Ella Lloyd makes remarkable comeback after roll to claim British F4 podium

Ella Lloyd scored her second F4 British Championship podium of the season in a remarkable comeback at Knockhill (August 9-11), after she was sent into a roll in the opening contest.

The teenager, from Pontypridd in Wales, showed good pace on track through testing on Wednesday and practice on Friday, building up her knowledge of the tricky, undulating Scottish venue, in her maiden single seater season.

Heading into qualifying on Saturday morning, Ella pushed hard throughout the 20-minute session, despite three red flags disrupting her progress, putting in her three fastest laps in the closing moments to finish 12th quickest, with her second-best lap time good enough for 11th on the grid for race one.

Held later that afternoon, the Welsh racer had a customary good start and, on the run, to turn one, moved to her left to avoid a car ahead. Unfortunately, with another driver in her blind spot, she clipped its front wing with her rear wheel, and was sent into a spin across the grass. As the car then dug into the turf, she was sent into a series of rolls, though thankfully was completely unharmed and able to extract herself from the machine.

With the car heavily damaged, the JHR Developments team worked hard all through the evening until 3am, rebuilding it, and continued again on Sunday morning, only finishing the work in the minutes before race two, ensuring Ella was able to take her place on pole position.

As the lights went out, Ella held the lead into turn one, despite pressure, but with the car’s handling not quite right, wasn’t able to fend off an attack by her teammate, dropping back to second place, where she held on to the flag, scoring a fantastic podium and rewarding everyone for their hard work.

Unfortunately, an illness unrelated to her incident meant she wasn’t able to take her spot on the grid for the final contest, but a successful race two and well-earned second podium finish of the season gives good momentum for Ella as she looks ahead to the final three meetings of the 2024.

Ella will return to action in the F4 British Championship over the weekend of August 24/25, for three races on the longer Donington Park Grand Prix circuit.

Ella Lloyd commented:

G1 – 11, R1 – DNF
G2 – 1, R2 – 2
G3 – DNS, R3 – DNS

Championship: 11 (75 points)

“We had positive testing as we set up the car, and once we got it in the window the pace was really good. Qualifying was tricky with multiple red flags, making it stop start, but I got a good lap in to finish P12. Race one wasn’t the ideal start to the weekend. I had a good start and was closing in on the cars in front. A car moved across, I reacted, and I didn’t see a car in my blind spot on my left, so I clipped their front wing. I slid across the grass and the car dug in, so I rolled two and a half times.

“The team did a really good job to rebuild the car overnight and then do an engine change in the morning. We started race two on pole but as the team only just finished building the car as soon as I jumped in, so we didn’t know what it would be like, and I had to adapt to what I had. I had another good start but was having problems with braking, wheelspin, and handling, but I kept pushing. Leo [Robinson] had more pace than me, but I was glad to finish second. My first year of single seaters was supposed to be about learning, so to have two podiums already is unbelievable.”