Elite Motorsport’s Fred Green enjoyed the ideal debut to his single-seater career, taking a double pole position in qualifying, which he converted to victory in the first race of the new GB4 season at Silverstone.
The young British driver, part of the Elite McLaren Talent Pathway programme, made a clean start and was largely untroubled thereafter, despite a safety car period. He took the chequered flag a couple of seconds clear of his rivals to seize the early advantage after the first of 21 races this year.
Qualifying
Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing’s Luke Hilton had taken both pole positions on offer in qualifying, but was disqualified from the results of the 15-minute session after failing to slow down when passing yellow flags.
That promoted Green to pole instead, with his fastest time of 2m00.638s putting him at the head of the pack for race one, but only 0.013s ahead of KMR Sport returnee Alex O’Grady.
Hillspeed’s Enzo Hallman was next up in third, ahead of Green’s teammate Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso, with Thomas Ingram Hill (Fortec) and Jason Smyth (Douglas) filling a top-six covered by 0.479s.
Green’s second-best lap of 2m00.641s put him further ahead on the race two grid, two tenths of a second clear of Hallman with Del Grosso third. O’Grady, Smyth and Ingram Hill filled the top six on second-quickest times.
Race one
Green made a good start from pole and held a margin approaching three-quarters of a second at the end of the first lap. Teammate Del Grosso, meanwhile, jumped from fourth to second heading to Copse on the first lap, demoting O’Grady and Hallman.
Green’s lead had just nudged up to a second before the safety car was deployed to recover the gravelled car of Charlie Myers at Farm. Despite it being his single-seater debut, he made an excellent restart and rebuilt his lead, taking victory with a two-second margin to Del Grosso, with O’Grady completing the podium.
Ingram Hill enjoyed a feisty rise up to fourth, including a daring move on Smyth approaching Brooklands. Smyth had to settle for fifth ahead of teammate Dayton Coulthard, who emerged on top of an entertaining battle with the Hillspeed of former teammate Enzo Hallman.
Meanwhile, Hilton surged from 28th on GB4's record-breaking 29 car grid to finish eighth, after a sensational comeback drive.
Two more GB4 races will follow on Sunday, with both contests streamed live on the GB4 Championship website.
Race winner Green said: “It feels good, the track was a bit tricky compared to qualifying, so a bit more challenging than I expected, and I made a mistake early on. The rest of the execution was really good, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m so chuffed with my teammate coming second as well, I couldn’t be happier.”
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Silverstone, amended qualifying top-six result:
1. Fred Green, Elite Motorsport, +0.078s
2. Alex O’Grady, KMR Sport, +0.091s
3. Enzo Hallman, Hillspeed, +0.277s
4. Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso, Elite Motorsport, +0.320s
5. Thomas Ingram Hill, Fortec Motorsports, +0.324s
6. Jason Smyth, Douglas Motorsport, +0.557s
Click here for full results
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Silverstone, amended second fastest qualifying top-six result (race two grid):
1. Fred Green, Elite Motorsport, +0.012s
2. Enzo Hallman, Hillspeed, +0.225s
3. Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso, Elite Motorsport, +0.252s
4. Alex O’Grady, KMR Sport, +0.265s
5. Jason Smyth, Douglas Motorsport, +0.510s
6. Thomas Ingram Hill, Fortec Motorsports, +0.647s
Click here for full results
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Silverstone, race one top-six result:
1. Fred Green, Elite Motorsport, 9 laps
2. Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso, Elite Motorsport, +2.147s
3. Alex O’Grady, KMR Sport, +3.136s
4. Thomas Ingram Hill, Fortec Motorsports, +3.331s
5. Jason Smyth, Douglas Motorsport, +4.259s
6. Dayton Coulthard, Douglas Motorsport, +5.017s
Click here for full results
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, championship standings after race one of 21:
1. Fred Green, Elite Motorsport, 35pts
2. Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso, Elite Motorsport, 29pts
3. Alex O'Grady, KMR Sport, 24pts
4. Thomas Ingram Hill, Fortec Motorsports, 21pts
5. Jason Smyth, Douglas Motorsport, 19pts
6. Dayton Coulthard, Douglas Motorsport, 17pts
Click here for full standings
For more championship information, visit www.gb-4.net