The 2022 British Formula Four championship blasted back into action this weekend with a new car for the field to showcase. Since getting the new cars, Carlin have been hard at work and with a final test day on Thursday around the Donington circuit, the time soon came to get their championship campaign underway.
The Carlin trio became a duo for the opening round; Louis Sharp has not quite turned 15 yet and is therefore ineligible to race until the second round. However the New Zealander will be back for round two after his 15th birthday. Ugo Ugochukwu, in a similar situation, turned 15 on Saturday morning and managed to give himself the best birthday present with a fantastic opening pole position. Gray qualified fourth for the afternoon's race.
As the lights went out for Saturday afternoon's race, Ugochukwu was passed off the line by Alex Dunne and team mate Gray who had launched brilliantly. The Carlin duo ran close together at times however Gray wasn't quite able to make progress to steal the race lead and the duo took a fantastic double podium with Gray in second and Ugochukwu in third - cementing their intentions for the season.
The second race of the weekend, was a reverse grid affair. And it was a challenging one for Gray who was an early retirement after an incident with Aiden Neate. Ugochukwu crossed the line in ninth following a lengthy battle with Hitech’s Oliver Stewart.
The third and final race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon once again proved some fantastic pace for the team with Gray taking his second podium of the weekend in third and Ugochuku fifth overall. The solid weekend sees Williams Racing junior Gray sit second overall in the championship standings and McLaren junior Ugochukwu fourth - Carlin currently lie second in the teams' championship.
The second round of the championship will take place at Brands hatch in mid-May with Sharp back on board to complete the trio.
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