2024 British F4 Esports Championship contenders Henry Moore and Graham Carroll had an event to forget at Silverstone, as the pair clashed in the reversed grid second race.

In what was quickly becoming a common theme in the 2024 British F4 Esports Championship, Guild Academy’s Henry Moore and Scuderia Ferrari HP Esports Team’s Graham Carroll racked up a glut of points during Round 4’s double-header at Oulton Park, with the title increasingly looking like it was headed in their direction.

Despite Matt Caruana’s absence from the Cheshire-based event, the Mensah Racing Driven By Us driver remained in third position in the title race, some 98 points adrift of Moore in first, and seemingly out of the reckoning.

Despite the respectful battling of Moore and Carroll thus far, Round 5 at Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout would prove to be a rambunctious affair, with the title protagonists finding themselves embroiled in a chaotic Race 2 incident that may well have big championship repercussions.

Race 1

Moore bossed qualifying for the third round on the trot, with Carroll once again sharing the front row, just over a tenth of a second behind. Joseph Loake, driving for the Aston Martin Aramco Esports Team, was a fine third, in what was something of a departure from his usual FIA Formula 3 machinery.

Moore got off the line quickly, with Carroll slotting in behind through the first sequence of turns. A huge incident further back saw Caruana rear-ended by William Chadwick after the former spun on the Woodcote kerbs.

Heading towards Stowe on lap three, Carroll drafted past Moore for the lead, with Moore returning the favour on lap five. Loake was in close attendance but subsequently dropped two positions at The Loop after Pablo Espes of Willaims Esports Academy forced an opening, also allowing his Williams Esports stablemate Moreno Sirica through.

The leading pack of six were now locked in a slipstreaming battle for the lead, with Espes manoeuvering his way into second as Carroll attempted to hold off the advances of Loake.

Heading onto the final lap, Espes was right on Moore’s gearbox, with the battle for the final podium slot far from finished. In fact, Sirica, Loake and Carroll began the final tour side-by-side, with Loake holding on for third. Carroll overtook Sirica for fourth, but lost ground to Moore in the championship as the young Englishman held off Espes to claim victory.

Race 2

The reversed grid draw saw 11th place Elias Raikaa claim pole position for Race 2, with few predicting the kind of chaos we were about to witness.

Raikaa cleared off out front as the pack behind engaged in some hairy two and three-wide battling. Carroll and Moore failed to make significant progress in the early reckoning, but worse was to follow at the start of lap two.

Carroll’s Ferrari team-mate Gergo Baldi found himself sandwiched into the high-speed Abbey curve, which bunched the pack up behind – including Moore and Carroll. Baldi sustained race-ending damage by clashing with Guild Esports’ Leo Brown, eventually retiring at Luffield.

Guild’s Leo Brown tried to go around the outside of stablemate Moore in the aftermath but effectively pinned him against the recovering Carroll, causing the two main championship protagonists to collide, with Carroll’s car heading skyward.

It was a clumsy sequence of corners from the British F4 Esports field, and it would sadly set the tone for the incident-packed race.

Attrition

Out front, Raikaa had been caught by Williams Esports Academy’s Matthijs van Erven, with the pair enjoying a two-second gap to the podium fight behind; including Loake, Williams Esports’ Alexander Spetz and Sirica, Aston Martin’s Conor Muir and Guild Esports’ Remy Gilbert.

More incidents in the midfield led to just 17 cars running at mid-distance, as van Erven encountered tyre issues and fell into the clutches of Loake, losing second place in the process. On the final lap, van Erven would clash with his WIlliams Esports stablemate Sirica, gifting Sptez the podium at the line. No doubt the team debrief was a frosty affair.

BS+ Compeition’s Raikaa would take an assured victory, with Joseph Loake claiming a double podium from Round 5.

The chaos of Silverstone sees Henry Moore extend his lead to Graham Carroll at the top of the championship, with Carroll’s Ferrari Esports team heading the Teams’ points.

2024 UK FF1600 Esports Cup, Round 5

Race 1

Shoma Shintani continued his pacey form in Round 5, taking a convincing pole position from Crofton Woodhatch by two-tenths of a second. Championship leader Mark Fletcher was third and eager to build a bigger advantage over his rivals Lewis Wherrell and Harvey Jones, who could only muster eighth and 17th on the grid respectively.

The wide expanses of Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit were slipstreaming heaven for the little Ray FF1600 cars and the race quickly settled into a leading train of eight cars. Jones was involved in a lap one incident, however, and dropped out of contention, denting his championship hopes.

After much thrilling racing, it was a straight fight between Shintani, Fletcher and Woodhatch for the win, with Shintani making an aggressive move at Vale to stamp his authority on the race. Fletcher settled for second with Woodhatch maintaining a watching brief in third. Wherrell kept his championship hopes alive in fourth.

Race 2

The reverse grid draw saw Shintani start from sixth, with Oliver Stone on pole.

The UK FF1600 Esports Cup drivers were much better behaved than their F4 Esports counterparts at Silverstone but there were incidents. The biggest of these, and perhaps the most influential on the championship battle, occurred on lap three, as both Fletcher and Wherrell got together at Copse.

Before long Shintani, Woodhatch and Fletcher were the race’s leading trio, with Shintani hoping to take a rare double win. On the final lap, WOodhatch bided his time in Shintani’s wake, making his move for the lead on the run down to Stowe. Side-by-side through Vale, the pair made slight contact, allowing Fletcher through into second at the chequered flag.

Woodhatch was a disconsolate third with Jonathan Smith close behind in fourth.

Even with drop scores taken into account, Mark Fletcher has a healthy lead in the championship heading to Knockhill, especially with rivals Lewis Wherrell and Harvey Jones enduring a tough event.

(Images courtesy of Rhys Caryl / RC Sim Photography, Text: Ross McGregor)