The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Teenage talent Johnathan Hoggard scored his first-ever point in the British F4 Championship after a stunning performance at Snetterton last weekend.
Technical problems dogged the Weston Hills ace for much of the weekend, but he still managed a tenth-placed finish in the final race to secure a precious championship point.
Friday’s practice session highlighted that Hoggard was straight on the pace, posting the fourth fastest lap time in the 20-minute session.
However, the second practice session was cut short by mechanical issues – forcing him into the pits with ten minutes remaining.
The mechanical problems stretched into Saturday’s race day as Hoggard was unable to take part in the 20-minute qualifying session, meaning he would start in 18th and last place in races one and three – a huge disappointment given his strong pace on Friday.
The Fortec engineers worked tirelessly to overcome the mechanical problems and with only minutes to spare, Hoggard was able to race – albeit starting from the pit lane.
After nursing the car in the first couple of laps of the race, he was more than 40 seconds behind the pack.
But, once given the green light to put the hammer down, he went purple – setting a spree of fastest laps and catching up those running at the back of the field before the end of race one.
He soon climbed up to 14th in race two, before a safety car closed the field back together ahead of a sprint to the finish.
Hoggard passed three cars to take 11th, but just missed out on the top ten and a maiden point.
Race three saw him climb up to 11th by lap six. More fastest laps followed as he moved into tenth, a position he held to clinch a first-ever point.
A Fortec statement said: “For Johnathan to finish in the points in his first-ever race meeting, given everything he had to contend with, is truly remarkable.
“He stayed calm and positive while the engineers were working on the car up to the start of race one.
“When on track he remained focused, followed instructions and didn’t overdrive the car.
“His pace and lap times over the entire race meeting were consistently in the top eight which bodes well for any future race meetings Johnathan enters.
“As a team we really couldn’t be more delighted with his attitude and performance over the weekend.”
The next round of the British F4 Championship takes place at Knockhill this weekend.
Hoggard is bidding to raise £15,000 to enter the meeting.
Anybody be interested in sponsoring him can email sponsorship@hogie33.co.uk and let his team know.
