Ary Bansal and Alex Berg were the winners on the second day of the GB4 Championship season opener at Donington Park, but it was Hillspeed’s Dan Guinchard that left the East Midlands as the early championship leader.
Elite Motorsport’s Bansal was supreme in race two this morning, pulling off an exquisite overtaking move on the first lap and then streaked clear of the field to launch him into early title contention. Graham Brunton Racing’s Berg then converted reverse grid pole position into his first GB4 victory in the concluding event this afternoon but had to remain ice cool under pressure throughout.
Race two
Bansal started from third on the grid and needed a strong race to make amends for his Redgate drama on the first lap yesterday. And he did just that, by taking the lead around the outside of his pole-sitting teammate Isaac Phelps at the same turn as his race one misfortune.
Having set the fastest lap of the race when running in clear air at the tail of the field yesterday, Bansal showed just as much pace to romp away at the front this time around. By the mid-point of the 18-minute contest, his margin to Phelps was over six seconds, allowing him to ease off in the final stages to take the flag four seconds clear.
Race one winner Phelps was second to maintain his position at the top of the standings, with the third Elite driver of Alex Kattoulas completing a podium clean-sweep for Eddie Ives’ team.
Hillspeed duo Leandro Juncos and Guinchard were fourth and fifth, with the former replicating some of his race-one moves at the Melbourne Hairpin as he climbed up from sixth, with Fortec’s front-row starter Jack Taylor completing the top-six, just half a second behind Guinchard.
Race three
For 2025, the top-12 drivers from qualifying are reversed on the starting grid for the final race, putting Berg at the head of the pack this afternoon.
The Canadian, son of former F1 racer Allen Berg, made an ideal start to lead the pack on the first lap, but from there on came under heavy pressure from Arden’s Leon Wilson. The pair were separated by less than a second throughout, but Wilson’s threat came to an end on the penultimate lap when Juncos, on another charge and after yet more overtakes at the Melbourne Hairpin, finally attempted a move too far and made contact with the Arden.
That gave Berg breathing room at the front, while the incident dropped Wilson to eighth and Juncos to 14th. The drama promoted Douglas Motorsport’s Enzo Hallman to second and Pace Performance’s Stefan Bostandjiev to third, netting a podium in both driver and team’s first weekend in single-seaters.
Amidst the drama, Guinchard’s strong run to fourth was enough to hand him the championship lead, while race one winner Bansal went from tenth on the grid to fifth ahead of teammate Kattoulas. Guinchard holds a two point margin at the top of the table after the first three races, with Phelps second and Kattoulas third. Eight points cover the lead three drivers at this early stage in the season. The first weekend of GB4's new era with the new Tatuus MSV GB4-025 car produced three different winners and featured seven different drivers on the podium across the event.
Race two winner Bansal said: "It felt good and the start was perfect. I just managed to ease into first place and drive away."
"We can't plan moves but I saw him [Phelps] defending so there was only one place to go to overtake him, so I had to go around the outside. It feels good, it's a redemption [from yesterday]!"
Race three winner Berg said: "It's amazing! Leon Wilson really put me under pressure for a long time there! I was just hoping for a nice boring race, it reminds me a lot of last year when I raced in British F4, the reverse grid race, I won it but I got a five-second penalty so it was taken away. So this feels like an almost identical redemption for last year."
"I'm so excited and happy, I'd really like to thank Graham Brunton Racing and my partners Rohde & Liesenfeld, Road To Racing Canada and Atna Pharmaceutical Consulting. Last year for me was really difficult and I didn't think I'd be back in a car again this year, but obviously I am and I couldn't be more grateful for my supporters. I only have budget for the first three races but I'm really hoping to find some more budget for the last four remaining rounds."
Championship leader Guinchard said: “I’m thrilled, honestly. When the reverse grid race played out and I saw the results, I knew we’d done a really good job in keeping our nose clean and having no crashes. To come away with the championship lead is just fantastic news. Having been out of the seat of a race car for so long, I’m buzzing, honestly!
“I knew we’d be towards the front and fast, but I probably didn’t think I’d be the championship leader. I thought we might have struggled a bit on longer runs but they actually ended up being our strong suit. So if we can work on our qualifying pace a little bit, we’ll be right up there and fighting for race wins. We got mighty close this weekend, so hopefully at Silverstone with a couple more days of testing we’ll be right there.”
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park race two top-six:
1. Ary Bansal, Elite Motorsport, 13 laps
2. Isaac Phelps, Elite Motorsport, +4.023s
3. Alex Kattoulas, Elite Motorsport, +4.830s
4. Leandro Juncos, Hillspeed, +5.709s
5. Dan Guinchard, Hillspeed, +13.379s
6. Jack Taylor, Fortec Motorsports, +13.752s
Click here for full results
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park race three top-six:*
1. Alex Berg, Graham Brunton Racing, 13 laps
2. Enzo Hallman, Douglas Motorsport, +1.002s
3. Stefan Bostandjiev, Pace Performance, +5.078s
4. Dan Guinchard, Hillspeed, +5.481s
5. Ary Bansal, Elite Motorsport, +6.092s
6. Alex Kattoulas, Elite Motorsport, +10.823s
Click here for full results
GB4 Championship, drivers' championship standings after race three of 21:*
1. Dan Guinchard, Hillspeed, 66pts
2. Isaac Phelps, Elite Motorsport, 64pts
3. Alex Kattoulas, Elite Motorsport, 58pts
4. Ary Bansal, Elite Motorsport, 51pts
5. Alex Berg, Graham Brunton Racing, 46pts
6. Enzo Hallman, Douglas Motorsport, 46pts
Click here for full standings
GB4 Championship, teams' championship standings after race three of 21:*
1. Elite Motorsport, 149pts
2. Hillspeed, 110pts
3. Douglas Motorsport, 86pts
4. Graham Brunton Racing, 75pts
5. Fortec Motorsports, 52pts
6. Pace Performance, 49pts
Click here for full standings
*Race three results were provisional at time of release
For more championship information, visit www.gb-4.net