Return to the British F4 podium for Louis Foster at Thruxton

Despite what would prove to be a challenging start to his weekend at Thruxton, Vansdirect sponsored Louis Foster showed real bouncebackability to return to the British F4 podium with a third place finish in the final race of the weekend, Vansdirect reveals all!

Race Weekend Seven - Thruxton

A positive tone for the weekend was set in the Friday practice sessions, with Louis setting the second fastest time in the dry morning session. The rain then came down during the lunch break and Louis headed onto track on a set of wet tyres for the second free practice session, ending the second session as the seventh fastest on track.

Qualifying

The track was also damp for qualifying on Saturday. The first half of the qualifying session started well with the Vansdirect sponsored racer sitting third fastest after the first set of flying laps. However as the track began to dry out, the lap times were tumbling, leaving Foster one lap to set his fastest qualifying effort. The chequered flag was waved and Louis made a slight error on his flying lap meaning he finished qualifying in ninth place, with his second fastest lap also recording a ninth position starting place for the third and final race of the weekend.

Race One

The first race of the weekend proved very challenging for Foster, who began proceedings for the fifth row on the grid. The midfield of the race was incredibly competitive and as such Foster suffered contact on the first lap and as a result was lapping at the back of the pack with a heavily damaged front wing. Losing time each lap, Louis had no choice but to enter the pits on the forth lap and now over a minute behind the competition he was unable to close the deficit to the racers in front and had to settle for a twelfth place finish.

Race Two

Foster got off to an excellent start in race two as his made his way from twelfth spot all the way up to eighth on the opening lap of the race and by the fourth lap he'd made another two places to sixth and was making a charge towards the podium as well as setting the fastest lap of the race. However on lap eight misfortune would strike again for Louis as he would pick up a puncture and was forced to retire from the race. Bitterly disappointing for the talented racer, after the fantastic progress he had made during the race.

Race Three

Louis started the third and final race of the weekend from ninth place on the grid and got a good clean start with his sights on hunting down the leaders. Louis was already up to seventh place on lap two after a rapid start and continued this momentum to make his way to fourth place by the fourth lap. The next target was Luke Browning, with Foster producing a textbook move to power past him on the inside at Allard.

Louis then maintained his position and fought off pressure from behind to cross the line in third position to make a long-awaited return to the British F4 podium.

Louis talked of his frustration despite a positive finish to the weekend:

"Despite getting back on the podium, this weekend has been frustrating for me," the Double R racing driver said. "I made a mistake in qualifying which ultimately cost us as I started well away from where I know I should have been starting.

Starting from the middle of the pack is always tough and you're always likely to pick up contact. Unfortunately, that happened in race one and ruled us out of any strong result. Race two was also frustrating because I was feeling really quick and thought I could have made up a few more positions before the puncture!

Race three was the turning point of the weekend and it felt great to finally be back on the podium! Nonetheless, racing is full of highs and lows and the team and I work together to look forward to Knockhill now, where we'll look to kick on again."

Louis is currently third in the British F4 Championship with 237 points, sitting 36 points behind Double R Racing teammate Sebastian Alvarez in second. His next race weekend will take him to Knockhill, Scotland on the 14th-15th September.

Images courtesy of Jakob Ebery Photography

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