Chloe Chong continued to show progress in British Formula 4, achieving her personal best finish to date with a P12 in Race 2 at Knockhill, while also demonstrating improved qualifying performance despite misfortunes in race 1 and 3.
Chloe Chong continued to make progress in British Formula 4 and scored her personal best in race 2, gaining two positions to claim a P12 in Knockhill.
Despite an overall unfortunate weekend, which saw a DNF in race 1 and a technical issue in race 3 that the young racer fought to still secure a 15th place finish, Chong made a further step ahead in the seventh round of the championship, particularly in qualifying.
The British-Canadian driver, in fact, was a couple of tenths away from a top ten and hundredths of a second from a 12th place which would have put her on reverse grid pole position. Despite a session severely disrupted by red flags, she could nevertheless show improvements in qualifying, an area where she had struggled a bit more in the previous rounds.
Round seven hosted at Knockhill, Scotland, track not much used for testing before race weekends. Chong had made her first visit to the circuit in a March testing session, and returned on Wednesday before the race meeting, almost a month after the last round in Zandvoort.
Battling some jetlag from a trip to Canada, Chloe worked her way up the order and built speed for the weekend, ending 18th fastest in testing and 17th fastest in Friday practice, with a 48.825 lap recorded in the second session.
Chong therefore sought to capitalize on her recent improvements and secure a strong starting position for the races in the crucial qualifying, as Knockhill's layout means that even a couple of tenths of a second can result in significant gains on the grid.
The session, however, turned out to be anything but straightforward, with several interruptions. Almost immediately after the session began, it was disrupted by a red flag when Scoular went off on his first lap, halting proceedings just three minutes in.
Once the session resumed with 17 minutes left on the clock, the drivers barely managed to complete a lap before the red flag was out again, this time caused by Higgins. Chloe remained focused, setting a competitive lap time of 49.675 seconds. Her time was good enough to place her temporarily in P9.
As the session continued, Campbell-Pilling set a new benchmark, overtaking Cui, whose time had been the fastest in the early stages. Chloe found herself in P14 as the session resumed after another interruption caused by Fu's Virtuosi Racing car; she managed to improve her first and third sector times, showing glimpses of the pace - although she couldn't quite improve her overall position, and a track limits violation resulted in one of her times being deleted. Deagan Fairclough ultimately secured double pole positions, with Campbell-Pilling and Molnar following closely behind.
Chloe finished the session with a best lap of 48.992 seconds, just seven-tenths off the pole time, placing her in P14 for Race 3. Her second-fastest lap earned her a P13 starting position for Race 1. Despite narrowly missing out on the top ten, her ideal best lap time indicated that she had the pace to challenge for higher positions.
"We didn’t come into the weekend with as much preparation as I would have liked as I was a bit jetlagged for testing, but I got on with it", Chloe recalled. "Qualifying was a highlight as I hooked up some laps. Unfortunately, on my best lap I made a mistake, which dropped me down the order, but the pace we had I could have been top 10."
Chong lined up in P13 for the first 20-minute race of the weekend, eager to make up positions from the start. The race began with drama as a major incident for Ella Lloyd's car flipped at the first corner led to an immediate red flag. Thankfully, Lloyd emerged unscathed.
At the restart, Deagan Fairclough lost the lead to Campbell-Pilling, who initially surged ahead but was later penalized for jumping the start, incurring a 10-second penalty. Chong found herself in a fierce midfield battle, initially dropping to P15 after being overtaken by both Higgins and the rapidly recovering Scoular.
Chong was running a steady race, maintaining her position and working hard to close the gap to the cars ahead when Berg encountered issues and fell down the order, gaining Chloe a position. The deployment of the Safety Car bunched up the field, offering Chong another opportunity to advance.
Upon the restart, with just 9 minutes remaining, the leaders engaged in a tight battle: Fairclough set a new fastest lap and reclaimed the lead on lap 13, with Ninovic also looking to capitalize on Campbell-Pilling's penalty. Chloe, however, was unable to hold off challenges from Nina Gademan and Maxwell Dodds, dropping to P16 with only 5 minutes left in the race. Despite her efforts to regain positions, Chloe's race unfortunately ended prematurely as she retired with four laps remaining.
Despite the disappointment, she demonstrated improved pace and tenacity, leaving her hopeful for better results in Sunday's races.
On Sunday morning, the reverse grid race provided exciting racing and opportunities for drivers to climb through the field. Chloe started from P14, ready to make the most of the chance to score points.
The race got off to a challenging start for Chloe as she lost three positions on the opening lap, then settling into P17. Despite the initial setback, Chong was determined to recover and soon began her charge through the field.
Her efforts were rewarded when she gained a position after Ninovic ran off the track following contact with Higgins. The JHR Developments driver then started clocking lap times comparable to the front-runners, with a best lap of 49.3 seconds, demonstrating competitive pace.
Chong was soon on the tail of Dodds and, after an attempt to overtake Berg, she was briefly passed by the recovering Ninovic, who set a new time benchmark of 49.045. As the race progressed, Berg and Campbell-Pilling hit trouble, allowing Chloe to gain further ground, moving up to P15.
With Scoular pitting for front wing damage, Chong advanced to P14 and the race took another twist as Ninovic's car stopped on track. Chloe seized the opportunity to climb up to P12 with a strong recovery drive, as the race was red-flagged with 3 minutes remaining and not resumed.
This P12 finish marked a personal best for Chong, improving on her previous best of P13 at Thruxton, and she scored two valuable points for the gained positions.
In the final race of the weekend, starting positions were determined by the fastest laps from Saturday's qualifying. Chloe Chong lined up from P13 due to the absence of her JHR teammate Ella Lloyd, who was unable to make the grid.
At lights out, Molnar quickly snatched second place from Campbell-Pilling, while Fairclough retained the lead. Chong initially lost a position to Higgins at the start and then dropped behind Nina Gademan on the second lap.
Facing a mechanical problem, Chloe continued to fight, though she fell behind both Scoular and Dodds, slipping to P17 after a slow exit from the hairpin. Chong's mechanical issue hampered her pace, but she remained determined to make the most out of the situation.
She started to chase Gademan, who had made a mistake and gone off track during an overtaking attempt - and the two worked to close a two-second gap to the group ahead. With several competitors receiving track limit penalties, Chloe focused on keeping her laps clean and consistent, allowing her to capitalize on these penalties.
Fairclough secured his ninth win of the season, followed by Molnar, who managed to get ahead of Campbell-Pilling after the latter received a penalty. Ninovic rounded out the podium in third place.
Chloe's smart driving and perseverance paid off in the closing stages, as she gained positions due to the penalties handed to Scoular and Dodds, ultimately securing P15.
"Race one was tricky, race two I made up some places, and race three was the best driving I did all weekend, but I couldn’t show it as the car had a mechanical problem which I induced at the start", Chong said, reflecting on her weekend. "I drove some consistent laps though, and considering the problems we had, the pace was decent."
The Knockhill weekend was a mixed bag for Chloe Chong; although there were several positives to take including her personal best finish in Race 2 and the qualifying speed.
With a total of 10 points and valuable experience gained, Chloe will aim for further progress at the eighth round of the season, scheduled for August 24-25 at Donington Park, where the series will return to the venue of the season opener, this time on the Grand Prix layout.
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