Beauly’s Oliver Stewart has broken into the top 10 in the F4 British Championship standings after securing his biggest points haul so far, at Snetterton last weekend.
Stewart has continued to make excellent progress in recent weeks, and spoke last month of his increasing confidence throughout his debut F4 campaign.
He was signed up by Hitech GP at the start of the season, following a thoroughly successful career in kart-racing.
At just 15, Stewart is among the youngest drivers competing in the F4 British Championship this season.
After opening his weekend at Snetterton with an eighth-placed finish, Stewart had the opportunity of his first outright F4 win, having led the second race of the weekend.
Contact in the early stages of the race knocked him back to fifth place, however.
Another fifth-place finish followed on Sunday, which was enough for Stewart to pick up his third Rookie Cup victory of the season.
A ‘big step to make’
Despite missing out on the chance of a victory, Stewart took heart from the way he responded and reflects positively on the weekend as a whole.
Stewart said: “Race two was a bit disappointing. We got a good start initially, good enough to stay in the lead.
“Into turn two there was a bit of contact, which, in my opinion, wasn’t really my fault.
“That knocked us right back down the order, so we spent the whole race trying to fight back to where we came from, and we ended up fifth.
“Overall, we had good pace, and it was good to see that the setbacks didn’t set me back too far, because I was able to come back through.
“In race three, everyone bogged down because there was so much grip, but my start was really good. I managed to get a place, went into the first corner, and got a slight hit from behind.
“I was able to get a tiny bit of a gap and I kept trying to chip away at the front, but by that point, they were quite far ahead.
“Overall I’m really happy with the pace and it was another big step to make.”
Stewart senses podium finish is coming
Next up for Stewart is a testing challenge at the high-speed Thruxton track, which is often regarded as the fastest circuit in the UK.
Having regularly established himself within the top-five in recent weeks, Stewart says the goalposts have shifted from his early-season targets, with a podium finish now on his radar.
The Charleston Academy pupil added: “We’re definitely getting there. We’ve had two top fives this weekend and at the start of the season, we were trying to get into the top 10.
“There have been quite a few times where we deserved an overall podium, but it’s definitely coming and once we get the luck we need, we’ll definitely be there.”
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