Josh Skelton and JHR quickest in morning Media Day test session

13 March 2019

Series returnee Josh Skelton put his experience to good use and finished the morning test session at the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost Media Day quickest for JHR Developments. Skelton clocked his best time – a 46.243s – on the 56th of his 71 laps around the 1.19-mile Indy circuit, edging out fellow second-year driver Sebastian Alvarez (Double R Racing) by a mere 0.093 seconds.

The session presented drivers with changeable conditions, with intermittent drops of rain and dry, sunny conditions the order of the day thus far. Nevertheless, the 12-car field completed over 1,000 laps – and over 1,260 miles – between them as the drivers get invaluable mileage ahead of the opening rounds back at Brands Hatch on 6th-7th April.

Just 0.009 seconds split two of this season’s newcomers, Carlin’s Zane Maloney and Arden Motorsport’s Alex Connor, in third and fourth respectively, with the duo also ranked as the quickest Rookie Cup entries over the three-and-a-half hours of running. Ginetta Junior graduates Louis Foster and Luke Browning were fifth and sixth for Double R and Richardson Racing respectively, the former having led the order at the halfway point of the session. The other two Arden cars of Bart Horsten and Tommy Foster sandwiched JHR’s Carter Williams in seventh, eighth and ninth, whilst Roberto Faria led the line for Fortec Motorsport in rounding out the top ten. Mariano Martinez – the latest name to join Ford’s winning formula for 2019 – was eleventh for Fortec, with Double R’s Reema Juffali in twelfth.

Session Result
Pos. Driver Team Time
1 Josh SKELTON JHR Developments 46.243s
2 Sebastian ALVAREZ Double R Racing +0.093s
3 Zane MALONEY (R) Carlin +0.278s
4 Alex CONNOR (R) Arden Motorsport +0.287s
5 Louis FOSTER Double R Racing +0.338s
6 Luke BROWNING Richardson Racing +0.377s
7 Bart HORSTEN Arden Motorsport +0.387s
8 Carter WILLIAMS JHR Developments +0.550s
9 Tommy FOSTER Arden Motorsport +0.704s
10 Roberto FARIA Fortec Motorsport +0.791s
11 Mariano MARTINEZ Fortec Motorsport +1.501s
12 Reema JUFFALI Double R Racing +2.210s

Josh confirms British F4 campaign with JHR Developments

9 January 2019

Josh returns to the F4 British Championship in 2019, and is optimistic of challenging for overall honours with the JHR Developments outfit.

Josh made his single-seater debut in the British F4 series in 2018, taking a Rookie Cup victory at Rockingham and further class podiums in nine events establishing himself as a regular top ten competitor.

Josh: “We had a good learning year last year and I’m looking forward to carrying over the experience into this season. It’s great staying with the JHR team as I know the guys well and so it will mean we can focus on getting results. My objective is the top three in the championship and race victories, but I’m optimistic we can go for the title. I really enjoyed Knockhill and Croft last year and we get two chances to visit Thruxton which I also enjoyed. Testing went well in Valencia and I’ve been training in the gym so I’m really looking forward to the start of the season.”

JHR Team Principal Steven Hunter praised Skelton’s development across his debut campaign: “Josh progressed throughout the 2018 season. We all believe he will be at the sharp end of the grid as he looks forward to a full campaign with the team. I’m sure he’ll build on the promising form he demonstrated last year. He has already shown improvement in his lap times during winter testing, so things are falling into place and he clearly feels comfortable in the car. We had a good learning year together for his first time out of karts and he’ll no doubt be a driver challenging for the title in 2019.”

The British F4 ten-event, thirty-race calendar gets underway in front of a capacity crowd and ITV Sport’s television cameras at Brands Hatch over the weekend of 6th-7th April.

British F4 2018 – Brands Hatch Rd.10

29/30 September 2018

Having never driven around the track before, we turned up for the two test sessions on Friday knowing that it was going to be difficult, but were ready for the challenge ahead.

Friday test day: We only had two 50 minutes sessions so had to make the most of them and get as much track time as possible. FP1 we ended the session in 10th but had no new tyres, so we were pretty happy with this. FP2 was all about track time again, but we put new tyres on through the middle of this session and we were in P9 until a snap of oversteer led to a over correction, and a resulting crash. We would end the session in P9 and were now focusing on qualifying the next morning.

Saturday morning we went out for qualifying and struggled with the car and oversteer, and didn’t get the best of laps together. We ended the session in P12, which wasn’t the result we wanted but we would put in a lot of effort to move our way up the field.

Race 1 we got a bad start and dropped to the back of the field. Throughout the race we slowly made our way past a few people, and ended the race P11.

