British F4: Chiara Bättig returns to the top-10 at Donington Park

Chiara Bättig continued her strong rookie campaign in the British F4 Championship as the Swiss racer finished inside the top-10 at Donington Park, maintaining her record of scoring championship points at every round of the campaign to date.

Photo credits: JEP

Chiara Bättig continued her strong rookie campaign in the British F4 Championship as the Swiss racer finished inside the top-10 at Donington Park, maintaining her record of scoring championship points at every round of the campaign to date.

Bättig arrived at Donington Park having enjoyed a superb weekend last time out at Thruxton. After a qualifying session decided by fine margins, Bättig made excellent progress during the trio of races to secure a pair of top-10 results. The highlight of her event with a superb drive in race two which saw her gain six positions to take the chequered flag in eighth, banking valuable championship points in the process.

Bättig was now looking to take advantage of visiting a circuit for the second time. The Swiss racer made her British F4 Championship debut on the National layout at Donington Park where she scored a pair of top-15 finishes, while earning her first points in the series. With valuable experience now under her belt, the Hitech driver was aiming to maintain her streak of scoring championship points in each round of the campaign. 

Prior to the event getting underway, the drivers took part in a test day shortly after Thruxton with hot and dry conditions throughout. Bättig demonstrated consistent pace throughout the day with the Swiss racer clocking a fastest lap of a 1:28.982. This time placed her in 14^th position overall, while Bättig was less than three-quarters of a second away from the overall quickest lap set by Scott Kin Lindblom. 

The drivers returned to Donington Park on the Thursday prior to the race weekend with a pair of free practice sessions which were held in changeable conditions. Despite a number of red flag interruptions throughout the day, Bättig set the 13^th quickest lap with her fastest time of a 1:30.719 coming in the afternoon session. 

Conditions had improved for qualifying which took place on Saturday morning with all the drivers fitting the slick tyres. With low track temperatures, the speeds built up gradually in the early stages with Bättig sitting in fifth position at the halfway point. After new tyres were fitted for the final run, improvements were considerable with Bättig ending the session with a quickest time of a 1:30.240. This lap placed her in 13^th position with the Swiss racer missing out on reverse grid pole position by just half a tenth of a second. 

Photo credits: JEP

Race one at Donington Park took place on Saturday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the second fastest times set in qualifying, Bättig started from 16^th on the grid. It was a challenging start to the Hitech driver as Bättig dropped to the rear of the field, before completing lap one in 25^th position.

On lap two, Bättig overtook Daniella Sutton for 24^th position before applying pressure to Sun Anzhe. As the drivers completed lap three, Bättig drew level with Anzhe out of the final corner before completing the move at Redgate. Now into 23^rd position, Bättig was consistently running top-10 lap times as she looked to gain further ground.

After catching Canadian driver Justin Di Lucia, Bättig moved ahead with a great move on lap seven. The drivers up ahead were now battling for position and this allowed the Hitech racer to close in the top-20. Following a spell of sustained pressure, Bättig overtook Leon Hedfors on lap 11 for 21^st position.

It was a strong end to the race for Bättig who took the chequered flag in 21^st position, less than half a second behind Haarni Sadiq. A trio of track limits penalties were then assessed to Cash Felber, Ethan Carney and Alfie Slater and this elevated Bättig three positions, before Timo Jungling was penalised for contact with Sutton. Therefore, Bättig was classified in 17^th position to round-off a superb recovery drive after a difficult start to the race. 

The second race of the weekend took place on Sunday morning and featured a partial reverse grid with Bättig lining up from 13^th position. As the lights went out, Bättig lost a couple of positions through the opening turns with the Swiss racer ending lap one in 15^th position. 

In the early exchanges, Bättig was defending from Cash Felber while she aimed to apply pressure to Ethan Carney. The battles just outside the top-10 were extremely close with just tenths of a second separating the drivers. On lap five, Jaber Alsabah lost control at the Old Hairpin and with his car beached in the gravel, the safety car was deployed.

Bättig was now up to 14^th position and she was targeting a top-10 finish as the race resumed on lap eight. It was a confident restart from the Hitech driver who applied significant pressure to Carney. After moving to the outside at the final turn, Bättig almost got an overlap down the main straight as she looked to claim 13^th position.

Carney held the position into Redgate with Adam Al Azhari passing Cash Felber to close in on Bättig. In the closing stages of the race, Bättig pulled clear of Al Azhari before mounting one final challenge on Carney during the final lap. Crossing the line in 14^th position, Bättig was promoted to 13^th in the final classification after a track limits penalty was applied to Roman Felber. 

The final race at Donington Park took place on Sunday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the results from qualifying, Bättig lined up from 13^th position. Making her best start of the weekend, Bättig maintained 13^th position at the conclusion of lap one. On lap two, Cash Felber mounted a challenge on Bättig with the Hitech driver protecting her position well.

On lap three, the safety car was deployed after Alex O’Grady became beached in the gravel at Coppice. After good work from the marshals, the race resumed on lap seven with Jaber Alsabah hitting the barriers as the green flag was displayed. This promoted Bättig into 12^th position while the battle at the head of the field intensified.

Contact was then made between Ethan Jeff Hall and Tommy Harfield and with both drivers retiring from the race, Bättig moved inside the top-10. This incident necessitated a second safety car period with the race resuming on lap 11.

On the restart, several close battles emerged behind Bättig and this enabled her to focus forward on a strong end to the race. As the drivers completed lap 12, an incident at the final corner involving Alfie Slater, Ethan Carney and Timo Jungling saw the red flag displayed. It was an unfortunate end to the final contest with Bättig classified in tenth position, therefore scoring one championship point.

It was a strong and consistent weekend for Bättig at Donington Park as the Swiss racer again showed speed to challenge the leading drivers. The Hitech driver will now be looking forward to visiting a new venue when the British F4 Championship resumes at Croft on the weekend of 5^th/6^th September.