IT was a weekend to remember for teen racer Bart Harrison as he earned his first Formula 4 wins in Austria earlier this month.

The Nunnington talent travelled to the Red Bull Ring, which hosts the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, for a one-off race in the CEZ Championship.

Earning his first pole position, he then soared to the top of the table after two wins and a third place across the three-race weekend.

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Bart has gone from strength to strength with new team Jenzer Motorsport, continuing the form that saw him return home with a raft of trophies from the Formula Winter Series earlier this year.

But though results exceeded expectations, the weekend wasn’t without its tribulations.

His time in Austria was primarily aimed at learning the track, which will feature regularly in the future.

Time studying the track was clearly worthwhile as the 17-year-old topped the opening two free practice sessions.

The gap closed in third practice, in part thanks to an engine performance issue on Bart’s car. The decision was made to sacrifice the next practice session and change the engine, and after a quick turnaround, Bart was able to complete two installation laps before the flag.

Normal service soon resumed, and he topped the next session by three tenths.

The next day saw a 20-minute qualifying session, with Bart earning his first F4 pole position, albeit not without drama.

Sitting out the start of qualifying, he was then released into traffic, but his ‘banker’ lap was still four-and-a-half tenths quicker than anyone else on the grid.

His time was never really under threat, however, drama was to follow when the stewards adjudged Bart to have exceeded track limits on his best lap, which would demote him to P2.

The teen ace was adamant he had not, and after it transpired the stewards had mixed the laps up, his pole position was restored.

The first race took place that afternoon, with Bart quickly pulling out a 1.5 second lead before the safety car was deployed after another car had gone off the track.

He found himself under attack from the second-placed car at the restart, but was able to retain his lead after out-braking his rival heading into turn three, and pulled out a 10-second lead as he cruised to his first F4 win.

Emotional scenes followed with the team, driver coach Josh, and Bart’s parents, elated, with the significance of both a first pole and first race win not lost on them.

Race two the following morning brought with it another win for Bart, albeit less dominant than his first.

Although it was another lights to flag victory, the margin was only two seconds, with Argentinian teammate, Gino Trappa, keeping him honest all the way. 

It later transpired that Bart had been managing an issue with his brake bias control for the whole race, but that was rectified before race three.

Bart has been going from strength to strength with Jenzer Motorsport this year.Bart has been going from strength to strength with Jenzer Motorsport this year. (Image: Arnau Vinyals/Jenzer Motorsport)

The top four from race one were reversed for the race three grid, with Bart starting in P4.

An hour before the race, a rain shower left the track wet, with Bart bravely opting for wet tyres whilst many others elected for slicks.

Initially, that proved to be the right call, but with the safety car brought out for an early and prolonged period, the slick tyre runners were not compromised as everyone drove slowly behind the safety car, whilst the track became drier by the minute.

By the time the safety car went in, the track was fully dry, giving the slick runners a huge advantage.

Bart managed to hang on for a gritty third place, but only just, with four cars crossing the line abreast.