Ella Lloyd continued to show her race craft in the F4 British Championship, as she took a pair of top-10 finishes on her first visit to Zandvoort in the Netherlands at the weekend (July 11-14).
The Welsh teenager, who races with JHR Developments, was hampered in free practice on Thursday, only getting six laps in across both sessions with a gearbox problem and red flags hampering her preparations. That didn’t trouble her however, as heading into a wet qualifying session on Friday, she recorded the ninth quickest time.
Ella had a brilliant start to race one on Saturday, again under wet conditions, moving from fifth on the grid into second off the line, but going into the high-speed Scheivlak corner, put a wheel on the grass and had a trip through the gravel, falling to almost last of the runners. From there she mounted a spirited comeback, making her way back through to 12th position at the flag.
Race two was abandoned later that afternoon, when a technical fault led to a multiple-car incident, and was rescheduled for Sunday morning, under dry and sunny skies. With another good start, she took two places to third, but hampered by her lack of practice laps, fell back two positions, though then put on a defensive masterclass, holding that place to the end of the contest.
Ella was on the move again in race three, taking eighth in the early stages, before a red flag when several cars went off. Once it restarted, she lined up seventh having just made up another place, and remained in that spot for the remainder, capping a solid weekend of finishes and points scores.
There is now a four-week break for Ella before she returns to the F4 British Championship, which next heads to Knockhill in Scotland for rounds 19, 20, and 21 of the season.
Ella Lloyd commented:
G1 – 5, R1 – 12
G2 – 4, R2 – 5
G3 – 9, R3 – 7
Championship: 10 (63 points)
“In Thursday practice I only completed six laps as I had a gearbox problem, and the second session was red flagged. Qualifying in the wet put me back into contention, because no one else has had wet testing at Zandvoort, so finishing P9 was good but I think there was a bit more in the lap.
“Race one I lined up fifth and had a good start but took a bit too much speed into turn seven and dipped a wheel on the grass, so went off and was almost last. I kept pushing forward and made my way back up to P12, which was a good recovery, but we had the potential for a podium if I hadn’t made the mistake. It was wet and visibility was low, but we have to get on with it and deal with it.
“I had a really good start to race two, moving to P3, but as I didn’t have much practice, I was on the back foot. I pushed as much as I could, felt where the grip was, tried my hardest, and I think my defending was pretty decent. I had another good start for race three, though it was a bit tight on the first few corners. I was fighting with another driver for a while and we were side-by-side through T6, and I was squeezed on the grass a bit, the car next to me touched me and had a moment, and I am not sure what happened then, but the red flag came out. We had a decent Safety Car restart and a good run to the flag. My racing has shown this weekend, especially only having six laps in practice, and we were quick in the wet and dry, as well as scoring good points for the championship.”