YOUNG AUSSIE OSCAR PIASTRI ENDS BRITISH F4 PRE-SEASON TESTING ON TOP!

TRS Arden’s Oscar Piastri has ended the final round of British F4 Pre-season testing with the fastest times in both sessions at Rockingham Motor Speedway last Tuesday.

It was a hotly fought out final test in the lead up to the start of the 2017 Championship with the first eight drivers covered by just over half a second.

Piastri topped both the morning and afternoon sessions. The Australian recorded his best lap of 1m 18.817s in the afternoon to put him a tenth clear of the field, Carlin’s Logan Sargeant proved to be Piastri’s closest challenger. The American was the only other driver able to break the 1m 19s barrier, posting the second quickest time in both sessions.

“I was really happy to finish the official tests on top. It gives me a lot of confidence going into the first round at Brands Hatch where I was also fastest in testing. The times have been very close at the top, so the season opener should be a lot of fun” said Piastri.

Oliver York and Fortec Motorsports continued their fine run of testing form, earning third courtesy of a 1m 19.120s lap in the first session.

Piastri’s TRS Arden team mates Ayrton Simmons and Alex Quinn were just three tenths behind him, ending the test fifth and sixth respectively.

“It seems like the testing season has been endless, with official and unofficial test days here in the UK, testing in Spain and also racing in the F4 UAE series. I also do a lot of work in the simulator to learn new tracks and also get ideas on different lines and braking points to try when I actually get to the track. Usually this means I find the pace pretty quickly and then we start refining the setup and looking at the data for that extra tenth.”

“I feel like we have a really good team at Arden Motorsport, my team manager Ben, my race engineer Pedro, the mechanics and the support staff are all focussed on the championship ahead. It’s also really great to have three other team mates to learn from, talk to and just hang out with in the paddock and at the factory. There’s always something to do and it’s a lot of fun and learning,”Piastri said.

Attention now turns to the opening rounds of the F4 British Championship which will take place at Brands Hatch Indy circuit on 1-2 April.

F4 British Championship certified by FIA – Testing times Rockingham 21 March 2017 (Session 1/Session 2)
1 Oscar PIASTRI / AUS / Arden 1:18.939 / 1:18.817
2 Logan SARGEANT / USA / Carlin 1:18.964 / 1:18.917
3 Oliver YORK / GBR / Fortec 1:19.120 / 1:19.261