Ella Lloyd returned to the F4 British Championship podium at the weekend (August 24/25), taking a third place at Donington Park after recording her best qualifying result of the year.
Coming into the Leicestershire venue on the back of a second place finish last time out, the Welsh racer had two practice sessions to finalise her car setup before qualifying on Saturday morning. That session took place on a wet track but Ella drove well despite the difficult conditions, finishing third fastest.
Lining up seventh for the opening race later that afternoon, the track was drying but remained damp in places, which caught the teenager out as she lined up a move on the inside into the Old Hairpin, catching a wet patch and spinning into retirement. In race two, a rescheduled contest from April, she took contact on the opening lap and would have to pit with damage late on, being classified 17th.
On Sunday morning, Ella had one of her strong starts and opening laps, making up five places before the Safety Car was called and gaining third place when another driver peeled into the pits. On the restart she did well to move into second and then put in a good defensive drive as the championship leader harried her all over the circuit. They managed to get by on the penultimate lap, but she kept pace to the flag, scoring a third podium of the season.
Hoping for more of the same in the final contest, which was shown live on ITV4 in the UK and worldwide on ITV Sport TikTok, but frustratingly took contact on the opening lap, falling to the back of the field. Refusing to give up, she fought back through, taking the flag in 11th position, but was handed a track limits penalty, moving her back one place in the classification.
With excellent progress made in her first year of single seater racing, Ella now looks ahead to the next three races of the F4 British Championship, which take place on the short and action-packed Silverstone National circuit, over the weekend of September (20-22).
Ella Lloyd commented:
G1 – 7, R1 – DNF
G2 – 7, R2 – 17
G3 – 9, R3 – 3
G4 – 3, R4 – 12
Championship: 9 (91 points)
“I had a good start for the first race and going down the Craner Curves, I went for a move into the Old Hairpin, but it was a bit damp on the inside, so I locked up, and the rears came around. In race two I was turned around coming out of the Melbourne Hairpin and that put me to the back. I had some more contact towards the end, so we came into the pits as I had damage.
“I started ninth for the third race, but I was up to fourth on lap one, then someone boxed with damage, so I was into third. I had a really good Safety Car restart and took second around the outside of turn one and was battling with the championship leader after that. He managed to get by, but I kept pace with him to the flag as the car was the best it had been all weekend.
“I was running in third in race four, but had contact from the side which spun me around and dropped me right back. I had to push to make as many places up as I could but had a track limits penalty as well. Overall, I had my best qualifying of the year, with P3, and my second podium, so it wasn’t a bad weekend, and we’ll look ahead to Silverstone.”
