KEY POINTS:
New Zealander Brendon Hartley won his first British Formula 3 race at the Croft circuit in Yorkshire yesterday.
The 18-year-old became the fourth driver to secure his maiden Formula 3 win from the first four races of the British championship.
The Carlin Motorsport driver's Red Bull Dallara-Mercedes led from start to finish in a race that was red-flagged and restarted after a six-car accident on the second lap.
Earlier, Hartley was eliminated on the opening lap of the third race of the season when he understeered off the wet track at the first corner and collided with a rival's car.
Hartley's success in the fourth race thrust him back into title contention. He improved from ninth to sixth overall and is now 10 points off the series lead.
He made a clean start to lead the 29-car field into the first corner and avoided a collision further back which saw the race red-flagged before the end of the second lap.
All drivers escaped injury but one marshal suffered a broken leg and was treated at the track before being taken to a medical centre. The cars formed up on the grid to restart in the positions at the end of lap one to race over 18 laps, the times of which would be an aggregate of the two race starts.
Hartley again excelled on the restart, broke away immediately and controlled a gap of between one and two seconds over Mexican Sergio Perez for the remainder of the race.
"It was frustrating to lose my lead when the red flag came out," Hartley said. "But I knew I had a 3.5-second lead in my pocket for the aggregate result, so I was in a good position from the restart.
"I just needed to drive a sensible race to get the first win and get some confidence back. I really need to continue it now."
- NZPA
