Daniel Guinchard made the most of a bruising trip to Snetterton this weekend [20-21 May] in the ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA.
The 17-year-old from London arrived at the 2.97-mile Norfolk venue off the back of another podium finish in Britain’s FIA Formula 4 series at Brands Hatch a fortnight prior, and looking to build on his consistent, front-running pace.
The Chris Dittmann Racing driver translated that performance into qualifying, lining up fifth on the grid for the first of three races around a sun-soaked Snetterton.
But misfortune would strike, and a mechanical failure left Guinchard a mere passenger as the car went wide at the high-speed right-hander at Coram and into the tyre barriers. The race, which was twice interrupted by red flags, was later declared null and void, and will be re-run later in the campaign.
Unhurt, and after a mammoth effort by the team to repair the stricken car, Guinchard returned to the fray for Sunday morning’s reverse grid race, keen to make amends.
Starting back on the seventh row, Guinchard set about rising through the field, but contact at Riches whilst running three-wide left him on the grass, and out of the race prematurely.
A 12th-placed finish in the finale rounded out a difficult weekend for the rising star, who leaves Snetterton ninth overall in the standings, but with every opportunity to move forward next time out at Thruxton, on 3-4 June.
Daniel Guinchard said:
“It was probably as unlucky a weekend as it could have been, to be honest. We didn’t score any points and got involved in some incidents that really weren’t our fault.
“I have to say though, the whole team at Chris Dittmann Racing did a tremendous job to get the car repaid after such a big shunt in race one. It was a 20G impact into the barrier and left the car with a fair bit of damage, so they did a fantastic job to get us back out on Sunday.
“There isn’t much more to add, only that the focus for myself now is to stay positive, reflect and analyse on anything I can learn from the experience, and look to bounce back at Thruxton.”
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