British F4: Chloe Chong gains 25 places over the Zandvoort weekend, wins 'Hard Charger Award'

Despite a challenging qualifying session, Chloe Chong made an impressive comeback by gaining 25 positions over three races at Zandvoort, earning the Pirelli Hardest Charger Award and valuable championship points in the sixth round of the British F4 Championship.

Photo credits: JEP

Despite a challenging qualifying, Chloe Chong turned her weekend around by making up 25 positions over the three races at Zandvoort, earning the Pirelli Hardest Charger Award for the most overtakes during the weekend and gained five points in race 2 courtesy of her recovery drive from the back of the field.

Chong, who is tackling her first season in the ROKiT British F4 Championship, showcased her potential in practice, where she proved to have enough speed for the top-ten, but an unfortunate qualifying was a setback that forced her to charge through the field in all three races at the Dutch circuit.

The British/Canadian teenager joined the British-based series after making her single seater debut in F1 Academy in 2024, becoming the youngest driver in the series at 15 years of age.

In her second F4 season, Chong made a huge step in the highly-competitive series, in an ever-growing grid that saw 27 cars on the grid for the sixth championship round.

The Zandvoort weekend also marked the championship's first race meeting outside the UK and featured a groundbreaking record of eight female racing drivers on the grid, an all-time high for British F4 and any FIA-sanctioned F4 championship globally.

With previous experience of the track albeit on a car with slightly different specifications, Chong headed to Zandvoort aiming to showcase her potential, following unlucky rounds where she couldn't fully capitalize on her pace in both qualifying and races.

And in Thursday's practice, Chloe delivered with the eleventh fastest time in the first testing session, clocking a 1:38.230 lap that was barely a second off overall pace setter and championship leader Deagan Fairclough.

She would complete a very solid testing day with a 1:38.671 in another dry FP2, although the weather forecast showed high probability of rain for Friday qualifying.

The rain in fact did disrupt the following day and conditions were difficult for qualifying, with 27 cars trying to find a clean lap around the 4259m circuit.

Unfortunately, Chong was involved in an off-track that caused the second red flag and, with no representative time set, she would have to line up from P26 in all three races.

"We started practice well and had the pace for top 10 in all conditions", Chong commented. "In qualifying I struggled to find the space with the traffic and wasn’t able to set a lap due to an accident, which put me on the back foot, though I was determined to come back as the weekend doesn’t end on Friday."

Race 1 took place under very wet conditions, presenting a significant challenge for the biggest British F4 grid of the season. Despite the difficult visibility, all drivers managed to get through turn 1; Deagan Fairclough led from pole, followed by Molnar, Ninovic, and Dodds. Just behind, Zack Scoular spun after being hit by Alex Berg but was fortunately avoided by everyone else. Chloe Chong had a stellar first lap, gaining six positions and moving up to P20.

As the race progressed, Ninovic passed Molnar for second place, but saw Fairclough driving away in clean visibility. Meanwhile, Jess Edgar led a train of cars that included Lloyd, Gademan, Chong, and Bustamante: Chong continued to make up positions and, taking advantage of attrition ahead, she moved up to P19 with a clean and determined drive. She engaged in a thrilling battle with her former F1 Academy teammate Bianca Bustamante, ultimately securing P17 and opening a safe gap in the closing laps.

Fairclough extended his lead to eight seconds, being the only driver under the 1:50 pace, and won Race 1 unchallenged. Ninovic finished second, while Molnar held on to third. Chloe Chong's great recovery from the back of the field saw her finish P17, having made up nine places in very challenging weather conditions.

Race 2 was scheduled for Saturday afternoon and began with a damp track that had dried enough for slicks. However, a new rain shower as the cars left for the formation lap meant that a few cars switched to wets during a delay when Matus Ryba's car came to a halt on the final corner of the formation lap. After another formation lap, the lights briefly went out before turning red again, creating chaos as most drivers started and then stopped, leading to multiple collisions. Seven cars crashed on the main straight, resulting in a red flag. Due to a technical issue with the starting lights, the race was postponed to Sunday morning.

Photo credits: JEP

On Sunday morning, conditions were significantly different, with mostly sunny skies and a dry track. From the back of the grid, Chloe Chong had an initial good getaway but had to go off-track to avoid a spinning car just in front of her. This excursion through the gravel cost her nearly 20 seconds, but she continued to fight hard, determined to recover. Amidst mistakes from other drivers, Chloe kept her composure and made up several positions, moving up to P23.

Chong passed Raber on lap 7, climbing to P22. She was nearly a second faster than Schreiner ahead but had a 5.5-second gap to close; pushing through, Chloe gained more positions as Ernesto Rivera spun and dropped down the order, allowing her to move up to P21. She closed the gap to Schreiner to 0.6 seconds, but eventually ran out of time to make a pass, finishing in P21 and earning five valuable championship points thanks to the recovery drive in the reverse grid race.

Race 3 on Sunday afternoon took place again in dry conditions. Starting from P26, Chloe Chong faced another challenge of charging up the field. She immediately made up one position by avoiding the stalled car of Jess Edgar and then overtook Matus Ryba, moving up to P23 with a clean pass. On lap 3, she hunted down Aurelia Nobels, but a significant crash on lap 4 involving Campbell-Pilling, Scoular, Robinson and Gademan halted the race with a red flag.

With some skillful avoiding action, Chong had climbed to P16 and got through unscathed. After the restart behind the safety car with nine minutes to go, more chaos ensued as Ninovic suffered front wing damage and dropped down the order. Chloe Chong passed Aurelia Nobels and traded positions with Ryba, finding herself right in the mix of midfield battles for the top ten. Running as high as 13th, she attacked Schreiner but was eventually passed by Alex Berg.

Ahead, Fairclough won unchallenged, leading a Hitech 1-2 with Seewooruthun in second and Sherwood taking the third step of the podium. In the final laps, Chong fought hard and finished P14, matching her personal best finish of the season.

Having gained over 10 positions in Race 3 alone and 25 over the entire weekend, Chloe Chong collected the Pirelli Hardest Charger Award, earning a set of Pirelli tyres for testing.

"It’s been a mixed bag, culminating in the phrase ‘what could have been’," Chloe summed up. "Over the course of three races, we made up about 30 positions, so we did a good job. The car was great, and the full focus is on my driving. We have some good momentum, and it’s been the most positive round for me so far, so Knockhill should be exciting."

Despite the qualifying setback, the JHR Developments driver added valuable points to her tally and showcased some of her best speed this season. Gaining valuable experience in midfield battles, she made no mistakes in the races and seized every opportunity to climb the order.

The British F4 season will resume at Knockhill, Scotland over the weekend of August 9-11 after a four week break.