WOODENSPOON
Incidents a plenty, but simmons maintains slender championship lead
MICHAEL CAINE
OK, so maybe this is a little bit harsh for a driver who hadn’t once visited the officials’ coach for a telling off before we got to Thruxton, but former British GT champ Caine had reckoned he could manage to get through the whole season without a censure. His ambition lasted only until the opening race at Thruxton, when he cannoned into Tom Boardman’s MG at the Chicane.
Thruxton is a synonym for frenetic when it comes to British Formula 4 races. The Hampshire F4 contests are always action packed and that was certainly no different in 2018, but after all the drama the only change at the top of the standings was Ayrton Simmons extending his lead over Kiern Jewiss by a solitary point.
Simmons started the weekend very much on the back foot. He had a 10-place grid penalty for the opener, a legacy of a collision with Hampus Ericsson at Donington Park. But he was bullish ahead of the start.
“We’ve got the pace and also got the racecraft,” Simmons said. “If I was to pick a track to have a penalty it would be this one.”
And he was right. The JHR driver was up to sixth by the end of the first lap and worked his way up to third over the next few tours.
Up front, early leader Johnathan Hoggard struggled to match his initial pace and this meant Dennis Hauger and Jewiss battled for the lead. Jewiss spent lap after lap running right behind his rival, ready to pounce. When he did on the final lap, it ended in disaster as the pair made contact on the approach to the Club chicane, and Hauger speared into the barriers, gifting Jewiss the win from Simmons.
“I had overtaken him and then he tried to move into a piece of track that wasn’t there,” explained Jewiss, as the contact was deemed a racing incident. “He hit the brakes and went over the top of my car. I was staying calm and looking after the tyres for the end.”
Jewiss inherited the race two win on the final lap, too. Jack Doohan was set for his maiden car racing victory after passing his Arden team-mate Patrik Pasma at Church following the first of two safety car periods. He was never headed after that point until he slowed on the final tour with a cracked exhaust.
“I saw a red light on my dash on the last lap and the car cut into limp mode because the oil temperature got too high,” said Doohan. “It was just one of those things.”
Jewiss was again the beneficiary, winning from Double R stablemate Paavo Tonteri and Simmons – who fought back after colliding with Pasma.
That meant Jewiss was seeking to emulate reigning champion Jamie Caroline by winning all three Thruxton races in a weekend. But the star of the race three proved to be Doohan.
He passed Hauger into Allard on lap six of 16 and built a gargantuan lead – by Thruxton standards, at least – as the pack squabbled furiously behind.
Simmons, Hauger, Pasma and Jewiss were inseparable throughout but in the end it was Simmons who finished almost seven seconds behind Doohan, with Hauger third and Jewiss fifth.
“I just did the same thing every lap and pulled away,” said a delighted Doohan. “It [the first win] got taken away from me in race two, but to bounce back like this is great.”