British F4: Nina Gademan tops best finish with P11 in Knockhill

"We gained places every time out, and we have definitely improved the car" - Single seater rookie driver Nina Gademan continued her positive learning season in the British Formula 4 Championship, setting a personal best with an eleventh-place finish at Knockhill and securing valuable points in with a good recovery drive in race 2.

Photo credits: JEP

Single-seater rookie Nina Gademan continued her positive learning season in the British Formula 4 Championship by setting a new personal best in the series with an eleventh-place finish in Race 2 at the challenging Knockhill circuit.

This achievement marked another step forward for the Fortec Motorsport driver, who had previously secured a pair of 12th-place finishes at Snetterton and Zandvoort. At Knockhill, Gademan gained five positions in the reverse grid race, earning valuable championship points and finishing fourth among the rookies.

In her first full season of race cars and her debut F4 season in one of Europe's most competitive F4 series, Gademan once again demonstrated her strong racecraft, engaging in determined battles and showcasing recovery drives throughout the weekend. After experiencing her first DNF of the season at her home round in Zandvoort, where she was caught in an unavoidable collision and sustained a hand injury, Gademan made a swift recovery during the nearly one-month break leading up to the seventh round at Knockhill. Back behind the wheel, she focused on making further improvements.

Knockhill, located in Scotland, is a circuit with limited testing opportunities before race weekends; Gademan had the chance to test there in March earlier this year and quickly proved competitive, running close to the top ten.

In the pre-event testing and practice sessions, held in windy but dry conditions, Gademan worked on building up her speed. While she faced some challenges on Wednesday, Friday practice showed significant progress, with Gademan setting the 12th-fastest time in the second session, just a few tenths off the pace setter and six-hundredths of a second from the top ten in the combined classification.

“We were struggling on Wednesday in testing," Gademan noted, "but for Friday’s practice, we found some pace and were only two-tenths off P1, so that was very good."

Qualifying on Saturday morning proved tricky, with multiple interruptions on a track where the smallest margins can make a massive difference on the starting grid. The first red flag came three minutes in due to Scoular's off-track incident.

After the session resumed with 17 minutes left, another red flag was brought out by Higgins. When the green flag waved again, Campbell-Pilling set a new benchmark, overtaking Cui, whose time had remained fastest in the first half of the session. Only at that point Gademan set her first representative time, moving into P9. The session saw a third red flag with five minutes remaining, during which Gademan found herself in P16. Unfortunately, she had to settle for 16th place on the grid for both Races 1 and 3, recording a time of 49.112.

"In qualifying, I got unlucky with red flags in the beginning," Gademan explained, "and then when I was putting a lap in, I just didn’t put it together, making too many mistakes, so I finished P16."

The first 20-minute race of the weekend saw Nina starting from row eight on the grid. Immediately after the start, Ella Lloyd had a collision that caused her car to flip at the first corner and brought out the red flag. Fortunately, Lloyd emerged unscathed.

After a lengthy recovery, a full restart was initiated with the original grid positions. Fairclough lost the lead at the restart to Campbell-Pilling - however the latter had jumped the start and received a 10-second penalty. Gademan moved up to P15 but was then passed by Scoular, who was recovering from the qualifying incident. Back into 16th place, Nina ran one second behind Chong.

Following an incident involving Berg, the Safety Car was deployed. After the restart with nine minutes remaining, Fairclough, closing in with a new fastest lap, passed Campbell-Pilling on track on lap 13, with Ninovic also aiming to advance. Gademan overtook Chong on lap 14 with five minutes to go and was quicker than the three cars ahead: she caught Scoular and engaged in a battle with Higgins and Daryanani, advancing to P14 just before the final lap.

Deagan Fairclough claimed victory in Race 1, while Campbell-Pilling crossed the line in second but dropped to P8 after the penalty was applied. Gademan showcased a strong recovery drive, finishing P14 after a positive second half of the race.

Photo credits: JEP

Sunday morning brought again sunny and dry weather to Scotland for the reverse grid race, which often offers good racing action and opportunities to score points. Gademan started once again from P16, aiming to recover as many positions as possible.

In the initial laps, she moved up to 15th after overtaking Maxwell Dodds; despite losing a place to Scoular, who was again on a recovery drive, Gademan regained her position after Ninovic ran off following contact with Higgins, grabbing to P15. She then passed Berg, who also fell behind Dodds, advancing to P13. Despite trading positions with Dodds, the Dutchwoman held P13.

With Scoular pitting for front wing damage and Ninovic charging through the field, Gademan maintained P13, showing impressive pace with lap times in the 49.3 range. She gained P11 when Ninovic encountered trouble again and was stranded on track. The red flag was deployed with three minutes remaining, and the race was not resumed. This result marked a personal best for Gademan, finishing fourth among the rookies and earning five points, one of her most productive reverse grid races and the closest she had been to the top ten.

In the final race of the Scottish weekend, grid positions were determined by the fastest laps set in Saturday's qualifying: Gademan lined up 15th on the grid as Ella Lloyd was absent at the start.

At lights out Molnar claimed second from Campbell-Pilling, while Fairclough maintained the lead. Gademan passed Chong on lap 1, and then executed a brilliant pass into the hairpin on Berg, moving up to 13th by lap 4.

Fairclough continued to extend his lead over the field, with Campbell-Pilling holding a two-second gap over Molnar, who was under pressure from Ninovic. After passing her teammate Berg, Gademan pursued her other Fortec teammate, Daryanani, but an off-track moment while attempting an overtake dropped her to P16. She rejoined just ahead of Chloe Chong and the two had a two-second gap to close to the group ahead. Gademan closed in on the cars ahead, showing strong pace in clear air.

As the final minute of the race approached, Gademan's pace showed potential for a top-ten in the closing stages. Fairclough secured his ninth win of the season, with Molnar finishing second, when Campbell-Pilling received a five second penalty - and Ninovic taking third.

Gademan kept it clean and drove smart, allowing her to gain positions due to track limit penalties for Scoular and Dodds: she finished once again P14, rounding out a very positive weekend with solid races and good overtakes on a track she had limited experience on.

Gademan has accumulated 21 points after seven rounds, with three rounds now remaining. She currently sits fifth in the Rookie Cup standings, with 140 points in the class reserved for rookies.

"During the races, we gained places every time out, and we have definitely improved the car," Gademan stated. "I can see progress, which means I’m very happy still.”

The next round is scheduled for August 24-25 at Donington Park, where the series returns to the venue of the season opener, this time on the Grand Prix layout.