After Donington at the end of last month, we were invited to Silverstone for Round Nine of the ROKiT British F4 Championships to watch Rowan Campbell-Pilling in the penultimate weekend of the competition. It was an opportunity we could not miss after the Sheffield-born drivers’ success last time at the circuit.
We attended Saturday’s events; however, the drivers and their team’s had been around the track since Wednesday as Rowan told us: “We had sim on Wednesday and then we had free practice Thursday, Friday.”
He went on to explain how: “We struggled a bit finding the right car balance, but ultimately, we didn’t know what people were doing with track limits and there were quite a lot of other variables as well.”
“We were outside the top 10 in both, but there is so much gain going off track at Copse Corner, you never really know who’s legal and who’s not and so we get to qualifying and that’s the teller.”
Saturday’s first event was qualifying and the F4 cars were first out on track. In the opening stages of the session, Campbell-Pilling found himself outside the top 10, but it was clear he was determined to not get stuck in that position.
The starting grid list was constantly changing around, but with three minutes left on the clock, the Argenti driver registered a lap time that saw him place fourth fastest. For Race 1, which we would see later on in the day, he would start P6 as that contest is based on the drivers second fastest lap in qualifying.
When we asked Campbell-Pilling how it felt to have secured a place inside the top 10 he reflected: “You know if someone would have told me that yesterday afternoon, I would have bitten their hand off for it so I’m really happy after being outside the top 10 for the past two days.”
“We’ve come back, and we’ve put it on the second row of the grid so really, really happy, really positive and I’m sure we can work from here.”
Ahead of Race 1, he spoke of his preparation and told us: “I approach every race with the same sort of nature really: warm up, prep everything the same and then obviously you go round to the grid, standard tyre warm up procedure and then we race.”
The stage was set on a sunny afternoon in Silverstone on the shorter, national layout of the circuit and the F4 cars lined up on the starting grid.
An exciting race commenced, and with an average speed of over 100mph the 17-year-old was able to maintain an excellent race position and he crossed the line in P1 in the Rookie Cup (sixth in the overall race standings).
Campbell-Pilling collected another trophy to add to his haul, which currently stands at 17 in his debut season competing in single seater racing.
Speaking after the race, he reflected on his performance as he said: “Really happy on our end to be honest. Lot of positives to take away from that and we were really disciplined with ourselves on track limits. The pace looked really strong when we were in clean air. We struggled a little bit in the dirty air towards the end stages of the race but that’s inevitable when you’re kind of driving in a vacuum.”
“Really positive from our end and so I’m happy with how it’s gone.”
It was incredible to witness the celebration when he reached the top step, as a huge round of applause rang out around the Silverstone podium. Considering this moment afterwards, he exclaimed: “It’s really nice to have everyone supporting us.”
Whilst Saturday was filled with sunshine, Sunday’s forecast was a different story. Heavy rainfall meant that the morning’s race was red flagged and ultimately cancelled.
Every race is unpredictable, and this weekend was no different as Campbell-Pilling was unfortunately involved in a crash, which meant he could not complete the final race at Silverstone.
After the incident, he said: “With the crash, of course, I’m disappointed. It only takes one thing to change everything. There was an unsighted stationary car, and unfortunately, there was nothing I could have done.”
He added, “But what I’m taking away is, this is all valuable experience which will only put me in a stronger position in the future.”
It is hard to believe that Campbell-Pilling’s debut season in the ROKiT British F4 Championships is nearly over and it was great to speak to him on Saturday to look at his season as a whole.
The Sheffield-born driver shared what his main focus is going into the 10th and final round of the season: “I’m focussed on learning as much as possible all the time. I’m also trying to focus on enjoying every moment of it, I’ve loved every minute of it so far and it’s been an incredible journey we’ve been on this year, and I can’t wait to carry on.”
Campbell-Pilling went on to share his final message of the season to the Sheffield Magazine readers that have followed his journey, as he concluded: “Thank you to everyone who has been reading along on my journey and be sure to keep posted on Sheffield Magazine on my story and progression up the motorsport ladder, and I’m sure you’ll hear from me very soon. Thank you everyone.”
We want to say a huge thank you to Rowan and his team for inviting us and for being so welcoming when we have been at races. It has been such an honour to follow Campbell-Pilling’s journey from last November, when he was first announced, to now, close to the end of his debut season. We are looking forward to seeing what he achieves in the future.
There is still one round of the season left to go, as they travel to Brands Hatch and compete on the 5th and 6th October. You can support Rowan by watching Sunday’s events on ITV.
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