17th September2019
Louis Foster returned to the top step of the British F4 podium on the weekend as he rounded off an impressive weekend of action with victory in the final race of the weekend in Scotland.
As the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost – headed north of the English border to Scotland, Louis Foster was in search of more points as he attempts to end his debut single-seater campaign on a high.
Qualifying
Qualifying in Scotland proved to be a positive affair for the newly announced BRDC Rising Star. Setting his fastest lap of the session, a time of 49.286 seconds, Louis secured himself a front-row start.
Pushing until the end of the session, Louis’ second-fastest time of the day was set in the very closing stages and it was again quick enough to secure second place for race three in Knockhill. With times at the front incredibly close, Louis missed out on pole position for race one by just 0.069-seconds and race three by 0.086-seconds.
Race One
On Saturday afternoon, the Lord Wandsworth College pupil lined up second on the grid for the first race of the weekend.
With Zane Maloney starting from pole, Louis recorded an excellent start and headed into the first corner level pegging with the Barbadian driver. The Double R racer continued to apply pressure and the pair were running nose-to-tail on the opening lap.
Unfortunately, on the following rotation of the circuit, Louis made an uncharacteristic mistake, which slipped him down to fourth position after missing the Arnold Clark Chicane.
Despite getting back on track, a mistake at the same corner two laps later forced Louis into a rare early retirement.
“I am very disappointed with the result in race one,” Louis said. “We had great potential for a podium and a mistake from me cost us a good finish. I am annoyed but everyone makes mistakes and I will be aiming to bounce back for the next two races, that is for sure!”
Race Two
Due to the first race result, Louis had to start race two from the pack of the field in 13th position.
At the end of the opening lap, Louis was already in fighting form and running in ninth place after passing the likes of Alex Connor and Roberto Faria. Next up the road was Mariano Martinez and Louis took less than two laps to complete the move which promoted him to eighth.
Pushing on, Louis made light work of Bart Horsten as the Copart-sponsored driver continued to make his way through the ranks. Not content with sixth, Louis pressed on in his search for more points. Now in the closing stages of the race, Louis was able to capitalise on fifth position after Maloney suffered from damage.
After an intense and exciting race, Louis crossed the line in fifth position to make up an impressive eight positions!
“That was a fun race!” Louis said. “It was great to be able to come through the field like that to score the first points of the weekend. I knew I had a lot of work to do after the first race, so I am confident that it is going in the right direction.”
Race Three
For the final outing of the weekend, Louis lined up on the grid in second position. However, the poleman of Maloney was forced to sit out of the race with a mechanical issue. This meant that Louis had a clear track ahead of him, with his team-mate Sebastian Alvarez behind him for company.
As the action got underway, the pressure was immediately applied to Louis as his team-mates kept extremely close behind. A safety car period alleviated some of this pressure, and at the restart the Vansdirect-sponsored driver held his nerve to maintain the lead of the race.
Keeping out of any trouble, Louis stretched out his lead to be 0.9 seconds ahead of Alvarez.
After 23 laps of racing, Louis crossed the line in first position to mark his first victory since Donington Park in April.
“I am delighted to have won…it has been a long time coming!” Louis said. “It was a good race – the car felt good and I kept my head down. Alvarez applied pressure at the safety car restart, but I kept my composure to keep him behind.
“I want to say a massive thank you to all of my sponsors, family and the whole Double R Racing team. This gives us a huge boost heading to Silverstone.”
With two racing weekends left of the 2019 season, Louis is fourth in the championship on 272 points – only six points behind the third placed Josh Skelton.
The next and penultimate round of the British F4 Championship will take place at Silverstone in two weeks’ time over the weekend of 28-29 September.