2017 British F4 Championship – Maiden Podium for Massaad, More Silverware and Lap Record for Lundqvist

Sensational First F4 Podium for Karl Massaad on Thruxton Debut

Double R Racing enjoyed a successful visit to ultra-fast Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire over the weekend, 6th/7th May, with Lebanese youngster Karl Massaad and Swedish racer Linus Lundqvist both climbing the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford podium. For Massaad, race one on Saturday – round seven – marked a real breakthrough with his first visit to the British F4 rostrum in his maiden season. Producing a superb performance, the Beirut driver went on to bounce back from clutch problems in round eight to finish fifth in round nine. Lundqvist was unfortunate to miss out on his second win of the season but he starred with a new lap record and also bagged his third podium of 2017 in round eight. He book-ended the result with fifth in round seven, fourth in round nine. Chinese team-mate Daniel Cao raced to his third points finish of the year in the last of the three Thruxton contests, finishing inside the coveted top 10, after posting a brace of 11th place results in the preceding contests.

“It’s been a good weekend all round and great to take home some more silverware”, said Double R team principal Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt, “We’re all absolutely delighted for Karl, fantastic to see him on the podium for the first time and his pace was terrific all weekend. Linus was unlucky to come away without another win but he’s taken away some big points, another podium and the lap record was the icing on the cake. We’ve been pleased with Daniel’s performance too, another top 10 is good going and he’s only going to get quicker.”

Lundqvist got the opening encounter on Saturday afternoon off to a terrific start from fifth on the grid, climbing into the top four before then leaping into second on lap two. In the thick of a titanic three-car battle for the lead at the end of lap three, just 0.1 seconds splitting the trio, the Swede’s podium challenge came unstuck the next time around after an unfortunate spin following contact. Dropping outside the top 10 and with a huge amount of work to do, Lundqvist produced remarkable pace during his recovery – setting the fastest lap by a country mile, a new lap record of 1m13.756 seconds (114.99mph) – and scythed his way through to an eventual finish of fifth.

Lebanese team-mate Massaad also made great progress at the beginning, climbing into the top six from eighth on the grid, and although edged back to seventh on the second tour he broke into the top four placings when his team-mate had his unfortunate rotation. On lap five, Massaad climbed into the top three and remained there for the remainder of the 16 lap contest to wrap-up a fantastic maiden British F4 podium finish. Notably, he lapped with pace a mere three hundredths of a second shy of the race winner’s best.

Cao, like Massaad and Lundqvist making his maiden race appearance at Thruxton, dropped a couple of places from 11th on the first tour, but recovered into the top 12 on lap three and then moved up another place back into 11th on the penultimate tour which he held to the flag. Hoping to build on his magnificent race one performance, Massaad instead had a luckless start to Sunday when his car was pushed off the round eight grid due to a clutch problem – the Lebanese racer had been set to start from fourth spot but had to frustratingly watch from the sidelines.

Lundqvist, meanwhile, was in the thick of the action from the get-go and mounted an incredibly determined challenge for victory. Although edged back to fourth through the first couple of turns, having started on the front-row of the grid, he swiftly hit back to regain third at Church. Taking second with a great move on the brakes into the chicane on lap three, Lundqvist then reeled in race leader Jamie Caroline hand over fist and by the sixth tour there was absolutely nothing between them. Pressuring hard, Lundqvist made the breakthrough into the chicane to take the lead but the next time around Caroline moved back on front. Refusing to be dropped, Lundqvist shadowed his rival and moved back into the lead of the race out of the complex on lap 12. Switching positions again at Goodwood, Lundqvist was then edged slightly onto the grass on the run up Woodham Hill and the battle enabled Ayrton Simmons to close in. On lap 13, Lundqvist’s podium hopes looked to have taken a significant blow when he was edged back to fourth but he climbed back into second to secure deserved silverware and also posted the fastest lap of the race again, 0.2 seconds quicker than race winner Caroline.

Starting 11th on the grid, team-mate Cao was edged back a place on lap two and remained there, bottled up behind compatriot Jacky Liu, until the seventh tour. Following a pit visit for Lucas Roy on lap 11, Cao moved back into 11th place and closed to within 0.3 seconds of the top 10 at the flag. For round nine, Lundqvist was the highest starting of the Double R trio in sixth place, two spots ahead of Massaad with Cao lining-up in 11th position. Lundqvist quickly made progress to climb into fifth place but on lap three he was edged back a couple of positions. He fought back well, though, to eventually finish in fourth. Massaad too made early gains, climbing into seventh on lap two and then fifth the next time around as Lundqvist dropped behind the sister car. By lap five he had risen into the podium placings and although slipping back to sixth the next time around, he moved into the top five on the final lap. Cao took the third points result of his rookie season with a solid drive to 10th position. Running in 12th place at the end of lap one, he climbed as high as eighth by lap four. Although edged back again to 11th, he fought back into the top 10 on lap seven and stayed there to the flag on lap 14.

Cheshire’s Oulton Park will host the fourth race meeting of the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford season over the weekend 20th/21st May.