KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady secured his first GB4 Championship race win at Oulton Park, in one of the most dramatic races held in the series history on Saturday. Weather played its part in some of the most dramatic action in the series’ history on Monday as Hillspeed’s Daniel Guinchard won race two from pole, while, rain and a delayed start ahead of race three sparked pure drama and bizarre scenes, with Enzo Hallman winning from 17th on the grid, which was effectively a pole position.
Race one
As the clouds thickened during the afternoon, the first spots of rain fell while the GB4 field assembled in the pre-grid area, leading to varied strategy calls ahead of the race. The top-five on the grid all remained with slick Pirellis, while O’Grady was the lead contender on wets.
That strategy call was vindicated within seconds of the start, as O’Grady blasted from sixth to the lead exiting Cascades on the opening lap, while Dan Guinchard and co at the front quickly slipped backwards.
O’Grady’s lead at the end of the first tour was approaching six seconds, while Luca Magnussen and Pace Performance’s Stefan Bostandjiev moved into second and third. Bostandjiev lost that position on lap two to O’Grady’s teammate Megan Bruce, who had started 19th, but the safety car was soon deployed with two cars stranded in the gravel in separate locations.
When the race resumed there was still time for three racing laps, with O’Grady and Magnussen maintaining their early pace to pull away at the front. Meanwhile, Hallman was the driver to keep an eye on, from 17th on the grid, he was running fifth by the time the safety car was deployed, and quickly moved past Bostandjiev to take fourth. With Bruce in his sights, he moved past at Old Hall on the final lap to clinch the final podium spot, behind Magnussen, with O’Grady winning by 2.5 seconds.
Race two
Having extended his championship lead slightly after a dramatic opener on Saturday, Guinchard capitalised on his second pole position of the event this time around and despite an early safety car period, marched to his second win of the campaign, over three seconds clear. Race one winner O’Grady took second for KMR Sport after a post-race penalty for Guinchard’s teammate Leandro Juncos, with Elite’s Alex Kattoulas, one of Guinchard’s title rivals, taking third in the revised classification.
Pre-race rain had threatened to create a tyre lottery similar to Saturday’s, though all teams ultimately opted for slick Pirelli tyres. Rain fell intermittently during the contest, but Guinchard was untroubled, though the heavens opened just a couple of minutes after the chequered flag fell.
Race three
Yet again, drizzle in the assembly area had a direct impact on the race, with the majority of the runners, headed by Fortec’s pole sitter Luca Magnussen, opting for slick tyres. Hallman though, starting 17th, was one of five drivers on treaded rubber. After an incident on the formation lap necessitated a delayed start, eventually all 19 cars on slick tyres either pitted as the cars returned to the grid, or were pushed off the grid into the pits to change onto wets.
That left Hallman effectively on pole, but still in the 17th grid slot, ahead of Fortec’s Thomas Ingram Hill, teammate Dayton Coulthard plus Fox Motorsport pairing Holly Miall and Caitlyn McDaniel, the five being the only grid starters for the race. Ingram Hill launched into an early lead on the first lap, while the 19 pit lane starters were released onto the track only once the quintet had blasted around Old Hall.
Hallman eventually repassed Ingram Hill after running side by side for much of the opening tour, with Coulthard following through into second at the start of lap two. The Douglas pair raced away at the front, but behind it was anyone’s race. Guinchard, one of the first to pit for wet tyres, benefitted massively and made his way up to third across the opening half of the race.
With the top positions seemingly cemented, the race was turned on its head again at the midpoint, as Graham Brunton Racing’s Callum Baxter, who had changed onto wets and then back onto slicks during the start delay in the pits, surged through the field. From outside the top 20 early on, the Canadian quickly moved into the top-10 by the midpoint, and with slicks now the tyres to be on, had all the momentum going his way.
Guinchard was soon passed for third, and with Baxter now lapping up to 10 seconds per lap quicker, just ran out of time in his pursuit of further gains, finishing just 0.099s behind second placed Coulthard in a near photo finish. Hallman won the race with an over six second margin, while Coulthard secured a first podium ahead of the charging Baxter. But with one more lap, Baxter may well have been able to challenge for the lead, such was his late race pace advantage.
Behind the top-three came Guinchard, who has opened up a comparatively big title advantage in comparison to the context of the season so far, with Fortec’s Jack Taylor finishing fifth and Ingram Hill completing the top six.
