Ayrton Simmons missed out on being crowned British Formula 4 champion despite a trio of top ten finishes in the final round at Brands Hatch.

Despite crossing the line in front of his main title rival in race one, a sixth place finish for Kiern Jewiss ended Simmons’ hopes after he entered the final round of the season 62 points behind the Double R Racing driver.

But Simmons can take heart from an encouraging season which saw the Epping racer become the first driver to score 700 career points in British F4 and secure his highest ever finish in the Championship, having finished in second place in the overall standings.

The 17-year-old knew his chances of being crowned champion were slim going into the final round of the weekend, but he gave himself some hope when he leapfrogged his main rival at the start.

But despite that early manoeuvre, Simmons couldn’t make any further headway after moving up to fifth and with Jewiss crossing the line one place behind him, it meant his championship hopes were now over.

Having missed out on the title, the Epping racer’s focus was now on cementing second place and he had a realistic chance of picking up another podium finish when he started on the front row for race two.

A slow getaway proved to be costly as he lost out to Patrik Pasma, Johnathan Hoggard and Paavo Tonteri on lap one, meaning he had to settle for his second fifth place finish of the weekend.

However, the Epping driver would enjoy better fortunes in the final race of the season as he crossed the line in fourth, which was enough to earn second place in the championship as well as his third top 10 finish of the weekend.

With the British F4 season now over, Simmons will now focus on returning to British Formula 3 action with Chris Dittmann Racing in the final round at Silverstone next weekend.