Nina Gademan claims maiden rookie podium in British F4 at Thruxton

Dutch racer Nina Gademan enjoyed a positive weekend in the fourth round of the British Formula 4 Championship at Thruxton, where she claimed her first rookie podium in Race 1 and scored two points in the reverse grid race by moving up the order.

Photo: SMP

Dutch racer Nina Gademan enjoyed a positive weekend in the fourth round of the 2024 ROKiT British Formula 4 Championship at Thruxton, where she claimed her first rookie podium in Race 1 and scored two points in the reverse grid race by moving up the order.

On her rookie campaign in single-seaters, Gademan is making quick development and has impressed with solid races and charges up the field. The previous round at Snetterton saw the Fortec Motorsport driver securing her best finish of the season to date with P12 in a strong second race where she made up seven spots from the start.

Aiming to carry momentum into Thruxton - often labelled as the fastest circuit in the UK - Nina aimed to continue the learning process, tackling for the first time the fast track with a formula car's downforce. She proved fast adaptation, running close to the top ten in every pre-event practice session.

Nina showed promise in qualifying, initially moving up to P13 after the first two timed laps. She improved to P10, continuing the strong pace from practice. After the mid-session pit stop to bolt on a fresh set of tyres, drivers returned to the track with five minutes to go. Nina finished 16th fastest, unable to use the peak of the tyre effectively.

“I didn’t put the lap together in qualifying, so when I went for my fastest lap, the peak of the tyres had already gone," she commented. "I got two pretty good starts in the first race, but I wasn’t smart with positioning. This is my first time racing with high speed and with downforce, so it was quite new for me to be on the back of someone at 240 kph going through a corner."

Initially, she set the 14th fastest time in the second-best lap classification. However, a few lap times previously deleted for track limits were later reinstated, and Gademan lined up from 16th in all three contests of the weekend.

Gademan gained one position at the start of Race 1, which saw Fairclough leading Sherwood and Seewooruthun. The safety car was deployed at the end of the second lap when Zack Scoular ended up in the catch fence, with Raber also involved in an accident which eventually led to a red flag.

After a restart for the final seven laps of racing, Nina, starting P17, gained one place on Martin Molnar. She caught up with Campbell-Pilling and Dodds, all running close together. Clocking competitive lap times in the second part of the race, Nina took the chequered flag in 15th place but was later promoted to 13th after post-race penalties.

Just behind Yuhao Fu, Gademan was second among the rookies and secured her first ever rookie podium. This result was particularly promising, as she had often come close to such an achievement with several fourth places in the special rookie classification at previous rounds.

The reverse grid race of the weekend featured Alex Berg and Mika Abrahams sharing the front row, having set the 11th and 12th times in qualifying. Nina Gademan lined up in P16.

Berg retained the lead from Abrahams and Ninovic, but the race was short-lived as a red flag was soon out for a multiple-car accident involving Sherwood, Pulling, and Scoular. Pulling eventually made it back to the pits with a broken front wing and could rejoin the race at the restart.

Before the stoppage, Nina Gademan had gained three places. At the restart, she moved up four more places to P12, catching up with the cars ahead with very good pace, on par with Pulling, who was charging back up the field. Despite a difficult restart where she lost a couple of positions, she still took the chequered flag in 14th place - fourth among the rookies - in another solid result that gained her two championship points for the recovered positions.

“I overtook some cars in race two which was good, and then we had a safety car which was unfortunate as I was closing the gap," Nina explained. "Then I made a silly mistake, and I lost a couple of places, so that was quite unfortunate."

Race 3 was shortened due to a big delay in the program. Starting from P16, Nina had a contact on the first lap which hampered her progress early on in the race. She followed Chong closely in the midfield and gained one position when Yuanpu Cui dropped down the order, advancing to P15.

In a dramatic turn of events, Fairclough's car came to a halt from the lead, prompting the safety car's deployment. Seewooruthun took over the top spot, leading Ninovic and Sherwood. The race could not go back to green, and Seewooruthun claimed victory in a messy shortened race, ahead of Ninovic and Sherwood. Nina Gademan banked another 14th place finish to wrap up the fourth round of the British F4 championship.

"Race three I had contact on the first lap which I couldn’t do anything about, but I know what I need to improve for next weekend in Silverstone," summed up Gademan at the end of the weekend. She will now focus on the next round at Silverstone in a week's time.