Daniella Sutton adds to her points tally at Snetterton

Daniella Sutton enjoyed a positive weekend in the British F4 Championship at Snetterton as the Chris Dittmann Racing driver scored six championship points while continuing her progress in her debut single seater season through consistent improvements during the course of the event while making on-track passes.

Photo credits: JEP

Daniella Sutton enjoyed a positive weekend in the British F4 Championship at Snetterton as the Chris Dittmann Racing driver scored six championship points while continuing her progress in her debut single seater season.

Sutton made consistent improvements during the course of the event as she battled in the competitive midfield, while making on-track passes on her way to a best result of 24th.

Sutton arrived at Snetterton fresh off an encouraging display at Brands Hatch where she took significant steps forward in performance. Qualifying just half a second away from the front row of the grid was a clear indication of her progress, before the Chris Dittmann Racing driver secured her first top-20 finish of the season in race three. Daniella banked valuable experience racing in the competitive midfield and after running as high as 15th for large portions of the final race in round two, she was now keen to add to her points tally in Norfolk.

On-track action at Snetterton began on Wednesday as the drivers participated in four short test sessions. Sutton improved with each session as she continued to close the gap to the drivers ahead. At the end of the day, Sutton had completed a total of 90 laps with her quickest time of a 1:50.728 placing her in 29th position overall.

After a day of rest, the drivers returned to Snetterton on Friday for a pair of free practice sessions. With hotter temperatures in Norfolk, the lap times throughout the field were slightly slower than of Wednesday’s test sessions. Sutton banked valuable experience by completing a further 39 laps, the most of any driver, while setting a quickest lap of a 1:51.217 which placed the Chris Dittmann Racing driver in 30th position.

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning with Sutton aiming to make further improvements in her one-lap pace. After building up her speed through the first half of the session, Sutton took significant strides forward on her new set of tyres. Her speed through the first sector was especially strong as she set a quickest lap of a 1:50.574. This time was almost a quarter of a second faster than she had managed throughout testing and free practice with the Chris Dittmann Racing driver ending the session in 30th position, but within close contention of the drivers directly ahead.

Photo credits: JEP

Race one at Snetterton took place on Saturday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the second fastest times from qualifying, Sutton lined up from 30th position. Sutton made a clean start and began challenging for positions through the opening turns as she aimed to make progress from her starting spot.

By the end of lap one, Sutton was into 28th position after Kit Belofsky pitted his Fortec Motorsport machine after an incident at Murrays. Daniella also passed Mate Kobakhidze after the Georgian driver was collected following contact with Belofsky. Sutton herself did a nice job to avoid the incident ahead with a number of cars delayed as a result of this incident.

Beginning lap two, contact at turn one sent Tommy Harfield into the barriers and with Henry Mercier also pitting to repair damage, Sutton was up to 26th. With Harfield’s car requiring recovery, the race entered a safety car period which was later extended after Kobakhidze’s car stopped at Coram.

The race resumed on lap six and Belofsky was able to overtake Sutton as he looked to regain positions following his earlier incident. Nonetheless, Sutton was doing well to remain with the drivers ahead and therefore she was in striking distance should a mistake be made in the competitive midfield.

On lap eight, Sutton’s improvements in the final sector were clear to see as she was faster than the next three drivers through this part of the circuit. As Belofsky continued to move forward, this presented opportunities for Sutton and in the closing stages of the race, she cut the gap to Vegard Klemetsen. Applying pressure to the Norwegian driver on the final lap, Sutton took the chequered flag in 27th position and just half a second behind Klemetsen as the Chris Dittmann Racing driver set a new personal best lap time to close out race one.

Photo credits: JEP

The second race of the weekend took place on Sunday morning and was the reverse grid contest which meant that points were available for every position gained from each driver’s starting spot. Lining up from 30th on the grid, Sutton made a clean start and moved up to 29th position at the end of the first lap.

On lap two, Sutton climbed to 27th after Piotr Orzechowski retired after a sizeable crash and Joseph Smith pitted to repair damage. The safety car was then deployed to retrieve the car of Orzechowski with Sutton restarting from 26th after teammate Tommy Harfield pitted for a new front wing. Although Sutton then lost out to Smith and Theo Palmer, she completed the restart lap in 27th after Jackson Wolny pitted his Xcel Motorsport machine.

After the recovering Smith and Palmer continued to make progress, this presented opportunities for Sutton with Sun Anzhe just ahead. On lap eight, an incident at the Wilson hairpin between Haarni Sadiq and Roman Felber saw both drivers retire from the race with Daniella now inside the top-25.

As the drivers exited Murrays to begin lap nine, Anzhe ran wide over the exit kerb which lost the Argenti Motorsport driver momentum with Sutton just two tenths of a second behind. Sutton did a superb job to set up an overtake on Anzhe which she completed at Agostini to move up to 24th position. Anzhe fought back on the final lap of the race, however Sutton maintained her composure to take the chequered flag ahead of her rival to secure six championship points for a 24th place finish.

Photo credits: JEP

The final race of the weekend was held on Sunday afternoon with Sutton lining up from 30th position with the grid based upon the results from qualifying. As the lights went out, Sutton made a good start while a multi-car incident unfolded at turn one. With four drivers retiring from the race and Jaber Alsabah pitting for a new front wing, the safety car was deployed to retrieve the stricken cars as Daniella ran in 25th position.

With a lengthy recovery required, the race was subsequently red flagged and the restart was scheduled for a revised duration of 12 minutes. Due to timetable constraints, the race resumed behind the safety car and therefore just nine minutes remained when the green flag was displayed.

As the drivers got back up to speed, Alsabah overtook Sutton before Daniella regained a spot back inside the top-25 following an off-track moment for Joseph Smith. Once again, Sutton was running competitively with the midfield pack as she applied pressure to race two rival Sun Anzhe. Running just half a second behind the Argenti Motorsport machine, Sutton was looking to replicate her move from earlier in the day to continue her progress forward.

Anzhe himself was looking for a way ahead of Sutton’s teammate Piotr Orzechowski with the trio battling over 23rd position. With few green flag laps remaining, Sutton just ran out of time to make a move as she took the chequered flag in 25th position and less than half a second behind Anzhe. On the final lap of the contest, Sutton was faster than the next five drivers ahead to further underline her progress.

It was a positive third round of the championship for Sutton who added to her points tally while moving back inside the top-20 of the standings. Sutton’s improved race pace was a particular highlight and her on-track pass in race two allowed Daniella to showcase her racecraft.

It is a fast turnaround for the British F4 Championship drivers who return to action next weekend for the BRDC International Trophy meeting on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.