GB4: Burgoyne blasts from third to victory to close GB4 Championship gap in Brands Hatch opener
KMR Sport’s Harry Burgoyne closed the gap in the GB4 Championship title battle, as he went from third on the grid to victory in the first race of the weekend at Brands Hatch. Championship leader Linus Granfors started from pole after securing another double in qualifying but was demoted to fourth in the race before recovering to complete the podium.
Qualifying
On his very last lap of the 15-minute session, Swedish ace Granfors recorded a GB4 qualifying lap record time of 1m24.291s to claim pole for race one. With his second best time being less than a tenth away from his outright best, he earned a pole double and secured the George Russell Pole Position Cup in the process.
It was hard fought though, with Granfors exchanging provisional pole with KMR Sport’s Lucas Blakeley throughout the session. Blakeley ended up just 0.062s away, while Burgoyne was 0.437s away from top spot, taking third.
Leon Wilson (Arden), Branden Templeton (Fox) and title hopeful Alisha Palmowski (Elite) completed the top-six for the race one grid. Granfors, Blakeley, Burgoyne, Wilson, Templeton and Finn Harrison were the top three on the second-fastest chart, for the race two grid.
Race one
Initially, Granfors looked set to extend his championship lead as he made a good start to lead the field on the first lap.
Burgoyne was the driver on a charge as he passed teammate Blakeley early on, and then applied big pressure to his main title rival. At Clark Curve at the end of lap one, Granfors went slightly off line, and that was all it took for Burgoyne and Blakeley to slip through, with Palmowski demoting him further moments later.
Burgoyne and Blakeley escaped up the road, leaving Palmowski to fend off the recovering Granfors. With five minutes to go, Palmowski made the smallest of errors exiting Stirling’s and Granfors moved back up to third. But it was too little too late for any further advances, with the KMR duo several seconds up the road.
Blakeley applied big pressure to Burgoyne, but the youngster held firm to claim his second win in succession by just 0.177s from Blakeley, who followed him home. Granfors banked third to minimise the championship damage, with Palmowski, Templeton and Harrison completing the top-six.
Having started the weekend with a 35-point lead in the standings, Granfors is now 26 ahead of Burgoyne, with Palmowski still in contention, albeit 12 points further back.
Race one winner Burgoyne said: “I drove a pretty good race there, we got a pretty great start up to P2 and then we managed to get Linus at the last corner as he made a mistake. I just put him under pressure and he made the mistake which was his fault and allowed me to get in front and just clean sail it all the way through. Setting good times so it was hard for Lucas to catch and it was a hard race to try and keep focused. The sun was a bit low through the back so it was a bit hard to see through the corners, other than that it was a good race I think.
“When he (Blakeley) is pushing you to the line, you’re trying your hardest to look in your mirrors and not go off track which we didn’t and we managed to come home with the win.”
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Brands Hatch qualifying top-six result:
1. Linus Granfors, Fortec Motorsport, 1min24.291s
2. Lucas Blakeley, KMR Sport, +0.062s
3. Harry Burgoyne, KMR Sport, +0.437s
4. Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport, +0.955s
5. Branden Templeton, Fox Motorsport, +0.980s
6. Alisha Palmowski, Elite Motorsport, +1.320s
Click here for full result.
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Brands Hatch race one top-six result:
1. Harry Burgoyne, KMR Sport, 13 laps
2. Lucas Blakeley, KMR Sport, +0.177s
3. Linus Granfors, Fortec Motorsport, +6.629s
4. Alisha Palmowski, Elite Motorsport, +9.099s
5. Branden Templeton, Fox Motorsport, +10.353s
6. Finn Harrison, Elite Motorsport, +10.982s
Click here for full result.
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, driver's standings after race 19 of 21:
1. Linus Granfors, Fortec Motorsport, 415pts
2. Harry Burgoyne, KMR Sport, 389pts
3. Alisha Palmowski, Elite Motorsport, 377pts
4. Branden Templeton, Fox Motorsport, 286pts
5. Lucas Blakeley, KMR Sport, 271pts
6. Callum Baxter, Graham Brunton Racing, 261pts
Click here for full standings
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, team's standings after race 19 of 21:
1. KMR Sport, 858pts
2. Elite Motorsport, 632pts
3. Fortec Motorsports, 624pts
4. Fox Motorsport, 496pts
5. Graham Brunton Racing, 342pts
6. Arden Motorsport, 175pts
Click here for full standings
For more championship information, visit www.gb-4.net