British F4: Double top-10 Chiara Bättig at Thruxton

Chiara Bättig enjoyed a positive debut at Britain’s fastest circuit as the Swiss racer twice finished inside the top-10 in the latest round of the British F4 Championship at Thruxton, while the Hitech driver maintained her 100% finishing record.

Photo credits: JEP

Chiara Bättig enjoyed a superb debut at Britain’s fastest circuit as the Swiss racer twice finished inside the top-10 in the latest round of the British F4 Championship at Thruxton, while the Hitech driver maintained her 100% finishing record.

At the halfway point of the season, Bättig was one of only seven drivers to have completed every lap of the campaign so far. This was an impressive achievement for a driver in her first year of single seater competition. Racing at Zandvoort in the previous round, Bättig scored five championship points in a weekend heavily disrupted by safety car periods.

Thruxton was set to pose a different challenge for Bättig with the high-speed circuit unlike any other on the calendar. The drivers first gained experience of the track during an in-season test which took place at the end of June. Bättig’s quickest lap of a 1:12.054 came during the fourth session and placed her in tenth position, just three tenths of a second behind pacesetter Joseph Smith.

The race weekend began on Friday with Bättig participating in two free practice sessions. It was a hugely encouraging day for the Swiss racer as Bättig’s fastest lap of a 1:11.455 placed her in fourth position. The Hitech driver was less than a tenth of a second away from the quickest time set by Dries van Langendonck as Bättig made a superb start to the event.

Saturday’s action began with qualifying and Bättig was searching for a top-10 starting position. The Hitech driver started the session on the front foot and at the halfway point of the 25-minute session, Bättig was in 14th position a fastest time of a 1:12.362.

During the second half of qualifying, the majority of the field improved as they took full advantage of a new set of tyres. Bättig found three tenths of a second on her final run to qualify with a quickest lap of 1:12.068. This time placed the Swiss racer in 14th position as Bättig missed out on pole position by just a quarter of a second, while she was just over half a tenth of a second away from securing reverse grid pole position.

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 started from 17th on the grid. As the lights went out, the Hitech driver made a good start while Sun Anzhe collected a stalled Timo Jungling towards the rear of the field.

Further contact was then made between Qarrar Firhand and Henry Mercier with the race subsequently red flagged in order to retrieve the damaged cars. A full 20-minute restart took place with Bättig looking to make progress towards the points scoring positions.

The Swiss racer made another good start as she completed the first lap in 15th position. In the early exchanges, Bättig enjoyed a close battle with Cameron Nelson with the Hitech driver briefly moving ahead before settling back into 15th spot. Although Bättig lost out to Cole Hewetson on lap four, the racing in the midfield remained extremely close as the drivers utilised the powerful slipstream effect.

By lap five, Bättig was back inside the top-15 after Dries van Langendonck was spun by Ethan Jeff Hall. With the Belgian driver rejoining the circuit safely, the race remained under green flag conditions. On lap eight, contact between Adam Al Azhari and Roman Felber saw Al Azhari’s machine stopped on the racing line. The majority of drivers did a great job to avoid the Hitech machine, before Haarni Sadiq made contact with the rear of Al Azhari’s car.

Due to a lengthy cleanup required, the race was red flagged for a second time and was unable to be resumed. Bättig negotiated this incident well and was initially classified in 13th position, before the results were counted back one lap with the Swiss racer finishing race one in 14th spot.

Photo credits: JEP

Race two at Thruxton took place on Sunday afternoon with Bättig lining up from 14th on the grid courtesy of her qualifying result. With a partial reversal at the head of the field, the Hitech driver was looking to make progress while adding to her tally of championship points.

The Swiss driver made a good start during a clean opening lap as Bättig moved into 13th position. On lap two, Dries van Langendonck slowed with a damaged rear wing and Bättig lost out to Joseph Smith and Roman Felber before an incident unfolded at the final corner.

Contact between Smith and Mate Kobakhidze saw the Georgian driver spin and he was then collected by teammate Cole Hewetson. Bättig did a superb job to avoid contact as she hopped over the inside kerb before the safety car was deployed. During the neutralisation period, Bättig ran in 13th position and she was currently in position to score one championship point.

The race resumed on lap seven and Bättig was continuing to challenge for positions just outside of the top-10. While battling for a podium position, Scott Kin Lindblom made contact with George Proudford Nalder and this incident saw both cars retire from the race with damage.

As a result, the safety car was deployed for a second time and due to the positioning of the two cars, the race was unable to be resumed before the race time expired. Therefore, Bättig finished a disrupted second race of the weekend in 11th position, before being promoted to eighth following three post-race penalties for her rivals. This secured the Swiss racer seven championship points via her progression.

Photo credits: JEP

The final race of the weekend took place later on Sunday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the results of qualifying, Bättig was set to line up from 14th position. However, a grid penalty assessed to Scott Kin Lindblom elevated the Swiss racer into 13th position as Bättig aimed to climb inside the top-10.

As the lights went out, Bättig made a good start and quickly moved into 12th position at the end of lap one. On lap two, the safety car was deployed after separate incidents saw the cars of Ethan Lennon and Timo Jungling stranded out on the circuit.

The race restarted on lap five and Bättig initially held her position while the drivers just outside the top-10 were running nose-to-tail. After the drivers behind began battling for position, Bättig had a margin of almost two seconds to Roman Felber as lap 10 began. Now with little pressure behind, the Hitech driver was looking to move forward, however her progress was halted as the safety car was deployed for a second time.

After Kit Belofsky was spun at Cobb, the Fortec Motorsport driver was collected by Daniella Sutton with Roman Felber also receiving damage. Once all three cars were cleared by the marshals, the race resumed on lap 15 and one lap later, Bättig was into 11th position after overtaking Adam Al Azhari.

It was an action-packed final lap with Jarrett Clark and George Proudford Nalder both leaving the circuit. This promoted Bättig into ninth position to complete an excellent weekend of racing for the Swiss driver at the demanding Thruxton circuit.

After twice finishing inside the top-10, Bättig displayed superb racecraft at Britain’s fastest circuit as she continued to establish herself as a frontrunning driver. Bättig displayed speed to challenge for podium finishes and she will now be looking ahead to the next round of the British F4 Championship which takes place at Donington Park on the weekend of 22nd/23rd August.