Louis Foster adds to points tally at Oulton Park

Vansdirect sponsored Louis Foster endured his toughest weekend to date in the British F4 championship but still brought home points in each of the three races to continue his title challenge.

Race Weekend Five - Oulton Park

After an excellent weekend at Croft Circuit which saw Louis Foster take home two podium finishes from the two completed races, the Vansdirect sponsored racer headed to an incredibly sunny Oulton Park. Foster hoped to continue his incredibly impressive run which has seen him finish on the podium at each of the four race venues this year.

Taking to the track for qualifying, the Vansdirect sponsored racer unfortunately suffered a mechanical issue with his gear changes and had to settle for seventh place on the grid for the opening race of the weekend with a lap time of 1:23.865. His second fastest time of 1:23.902 meant a fifth place start on the grid for Foster in the last race of the weekend, this despite enduring a struggle with his pace in the first sector.

Race One

Starting the weekend opener from seventh place was always going to be a challenge at a circuit not renowned for its overtaking opportunities. Despite this, Foster managed to gain one place to take sixth position just behind Double R Racing teammate Sebastian Alvarez to bring home further points in the race for the drivers' championship. The sixth spot always represented an excellent opportunity for Foster, giving him the reverse grid pole for the second race of the day.

Race Two

The second race of the weekend was full of drama and ultimately finished in disappointment for the Double R Racing driver.

Starting the reverse grid race from pole position, it was a strong start for Foster who pulled away nicely from the rest of the grid to earn a 2.5 second advantage over his rivals as they fought for the places behind. Louis then built this lead up to four seconds after the opening four laps of the race, however he was incredibly unfortunate as the gear changing problem from qualifying returned causing Foster to drop back to the chasing pack.

Foster was able to recover the issue with the fault finally sorting itself out and continually setting fastest lap after fastest lap, however the damage was already done. Foster managed to bring his car home safely in sixth position to secure a points scoring finish.

Race Three

Oulton Park was still basking in sunshine on Sunday for the third and final race of the weekend which was featured live on ITV4.

Foster started this race at fifth place on the grid, however it was another race where the youngster could count himself unfortunate with plenty of drama encountered. A safety car intervention was required after a scuffle in the first lap between Foster and Joe Turney, Foster was left with damage to his car whilst Turney was forced to retire.

The remainder of the race saw an incredibly exciting five car battle for fourth place, a battle finally won by Luke Browning, a miniscule two thousands of a second ahead of Foster who finished in fifth spot to continue his run of picking up points in every single race so far this season.

After a challenging and eventful weekend at Oulton Park, Louis was able to take home 26 points and remain in second position in the table, losing ground in the Drivers' Championship to Zane Maloney, with a 55 point deficit going into the second half of the British F4 season.

The Vansdirect sponsored racer reflected on his weekend at Oulton Park:

"That was probably the toughest weekend we've had so far this season - luck certainly wasn't on our side. However, these things happen in motorsport and sometimes they are out of your control. I know I had the pace when the car was working at its best and we were still able to pick up points in each race despite the issues."

"Hopefully that will be the end of our bad luck, and we can be on the receiving end of some good fortune as we go into the second half of the season. I'm also extremely thankful to the Double R team who were working late on Saturday to sort out the issue."

There's now a mid-season break for Vansdirect sponsored Louis Foster and the British F4 Championship before it returns at Snetterton on the 3rd of August 2019.

Images courtesy of Jakob Ebrey Photography

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