Race 2 we got a really good start and up into P9 halfway around the first lap, but I went up the inside of another driver and he didn’t see me on the inside of him and turned in which resulted in my front wing breaking and having to pit. By this point we were 2 laps down.

Race 3 we got another good start but made a mistake on the opening lap dropping me to the back of the field. I would get back to P10 by the flag showing good pace and taking 3rd Rookie.

Overall it has been a really good first year in cars, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I have learned so much and can’t wait to put that to work in whatever we choose to do next year.

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank JHR Developments for everything they have done for me all year round, and everyone else involved because without the help none of this would be possible.

British F4 2018 – Silverstone Rd.9

15/16 September 2018

Friday: Dry all day and we were set for a good day of testing to see what our speed was like heading into qualifying on Saturday morning. In FP1 we set off well showing consistently quick speed throughout the session, ending in P10 due to running on older rubber. The rest of the field were shod with new tyres, so we were confident going into FP2 being only 4 tenths off the pace. FP2 set off well and we were sitting in P8 and 3 tenths off at the halfway stage, then everyone came in and changed to new tyres and we went quicker and moved to P5 just a tenth off the quickest. We were confident going into qualifying that we could produce a good result.

Saturday: Qualifying was going to be very close. Having hit the halfway stage of the session we were sitting on pole when we came in to change the tyres around and go back out. Others had done this earlier than us and jumped me whilst I was in the pits. As fate would have it, the session got red flagged as I took to the circuit. They abandoned the session so frustratingly, we didn’t get our second run. This was a shame as we ended P6 but it could have been a lot more. Race 1 didn’t go well, due to being crashed into from behind on the first lap, resulting in damage and a DNF.

Sunday: Race 2 saw us having to start from the back of the grid. The opening lap saw the driver in front braked going into a fast corner and I was too close to react and ended up running into the back and damaging the front nose. Luckily I came into the pits and got it changed and back out before the safety car came around. I was able to come back through to P9 and take 3rd rookie.

Race 3 and a P8 start. Having not the best of starts I lost a few places, but by the half way point I was up to P6. Going for a move I was ran off the track and dropped back to P10. I recovered as the race progressed, and went for another move to take P9. This time the driver made contact with my rear wheel, spinning me around resulting in a P11 finish.

The racing is proving to be very difficult as we seem to have a big lack of power compared to some of the other drivers on the grid. The engines are all meant to be equal, and it’s obvious they aren’t when the cars are out on track.

I would like to say a massive thank you to JHR developments for doing a mega job as always, and then everyone else involved.

British F4 2018 – Knockhill Hatch Rd.8

25/26 August 2018

The weekend was full of differing weather conditions. On Friday there were 3 x 45 minute test sessions providing plenty of time to try stuff with the car and find a good overall setup. Session 1 was dry, and we would start the day well being up on the top 5 of the timings for most of the session, before falling down to P8 by the end of it but only 4 tenths off the quickest. All achieved without new tyres where as everyone else did, so we were very happy with the speed that we had shown from this session. Session number 2 was wet to start with due to a heavy rain shower just before the session, however, we headed out onto the wet track and adapted to the weather conditions very quickly. We would be in the top 3 the full session and headed the wet part of the session P1, before pitting for slicks to go out onto a drying track. P10 by the session end. but very happy with the speed in the wet. Session 3 was once again dry, completing in P9 just 4 tenths off the lead time, which we were happy with going into qualifying as it was very close and anything could happen.

Saturday was dry for the whole day, and welcome for the 20 minute qualifying session and our first race of the weekend. In qualifying for the first half of the session we were sat in P6 before pitting and out for further run. We wouldn’t better our time set in the first run and fell to P9 which was a little disappointing, but we would work hard to try and make our way forward in the races. Made a good, clean getaway in Race 1 and held my position for the first few corners before running wide into the gravel, dropping to the back of the field. I climbed way back to P10 at the end of the race but was disappointed as the result could of been a lot better.

Sunday was very wet and for the first race I started in P10, and held that position for the first lap. The track was extremely wet and it was nearly impossible to see the cars in front, and indeed where the track actually went from all the water being sprayed up! After making a small error on the exit of a corner on the second lap, I ran wide and onto the grass heading straight into the barriers resulting in a DNF. Race 3, P10 slot, same conditions as the race before, and once again visibility was atrocious but made up a few positions to end the race in P8.

I would like to say a massive thanks to JHR Developments and everyone else involved. I wouldn’t be able to do it without you and all the support is genuinely appreciated. The next race will be at Silverstone in two weeks time for the penultimate round of the F4 British Championship.