"In the last race we put everything together and did the best job we could do." - Chloe Chong took a significant step forward at Donington Park and was rewarded with back-to-back career best finishes in British F4. This was set up by an excellent qualifying in wet conditions, and Chloe’s race starts and pace allowed her to fight and claim a point-scoring result.
JHR Developments driver Chloe Chong enjoyed her best weekend in the British F4 Championship by securing two points scoring finishes at Donington Park, including an excellent seventh-place result.
A season’s high qualifying performance of 11th began her event on the front foot as she adapted superbly to changeable conditions. This earned her a front row starting position for the reverse grid contest and she capitalised on this by achieving a career best result of 11th.
Racing smartly in the final contest, Chong finished in seventh position while showing improved pace on her second visit to Donington Park.
After scoring championship points in the previous three rounds of the season, Chong was enjoying her best spell in the British F4 Championship heading into Donington Park. Returning to a circuit for the first time, the JHR Developments driver was aiming to use her prior knowledge to help her challenge for her first overall top-10 finish of the campaign.
Driving on the Grand Prix layout posed a new challenge, however with more overtaking opportunities compared to the National Circuit used for the season opener, the racing was set to be both close and competitive.
The race weekend got underway on Thursday with a pair of free practice sessions ahead of the competitive action. These sessions were given greater importance with four races taking places on the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit. This was because race three from the season opener was postponed due to inclement weather and would instead take place during this event. Completing 45 laps across the two sessions, it was an encouraging start for Chloe who was 14th fastest and showing good speed in sector three especially.
Conditions for qualifying on Saturday morning were vastly different to Thursday’s free practice sessions with rain falling and a wet track. Chong’s times during the first half of the session were extremely encouraging as the JHR Developments driver held down a place within the top-10.
A series of red flags in the final stages of the session led to few improvements, however Chloe secured her best ever British F4 Championship qualifying result with an 11th place effort. This also meant that she secured her first ever front row start in the reverse grid race with the top-12 drivers from qualifying reversed for Saturday morning’s contest.
Race one of the weekend took place early on Saturday afternoon with the grid based on the driver’s second fastest times from qualifying. This meant Chong lined up from 12th on the grid, with conditions remaining extremely challenging.
Although the track was predominantly dry and slick tyres were fitted, it remained treacherous away from the racing line. Chloe was looking to make a strong start, however contact with another car on the opening lap led to an unfortunate retirement.
The second race of the day was the postponed round three of the championship with the grid formed from the driver’s fastest times from qualifying at the opening round of the season. Chong lined up from 15th on the grid with the track conditions similar to those of race one.
All drivers fitted slick tyres on a dry track, however overtaking would still be challenging as damp patches remained. The JHR Developments driver made a good start and held her position inside the top-15 with a confident opening lap.
Chloe’s times were good in the initial stages and this allowed her to run confidently with the midfield drivers. On lap three, she moved into 14th position before the safety car was deployed to retrieve the stricken car of Kai Daryanani from the gravel.
When racing got back underway on lap six, Chong made a good restart and passed Ella Lloyd for 13th position, before running as high as 12th at the end of lap eight. This was due to the Phinsys by Argenti machine of Rowan Campbell-Pilling going off-track, with the rookie driver now looking to recover lost positions.
Campbell-Pilling was able to move back ahead of Chong on lap 11 with the JHR Developments driver aiming to follow him through the field in the closing stages. On the penultimate lap of the race, Chloe received contact from a competitor and this dropped her down to 16th position. Chong was able to continue and get back up to speed to take the checkered flag in an action-packed second race of the weekend.
The third race of the weekend was the reverse grid contest with Chong starting on the front row for the first time in British F4 Championship career. Dealing with the pressure superbly, Chloe held her position through the opening turns with the safety car deployed for an incident at the rear of the field. As the race was neutralised, Chong was holding down her best ever running position and was targeting a career best result.
As the racing got backway, Chong fought hard to maintain her position however she slipped back to sixth at the end of lap five. With front-running drivers eager to move forward, it was challenging for the JHR Developments racer to get into her rhythm at the head of the field. Reza Seewooruthun and Jack Sherwood also made their way through on lap six, with Chong then falling outside the top-10 as three more drivers moved past.
As the second half of the race progressed, Chloe improved her times and settled into 11th position while now matching the drivers ahead. This saw her set successive personal best lap times and therefore she was able to open out a small margin behind.
A strong end to the race saw Chong take the checkered flag in 11th position to secure her best ever finish in the British F4 Championship while gaining valuable experience of running amongst the leading group of drivers.
For the final race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon, the grid was formed by the driver’s fastest times from qualifying. Chong started from 11th position and made an excellent start to gain three positions to end lap one in eighth position. Race starts were one clear point of improvement at Donington Park and the added confidence displayed by the JHR Developments driver allowed her to fight for positions within the top-10.
In the early stages of the race, Chong was under pressure from Fortec Motorsport driver Alex Berg and successfully defended her position from the Canadian racer. On lap six, Chloe had to defend into McLeans and was able to place her car smartly to ensure Berg did not get a run through Coppice. This successful defence saw Chong grow in confidence and she immediately set her personal best time with the margin to Berg extended to over a second.
A series of consistent lap times allowed Chloe to remained over half a second ahead of her closest rival, with Berg now coming under threat from Reza Seewooruthun. On lap 11, Seewooruthun moved ahead and immediately cut the gap to Chong with the JHR Developments driver needing to defend once more.
Excellent racecraft saw Chloe maintain her position until the red flag was displayed to end the race prematurely as the car of August Raber required recovery. Chong’s new personal best finish of eighth was improved to seventh following a track limits penalty for Jack Sherwood to round off a career best weekend for the British-Canadian driver.
“Qualifying was the best of the season, putting in a lap for P11 and I was on a lap four tenths quicker, but we had the red flag, which was frustrating", Chloe commented. "I am happy with how the last race went and summed up a weekend of progress."
"The first two races I was unlucky getting caught up in incidents and in the second it wasn’t my fault but ended my race prematurely", she recalled.
“We had four races this weekend and in the third one I started well but unfortunately, I made a mistake after the Safety Car which dropped me back."
"In the last race we put everything together and did the best job we could do. I still want to look at the data and see what we could do better, because there is some pace to find, but we had a good consistent race. I kept the people behind me that I needed to, so overall, it was positive.”
Chong took a significant step forward in performance at Donington Park and was rewarded with back-to-back career best finishes. This was set up by an excellent qualifying result in wet conditions, while Chloe’s improved race starts allowed her to fight for points scoring results.
The JHR Developments driver will be aiming to build upon these strong results when the British F4 Championship returns on the weekend of September 21st/22nd at Silverstone.
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