British F4: Chiara Bättig continues her progress at Zandvoort

Swiss racer Chiara Bättig continued her progress in the British F4 Championship as she secured a best result of 14th while the Hitech driver made progress from her grid position in all three races in The Netherlands.

Photo credits: JEP

Swiss racer Chiara Bättig continued her progress in the British F4 Championship as she secured a best result of 14th while the Hitech driver made progress from her grid position in all three races in The Netherlands.

Following her sensational F1 Academy debut at Silverstone just one week ago, Bättig was targeting further success on her return to the British F4 Championship. After being awarded a Wild Card to compete in the all-female single seater series, Bättig claimed pole position before securing a runner-up finish behind championship leader Alisha Palmowski. Therefore, Bättig further highlighted the benefit of a dual campaign which set her up for success on her maiden F1 Academy start.

Bättig’s form in the British F4 Championship has also been strong with the Swiss racer securing her first overall podium finish in the previous round, also held at Silverstone. This elevated the Hitech driver to 13th in the championship and she was now targeting a push towards the overall top-10 as the halfway point in the season approached.

On-track action at Zandvoort began on Thursday as the drivers took part in four short test sessions. The lap times were extremely close throughout the day with Bättig’s quickest time of a 1:38.048 coming in the final session. This lap placed her in 24th position overall, however she was less than one second away from pacesetter Tommy Harfield.

Friday’s running consisted of two free practice sessions with Bättig making considerable improvements. After setting the 26th fastest lap in the morning session, the Swiss racer challenged at the top of the times during the afternoon. Bättig’s quickest time of a 1:38.228 placed her in fourth position overall, while her speed through the middle sector was particularly impressive.

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and it was a challenging session for the Hitech driver. Searching for speed through the first sector, Bättig qualified in 20th position with a fastest lap of a 1:38.217. This time was just one second away from polesitter Dries van Langendonck as the competition in the British F4 Championship remained extremely high at Zandvoort.

Photo credits: JEP

The opening race of the weekend was held on Saturday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the second fastest times from qualifying, Bättig lined up from 20th on the grid. The Swiss racer made a great start as she quickly moved up to 18th at the end of lap one, before running side-by-side with Mate Kobakhidze. After completing a nice move on the Georgian driver on lap two, Bättig was up to 17th position.

The safety car was then deployed after an incident involving Daniella Sutton and Sun Anzhe saw the Chinese driver beached in the gravel. The race resumed on lap five and Bättig was keen to move forward as she drew level with Kit Belofsky as the drivers began the sixth tour. As Bättig attacked the British racer, Timo Jungling capitalised and he overtook the Hitech driver with Chiara now in 18th position.

Despite this setback, Bättig was showing excellent pace and after fending off Kobakhidze, she looked to reclaim the position from Jungling. On lap eight, she completed the pass on the JHR Developments driver while again running side-by-side with Belofsky. Although the Fortec Motorsport driver was defending his position well, Bättig continued to move forward after Alba Larsen went off the circuit while contesting for positions inside the top-15.

Bättig was now into 16th position and she continued to apply pressure to Belofsky right to the chequered flag. Crossing the line in 16th position, it was a positive opening race for Bättig who moved forward from her grid position while enjoying significant spells of side-by-side action.

Photo credits: JEP

Race two of the weekend took place on Sunday morning with the grid formed by the results of qualifying with the top-12 drivers reversed. As a result, Bättig lined up from 20th position, however she was targeting championship points via her progression from the tenth row of the grid. As the lights went out, it was a clean start for Bättig as she held her position through the opening lap of the race.

On lap two, contact between Tommy Harfield and Mate Kobakhidze saw the Georgian racer stranded in the gravel with damage. This resulted in the safety car being deployed and the neutralisation was lengthy after the car of Kit Belofsky also required recovery. Bättig benefited from this incident as she moved up to 16th position after reading the incident well and maintaining her momentum.

The race resumed on lap six and as the cars turned through Tarzanbocht, contact was made directly behind Bättig. With both Roman Felber and Alfie Slater out of the race and Henry Mercier delayed, the safety car was deployed for a second time. Bättig remained in 16th position and following good work from the marshals, the race resumed for one final lap.

Timo Jungling made a good restart immediately behind Bättig and he was able to pass the Swiss racer at Tarzanbocht. Bättig therefore took the chequered flag in 17th position, before later being promoted to 15th following penalties for both Lyuboslav Ruykov and Ethan Carney. Therefore, this result netted Bättig a further five championship points via her progression from her starting spot.

The final race at Zandvoort took place on Sunday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the results of qualifying, Bättig started from 20th on the grid. The Hitech racer made a superb start as she quickly climbed to 16th position at the end of the first lap. On lap two, Bättig moved inside the top-15 following a nice pass on Roman Felber.

Her progress was then halted after the race entered a safety car period following an incident involving Ella Lloyd and Haarni Sadiq. The race resumed on lap six and Bättig continued her march forward after passing Alba Larsen for 14th position. On lap seven, Emma Felbermayr and Daniella Sutton crashed on approach to Scheivlak and this brought out the safety car for a second time.

The green flags were displayed for one final lap with Bättig passing Lewis Wherrell, however she lost out to Timo Jungling as the battles in the midfield remained extremely competitive. Nonetheless, Bättig crossed the line in 14th position to complete a weekend of progress at Zandvoort.

Bättig did a nice job to recover from a difficult qualifying session to make progress in all three races. Her racecraft was particularly impressive as the Swiss driver continued to move forward at a circuit where overtaking is challenging. The Hitech driver will now be looking forward to her first visit to Thruxton when the British F4 Championship resumes on the weekend of 25th/26th July.