Hampshire’s Matt Bell celebrated a magnificent start to the new BRDC Formula 4 Championship, winning the inaugural race at Silverstone.

The 23-year-old, who lives in Chandler’s Ford, drove superbly to take the chequered flag at the end of a dramatic battle on the track.

Privateer Bell was third after the start, with the front two of Jake Dalton (MGR Motorsport) and Jake Hughes (Lanan Racing) pulling away.

But he quickly began to reel the pair in and, as he piled on the pressure, Hughes’ car touched Dalton’s, allowing Bell to slip past them and into the lead.

Bell, one of only two privateers entered into the championship, made no mistake from then on, maintaining a gap of more than two seconds for the remainder of the race.

“That was great, no-one else can say they won the first F4 race,” said Bell, who was born in Winchester and works in Romsey.

“It’s a long race. I perhaps lacked pace early on, but I closed back to them and they were battling away and had a collision.

“After that it was just a case of maintaining the gap and I could have gone faster if I needed to.”

In race two, Bell finished fourth, before adding a fifth-place result in the third round.

That puts him third on the overall standings, with 64 points, just six behind leader Seb Morris (Hillspeed) and four behind Dalton.

The next three rounds take place at Brands Hatch on May 18 and 19.