- Zane Goddard secures third and fourth victories of rookie season - Australian produces masterclass with superb Rd25 win from grid P4- Carrie Schreiner in points again with deserved top 10 finish in Rd26
Newly crowned BRDC British Formula 3 Champions and Racecar client Double R Racing celebrated yet more success over the weekend, 17th/18th September, with a pair of sensational F4 British Championship race wins for Australian teenager Zane Goddard.
Fresh from its history-making Formula 3 title triumph at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit the weekend prior, Woking-based Double R continued its winning ways thanks to magnificent drives from 16-year-old Goddard in round 25 on Saturday afternoon and round 27 on Sunday.
Utterly dominating the opening contest, surging into the lead on lap one from fourth on the grid and going on to win by more than seven seconds, Goddard added a top six result in round 26 on Sunday morning and then rounded off the penultimate event of the 2016 season back on top of the rostrum.
“Zane has done a great job this weekend, I thought we’d go well at Silverstone and two wins from three isn’t bad going”, said team principal Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt, “It’s been great for Zane to have his dad over here this weekend from Australia as well. It’s the first time he’s seen him race in the UK so to have two wins to celebrate, it couldn’t have been much better.”
At the wheel of the second Double R entry, Carrie Schreiner made her fourth and final appearance of the season in the F4 British Championship and marked her first race meeting at Silverstone with her third top 10 points finish in the second of the event’s two races. Schreiner will miss the series finale at Brands Hatch in two weeks due to a clashing race in the ADAC F4 category in Germany.
“We’re pleased Carrie could get back into the points on her last weekend”, added Hieatt, “She’s shown good pace in the few races she’s done in the UK this year, Thruxton being the highlight, and it’s not easy to jump between the ADAC championship and the British one. She’s shown a lot of promise along the way, it’s been great working with her this season.”
Qualifying fourth fastest for race one in the damp grid-determining session on Saturday morning, Goddard only missed out on pole position by 0.2 seconds – but a second row start for round 25 was all the Australian needed. Making a superb start and piecing together a stunning first lap, the Double R racer expertly carved his way into the lead and never looked back from that point forward.
Pulling a full second clear by the end of lap two, Goddard utterly dominated the 21 lap contest and didn’t put a wheel wrong in his Ford-powered Mygale as he stormed to an eventual winning margin of more than seven seconds, a huge advantage in F4 racing. Reeling off a series of fastest laps, Goddard only just missed out on the quickest of the race by less than 0.1 seconds.
Schreiner started the first of the weekend’s three races from 14th on the grid and gained two places on the opening lap to break into the top 12. Closing on the cars ahead, she remained in position throughout the first half of the race but was edged back a spot by Alex Quinn on lap 12.
Losing another place on lap 18 to title contender Max Fewtrell, Schreiner then moved back into 13th place on the penultimate tour and went on to finish the race just 0.1 seconds outside the top 12 at the chequered flag.
Goddard started the ‘reverse grid’ race on Sunday morning from ninth place but was elevated into eighth when Petru Florescu pitted after the green flag lap. Moving into seventh on lap three, after passing Devlin DeFrancesco, the Double R racer then climbed into the top six after sneaking past James Pull on lap five when the latter was nudged wide at Luffield by another driver.
Soon after, Goddard broke into the top five and he remained there following a mid-race Safety Car period – pressuring for fourth when racing resumed. During the latter stages, though, he was edged back to sixth by a resurgent DeFrancesco.
Schreiner, from the sixth row of the grid, ran in 12th position over the first couple of laps but then moved into 11th on the third tour before being shuffled back to 14th place. Following an incident ahead, though, she was able to climb into 11th on lap six and maintained position all the way to the finish. As a result of a time penalty for a rival, she was then elevated into the points-scoring top 10.
In the final race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon, Goddard started in third place and although threatened at Copse he maintained his placing. Quickly setting fastest lap pace, the Double R driver challenged Sennan Fielding and on lap four he made the move for second.
Instantly setting about pressuring race leader Luis Leeds, Goddard pumped in more fastest laps and got into a position to challenge on lap seven. Absolutely welded to the back of Leeds’ car down Wellington Straight, Goddard darted out of the slipstream at the last second into Brooklands and brilliantly moved into the lead of the race – also setting another fastest lap at the same time.
Edging away from his compatriot over the next few laps, Goddard pulled 0.8 seconds clear and as the race entered the closing minutes he extended his advantage to over one second for the first time before taking the chequered flag on lap 21 more than 2.5 seconds to the good.
“It’s been a great weekend, two wins is fantastic and big thanks to the guys at Double R for giving me a great car”, said Goddard, “Me and the team have really put our heads down, we put a lot of work into the car and it’s really paying off now with results like this Two wins here, four for the season and eight podiums in total, there’s a lot to be happy about. I’m definitely proud of what we’ve done.”
From 16th on the grid in the final race, Schreiner was nudged back a position on the opening lap but climbed ahead of Patrik Matthiesen on lap three and continued in 16th until lap 10 when demoted by Jack Martin. Staying within a couple of tenths of the group ahead, Schreiner then regained 16th soon after as a result of an excursion for Petru Florescu and ended the race in that position.
Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit will host the final three rounds of the F4 British Championship season two weeks from now, over the weekend 1st/2nd October.
2016 F4 British Championship Driver Standings (after Rd27):8th Zane Goddard, 230pts; 17th Carrie Schreiner, 14pts
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