Piszcyk’s double delight as British F4 visits Silverstone

Jimmy Piszcyk claimed the British Formula 4 points lead with a double victory around Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit last weekend.

Having inherited his first triumph of the season due to rivals’ penalties during round one at Donington Park, Piszcyk left nothing to chance this time.

The Rodin driver controlled two safety car restarts to win the opener in Northamptonshire, while pre-event points leader Tommy Harfield (CDR) retired. Red Bull Junior Fionn McLaughlin passed Virtuosi racer Martin Molnar at the start and maintained second, while Henry Joslyn (Fortec) finished close behind the pair in fourth.

Piszcyk and McLaughlin failed to score in the partially-reversed-grid contest, the latter spinning following a collision with Hitech team-mate Thomas Bearman. Rodin’s Adam Al Azhari held off Rowan Campbell-Pilling (JHR) and Harfield for a maiden triumph, while Bearman made up two spots to fourth.

Piszcyk took another lights-to-flag win ahead of Molnar in race three, while McLaughlin prevailed in an early battle with Ethan Jeff-Hall for third. Mercedes-AMG junior Jeff-Hall scored his best result of the weekend with fourth, but Harfleld again failed to finish.

The British Racing & Sports Car Club’s Silverstone 24 Hours for Citroen C1s made a welcome return, and Alpha-Trojon successfully defended its 2023 crown in dominant fashion with its line-up of Chris Freeman, Charlie Bingham, Adam Willis and father-and-son duo Jonathan and Austin Munday.

Freeman was involved in a three-way fight at the front with Ruaridh Clark (JW Bird Motorsport) and James Matthews (Scuderia Pollo Rosso) in the opening two hours before Munday Jr took over driving duties and built a clear lead. 

That advantage was eradicated when the car suffered rear-axle failure, losing over 10 minutes in the pits, but it was steered back to first place through the night. JW Bird gave pursuit until serving a three-minute stop/go penalty inside the final six hours, and from there Alpha-Trojon ran unchallenged – Munday bringing the car home four laps clear of the rest.

Luca Proietti, sharing a car with father Sandro and younger brother Oscar, came home second for Baycon Racing, while Mazda MX-5 racers Brian Trott, Stuart Symonds and Adam Bessell took third for Project Sixty Three. 

Pollo Rosso’s race ended in the first six hours after a number of issues, and other expected frontrunners WRC Developments and Emax Motorsport suffered reliability woes with its cars. Aiden Moffat – driving alongside fellow British Touring Car racers Josh Cook and Jade Edwards – climbed to second before running out of fuel and lost several laps just after midnight on Sunday morning.

Car racing rookie Steve Gambrell and Dan Lloyd took their third victory of the season in the 90-minute Britcar Endurance Championship encounter, which also included the Dutch Supercar grid. 

Gambrell held a slender lead in his Porsche 911.2 over Bonamy Grimes’ Ferrari 488 during the opening stint, and he jumped back into the car during a late safety car period. A grandstand finish was denied when Johnny Mowlem, who had taken over from Grimes, served a stop/go penalty. That allowed Gambrell to cruise home in the final five minutes of green-flag running, leading an all-Porsche top three.

John de Wilde (992) was the best of the Supercars in second overall, while Ash Muldoon and James Kellett (991) took third ahead of Martin and Marcus Short’s mighty Mosler MT900R. Dom Malone and three-time Carrera Cup champion Dan Cammish (991) were in podium contention until losing out during their final pitstop.

Porsche of Gambrell and Lloyd scored another Britcar Endurance victory

Photo by: JEP