Florescu extends championship lead with victory at Oulton Park

The third and final Formula 4 British Championship race of the weekend at Oulton Park took place late on Sunday afternoon resulting in victory for Petru Florescu and a Carlin one-two. Florescu lined up in pole position and took off well at the start – never looking back as he controlled the race beautifully to score maximum points and extend his championship lead. Race one winner Devlin DeFrancesco lined up on the front row of the grid following his brilliant qualifying and followed his team mate to take second position as the flag fell. Both Max Fewtrell and James Pull also continued their strong form of point scoring finishes to take fourth and fifth respectively; ensuring all four Carlin cars finished in the top five.

For the final time this weekend the cars lined up on the grid as they prepared to hunt for points and podiums. Lining up alongside each other on the grid, it was Florescu who was to start from pole with DeFrancesco alongside him in second. Just behind, Fewtrell started in third while Pull lined up on the grid in sixth. The race was somewhat delayed while a car from a previous race was recovered – leading to an additional green flag lap.

Once the lights were able to signal the start of the race it was a quick shoot down to the first corner for Florescu and DeFrancesco who ran closely as they battled for the lead of the race. Ultimately, it was championship leader Florescu who took the honours and led as the race got underway. Just behind, Fewtrell came under pressure from Jamie Caroline who stole the position from him while Pull was looking to move up from his sixth placed start.

With overtaking extremely difficult at the Oulton Park circuit it was Pull who was the only driver within the top six to make a move over the course of the 14 lap race; lining up Alex Quinn, he fought well to take fifth position as his own.

As had been the case for the previous two races, it was relatively processional for the drivers however Florescu continued to set fast lap after fast lap. With the time completely counted down, the Romanian racer took victory around Oulton Park securing the fastest lap of the race and, more importantly, a further advantage in the championship lead.

Florescu said of his win, “I am super happy to have clinched my fourth win of the season here at Oulton Park. And also I am now back in the lead of the British Formula 4 Championship so that is the main thing – it’s great to come away with that. Many thanks to all of the people at Carlin – we won’t ever stop working this hard to keep achieving these great results.”

Following him home, DeFrancesco took his second podium position of the weekend to finish brilliantly second overall – a result which will also see him move up one place in the Championship standings. Fewtrell and Pull also enjoyed extremely strong races and took the flag in fourth and fifth respectively ensuring all four Carlin cars appeared fantastically well within the top five.

Following a weekend in which Carlin didn’t leave the podium, the drivers now look ahead to the next round of the season where they hope to continue their form at Croft two weeks from now.