Daniel Guinchard marked a stellar return to the podium in the ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA at Oulton Park last weekend [17-18 June].
The 2.2-mile Cheshire venue played host to the fifth round of the campaign in Britain’s FIA Formula 4 series, with Guinchard arriving keen to banish a tricky recent run of form and repeat his race-winning heroics at Oulton from twelve months prior.
A fifth-place starting berth on the grid was a much-needed boost to the 17-year-old from London, and in race trim, the Chris Dittmann Racing ace was firmly back at the sharp end of the field.
Starting ninth for the opening race, the grid for which is set by second-quickest times, Guinchard immediately set about making his way through the pack. He rose up to sixth at the chequered flag, banking his highest points haul for a single race since Brands Hatch.
The reverse grid contest is often a case of ‘survival first’ and live on ITV1 in front of a primetime audience, Guinchard did just that, albeit finishing in P17 with the rest of the front-runners put to the back by the format.
It would be in the finale, however, that Guinchard played a starring role, capitalising on the stricken car of Kanato Le to move into second spot, and then enjoying a race-long battle for top spot with pole-sitter James Higgins.
On the advent of British F4’s 250th race, Guinchard kept Higgins honest for the duration, finishing just 0.8 seconds adrift to take a season-best result of second.
Although the result only boosts Guinchard to 11th overall in the standings, the hard-fought nature of the championship means that a repeat performance at Silverstone GP next weekend [24-25 June] could bring about quite a dramatic rise through the top ten.
Daniel Guinchard (#49) said:
“That was definitely a more positive weekend for me. We found some issues with the car after Thruxton, which the team have been working on tirelessly, and it’s clearly paid off.
“It wasn’t quite another win at Oulton Park, but I’m hugely proud to be on the podium for the championship’s 250th race. It’s a star-studded list of drivers who have competed in this series in the past, so I’m proud to add my name to that list.
“Hopefully we can use this podium as a bit of a boost for everybody and carry the momentum forward into Silverstone next week. It’s a new circuit layout for the series, so hopefully that’ll spice things up a bit, as well.”
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