Triple success for Luke at Oulton Park
Rising star Luke Browning enjoyed a weekend that he described as the “best of his career” after securing a double pole and three wins from the latest rounds of the F4 British Championship certified by FIA, powered by Ford EcoBoost at Oulton Park.
Luke headed into his home event on the calendar seeking to challenge for a first win of the campaign, having picked up an impressive four podium finishes from the opening six races of the year at Donington Park and Brands Hatch.
Having shown solid pace in Friday practice, Luke qualified on the front row of the grid for the opening race of the weekend in a tricky session that was affected by an early shower – albeit not one that was heavy enough to prevent drivers from taking to the track on slicks.
Luke’s second best time however would be good enough to secure pole for the final race of the weekend.
With his focus on trying to get ahead of pole man James Hedley when the opening race kicked off on Saturday afternoon, Luke made the ideal start to grab the lead at Old Hall on lap one and then set about building a lead out front.
Although a mid-race safety car negated his advantage, Luke was able to ease away from the chasing pack again after the restart and secured his first victory of the year by a margin of nearly three seconds.
Sixth on the reverse grid for the second race of the weekend, Luke made a strong start in wet conditions to quickly move up into the top three and then got ahead of Frederick Lubin before setting his sights on leader Alex Connor ahead.
Chasing down his rival, Luke put him Connor under huge pressure before making his move for the lead around the outside at Old Hall on the final lap. Going side-by-side with Connor down the Avenue, brief contact between the two at the top of Cascades saw Connor spin off track and left Luke with a broken front wing, although he was able to bring his car to the finish for a second win of the weekend.
Sitting on pole position for race three, Luke beat fellow front-row starter Hedley to turn one and what would follow was a cat and mouse battle between the pair that would run for the entire 15 lap race.
Luke however was able to keep himself clear of Hedley to wrap up a stunning home hat-trick and move into the championship lead, 22 points clear of Zak O’Sullivan.
“I’m delighted with the weekend and I couldn’t have asked for more,” he said, “this is probably the best weekend of my career. We had fantastic pace in the car and the team has done a great job with it.
“The opening race was tricky with rain mid-way through that caught a few people out and then race two was amazing. I got a great start and the battle with Connor late on was brilliant. It was a shame how it ended but it was a racing incident that can unfortunately happen in those situations.
“Getting a third win was great and I can only imagine what it would have been like to have my fans here cheering me on. To take 75 points from the weekend and have a nice to lead to take to Knockhill is ideal and I can’t wait for next weekend.”