Fortec Motorsports’ Jack Taylor enjoyed a perfect Saturday at Silverstone, as the young Australian claimed his maiden series pole positions in qualifying, and then converted the first of those into a breakthrough victory.
Qualifying
With Fortec having topped much of pre-event testing, the team’s form carried over into qualifying as Taylor clinched race one with his quickest lap of 2m01.221s, and then secured race two pole with his second quickest effort, a 2m01.284s.
Taylor’s fastest time was a tenth of a second quicker than Douglas Motorsport’s impressive newcomer Arjen Kraling, who qualified second for just his fourth single-seater race, having only recently turned 15.
Arden’s Snetterton race winner Leon Wilson was third quickest, just three thousandths of a second behind and 0.004s ahead of Elite’s Alex Kattoulas. Kraling’s teammate, Dayton Coulthard, netted his best qualifying result with fifth ahead of Fortec’s Thomas Ingram Hill.
Around the longest circuit of the year, lap times were extraordinarily close, with the lead 18 runners all within a second of Taylor’s time. For the race two grid, based on each driver’s second quickest laps, Taylor was 0.124s ahead of Kattoulas, with Wilson and Ingram Hill next up. Elite’s Isaac Phelps and Kraling completed the top-six.
Race one
Taylor made a great start from pole to head the pack to Copse on the first lap, while Wilson shot past Kraling into second. Wilson attempted a move on the run to Stowe, but it was plain sailing for Taylor thereafter as he romped to an unchallenged victory.
Wilson’s attentions soon turned to defence, as Ingram Hill from sixth fired into third through the first sequence of corners. He soon applied big pressure to Wilson and made the move for second at Village on lap four.
Immediately setting the fastest lap of the race, he set about closing down teammate Taylor, who by now had a lead of over three seconds. Ingram was able to chip away to bring the gap below three seconds, but Taylor ultimately had too much of a gap, and claimed victory by 2.9 seconds from Ingram Hill, who stood on the podium for the first time.
Wilson had to settle for third, his second consecutive podium following his Snetterton victory, with Elite’s Alex Kattoulas fourth ahead of Kraling, with Hillspeed’s Leandro Juncos moving up to sixth from eighth on the grid.
Elite’s title-challenging duo, Isaac Phelps and Ary Bansal, were next up, while Hillspeed’s championship leader Dan Guinchard fought back from qualifying issues to claim 11th from 17th on the grid, minimising any potential title damage.
Two more races at Silverstone will follow tomorrow at 12.00 and 16.50.
Race winner Taylor said: “It was good, I got a good start and then paced myself, tried not to make any mistakes and tried to keep the tyres alive a little bit. I kept it clean, paced myself, and it was good.
“There weren’t any sketchy moments in the race really, I just went out and did quali laps really. I may have locked up a little bit, but that was my only drama in the whole race. Tomorrow I start from pole again, so I’ll obviously try and convert it to another win, but there’s a chance of rain tomorrow. That should play into my favour as I like the rain and it’ll give me more opportunities in the reverse grid to move up and get some more points.”
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Silverstone qualifying top-six result:
1. Jack Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, 2m01.221s
2. Arjen Kraling, Douglas Motorsport, +0.100s
3. Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport, +0.103s
4. Alex Kattoulas, Elite Motorsport, +0.107s
5. Dayton Coulthard, Douglas Motorsport, +0.343s
6. Thomas Ingram Hill, Fortec Motorsport, +0.371s
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GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Silverstone race one top-six result:
1. Jack Taylor, Fortec Motorsport
2. Thomas Ingram Hill, Fortec Motorsport, +2.960s
3. Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport, +6.239s
4. Alex Kattoulas, Elite Motorsport, +7.639s
5. Arjen Kräling, Douglas Motorsport, +7.371s
6. Leandro Juncos, Hillspeed, +7.665s
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GB4 Championship, drivers' championship standings after race 13 of 21:
1. Daniel Guinchard, Hillspeed, 262pts
2. Ary Bansal, Elite Motorsport, 229pts
3. Isaac Phelps, Elite Motorsport, 221pts
4. Alex Kattoulas, Elite Motorsport, 217pts
5. Alex O'Grady, KMR Sport, 176pts
6. Enzo Hallman, Douglas Motorsport, 175pts
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GB4 Championship, teams' championship standings after race 13 of 21:
1. Elite Motorsport, 534pts
2. Hillspeed, 403pts
3. Douglas Motorsport, 384pts
4. Fortec Motorsports, 348pts
5. KMR Sport, 265pts
6. Graham Brunton Racing, 262pts
Click here for full standings
For more championship information, visit www.gb-4.net