly afterwards.
After a safety car, racing resumed with the Scottish driver in eighth as he engaged in a closely fought battle with Virtuosi’s Edward Pearson to cross the line in seventh place.
With expectations mounting for Stewart’s first championship win, the teenager lined up at the very front of the grid for race two with Rookie cup rival Adam Fitzgerald just behind in second place.
Despite not having the rocket start he had hoped for, the Beauly driver managed to hold onto his lead.
Feeling the heat, Stewart was pushing the tyres to their limit and experienced a few lock ups in a hard-fought effort to maintain the lead, but in a nail-biting final lap he made it to the chequered flag to bring home his first F4 British Championship win.
Still overcome with the race two result, Stewart went into the final race of the weekend optimistic about the continued positive strides he was making in the car.
Maintaining 10th on the start, the youngster fended off advances before the safety car was deployed. With only two laps of racing remaining in the already shortened 15-minute race, Stewart took the flag in ninth place to round off a fantastic weekend for the young racer.
“I wasn't very happy with qualifying," Stewart said.
"There was one mistake I made in the last corner, which cost us a massive amount of time. Without that mistake I think we could have been fourth or fifth, but at least it meant we were in a good position for the reverse grid race.
“We got a good start for race one, and there were a few hard, close battles on track where I managed to pull off some good moves. I messed up on the safety car restart, dropped back too far and let the drivers in front get away from me. I'm happy with the result, to go from 10th to seventh on a track like Thruxton is difficult.
“For race two, I'm absolutely overwhelmed by the result, and ecstatic to finally get my first championship win. I'm extremely happy with the way I drove.
"The start wasn't the best, I've had some amazing starts this season, but that one was kind of average. I still managed to maintain the lead, but I got the run around the outside. I was able to start setting decently fast lap times and kept it consistent for the whole race.
“Tyre wear definitely came into play in the race. You have to push the car to the absolute limit around Thruxton, and at points you can feel the car starting to slide about and it's quite easy to spin, so I'm happy that I was able to go full throttle.
"I locked up quite a few times so the tyre wear on the front right was starting to become an issue by the end, but I'm happy with how I managed them.
“Race three was slightly disappointing. I got passed into one of the corners and there was nothing I could do to prevent the move, so we dropped back to 11th on the first lap. After that I made good progress and kept moving through the field, managing to pull off a few good moves.
“Overall the weekend was great, to get the first win is absolutely amazing and I'll be thinking about that for quite a while. I'm really happy to get it at a circuit like Thruxton, which is so demanding of the car and mentally demanding of the drivers. The team did an amazing job, and the car was absolutely perfect.”
