Chloe Chong secured her fourth consecutive top-15 finish in the British F4 Championship at Silverstone, achieving a best result of 12th place in challenging weather conditions and continuing her strong form heading into the season finale at Brands Hatch.
Chloe Chong scored her fourth successive top-15 in the British F4 Championship after a strong performance at Silverstone. The JHR Developments driver overcame challenging conditions as she achieved a best result of 12th, narrowly missing out on scoring championship points.
Chong’s top-15 qualifying performance set her up for a positive weekend, with a 15th place result in race one backed-up by a 12th place finish in a wet race two, before the final race of the event was cancelled due to poor weather conditions.
Chong arrived at Silverstone high on confidence following a breakthrough weekend at the previous round of the British F4 Championship at Donington Park. Chloe achieved two back-to-back personal best finishes with an 11th place result in race two followed by a superb seventh place finish in race three.
Similarly to Donington Park, Silverstone was a track which Chong was now visiting for the second time, albeit with a different layout. After securing one top-15 finish on the Grand Prix layout, the JHR Developments driver was looking to improve upon that while racing on the National circuit.
The young drivers benefited from significant track time ahead of the race weekend with test sessions on both Thursday and Friday. Completing 134 laps on Thursday, Chong’s fastest time of a 55.171 placed her 20th overall, just six tenths of a second away from the quickest lap set by Alex Ninovic. In Friday’s final two sessions, the JHR Developments driver improved by one hundredth of a second to once again be the 20th fastest driver with the margins throughout the field remaining close.
Following an encouraging two days of testing, Chong was looking ahead to what was set to be a highly competitive qualifying session. Midway through the twenty-minute session, Chloe was inside the top-10 and showing improved performance in sector one especially.
Her lap times were extremely consistent, with her fastest three laps within half a second of her best and this allowed her to continue her strong run of form in qualifying. Setting the 15th quickest time, Chong was just a tenth of a second outside of the reverse grid pole time set by debutant Thomas Bearman.
Prior to the first race of the weekend, light rain had fell which made track conditions challenging with all the drivers nonetheless starting on the slick tyres. Chong lined up from 13th position courtesy of her second fastest time from qualifying and it was an initially difficult start as she dropped three positions on the opening lap.
The JHR Developments driver was then able to settle in and maintain her position in the early stages, before entering the top-15 on lap five as Zack Scoular entered the pits.
After a recovering Leo Robinson moved ahead shortly after, Chong set a sizeable personal best lap and this aided her as she defended from Fortec Motorsport driver Nina Gademan.
Re-entering the top-15 after Alex Ninovic pitted on lap nine, Chong was still defending hard from Gademan while all drivers bettered their lap times as track conditions improved. As the second half of the race progressed, Chloe’s pace was impressive and after setting another personal best time on lap 18, she was faster than five of the next six drivers ahead.
Two laps later, she was among the quickest drivers on track and this speed saw her pull clear of Gademan in the closing stages to cross the line in 15th position to end race one at Silverstone.
Conditions were more challenging for the second race of the weekend on Sunday morning with persistent rain and a wet track. Chong lined up from 15th position and made a good start, successfully avoiding a number of stalled cars off the line.
Unfortunately one driver was collected and therefore the race was red flagged before the conclusion of lap one. Due to the track conditions, the race was resumed behind the safety car with a new duration of 15 minutes, reduced to 10 minutes once the safety car had pulled into the pit lane.
As the racing got back underway, conditions continued to be extremely treacherous and prior to the conclusion of the first green flag lap, the race was red flagged for a second time. Due to heavy rain and standing water the conditions were deemed unsafe for the British F4 Championship drivers and therefore the race was postponed until the end of the day with just three laps completed behind the safety car.
The third scheduled race at Silverstone took place on Sunday afternoon with the grid formed from the fastest lap times in qualifying. Chong was promoted from 15th to 13th on the grid with two drivers ahead unable to take the start after earlier damage. Conditions were still challenging at Silverstone and all drivers fitted the wet weather tyres, with the race also getting underway behind the safety car.
As the green flag was displayed, Chong made a confident initial start and moved up to 11th position following multiple incidents ahead. Alex Ninovic was stranded in the gravel at Luffield and therefore the recovery of his car required a safety car intervention. The second restart on lap saw nine saw Chloe defending from the Fortec Motorsport machine of Kai Daryanani, with Chong holding her position well.
In the middle portion of the race, Chong was involved in a fantastic midfield battle as the drivers fought for positions inside the top-10. The JHR Developments driver was successfully able to repel the challenge from Daryanani, however Yuhao Fu was able to move ahead with a move at Brooklands on lap 13.
Chong’s pace remained strong in the closing stages as took the checkered flag in 12th position, moving ahead of Nina Gademan on the final lap while falling behind teammate Leo Robinson.
After the postponement of race two on Sunday morning, it was rescheduled for the end of the day. However, deteriorating weather conditions led to the race being cancelled on safety grounds, together with the approaching evening curfew.
Nonetheless, it was a positive weekend of racing at Silverstone for Chong who continued her improved form in the second half of the season.
"Consinstency is key!", Chloe wrote. "A saying that definitely rings true after this past weekend at Silverstone where we kept on showing up and improving throughout the sessions. Only 4.5 tenths off the pace in Quali and solid performances in tough and changing conditions."
"We had some good battles and some missed opportunities as well but there was lots of improvement all weekend. Definitely taking this into the next round at Brands, now we have to work hard to carry this progress over into the season finale."
She will be aiming to end her maiden British F4 Championship campaign on a high when the series draws to a close at Brands Hatch on the weekend of 5th/6th October.
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