Kevin Mills Racing’s Tom Mills claimed his first GB4 race win in a thrilling opening contest on the Brands Hatch GP circuit. Meanwhile, Nikolas Taylor and Max Marzorati are tied at the top of the standings, after Taylor slid out of contention midway through the race.
Qualifying
Taylor soared to another double pole in qualifying this morning, his seventh and eighth pole positions of the season, enough to secure the George Russell Pole Position Cup and the £1,000 prize a round early. Taylor was 0.291s clear of Waberski at the top of the times, with Mills around half a second further back in third. Marzorati put his Hillspeed car fourth on the grid ahead of Elite’s Jack Sherwood, while Graham Brunton Racing’s Logan Hannah was sixth quickest in one of her best qualifying showings of the year.
Qualifying also decided the grid for race two, and saw the exact same formation based on each driver’s second fastest times. Taylor though was over three tenths clear on the second fastest lap time charts, and will therefore start race two from pole as well.
Race one
Taylor and Waberski went wheel-to-wheel through the first two corners on the first lap, but Taylor then began to stretch a lead in pursuit of a fourth straight win and his ninth of the year. But as the skies became darker, rain began to fall and Taylor was caught out at the bottom of Paddock Hill Bend, skidding off the road on lap four, across the gravel and crunching his suspension against the barriers.
South African Waberski survived a wild moment of his own at the same time, and took the lead as the safety car was deployed. Action resumed on lap seven, and there was a thrilling scrap for the lead as Sherwood battled with the two KMR cars. The Elite contender moved into the lead with two moves inside three corners, but moments later ran wide exiting Surtees and handed the initiative back to Waberski and Mills.
On the penultimate lap, Mills pulled off an outstanding move around the outside of Hawthorns to grab the lead, and held firm to lead the final lap and a half, crossing the line a tenth clear of Sherwood with Waberski completing the podium. Marzorati claimed fourth, and in doing so, drew level at the top of the standings with Taylor, with two races tomorrow and then the triple header at Donington to complete the season.
Race one winner Mills said: “That was one of the best races we’ve had all year. At the beginning, we didn’t have a very good start but then it all started kicking off, the rain started spitting and we were a little bit on the safer side, it’s a good job.
"As soon as we were under safety car it then bucketed it down and we lost all tyre temp. The first two laps after the safety car were really slippery, Jack was just maximising it better, when he got by me, after I saw what he was doing, I then started to do some of that. He just got caught up behind Jarrod out the back into Hawthorns and I managed to get past all of them, I was then the first into every corner to understand what the grip level is but thankfully I was able to hold on until the end."
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Brands Hatch GP qualifying top-six:
1. Nikolas Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, 1m24.672s
2. Jarrod Waberski, Kevin Mills Racing, +0.291
3. Tom Mills, Kevin Mills Racing, +0.815
4. Max Marzorati, Hillspeed, + 1.194
5. Jack Sherwood, Elite Motorsport, +1.288
6. Logan Hannah, Graham Brunton Racing, +1.346
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GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Brands Hatch GP race one top-six:
1. Tom Mills, Kevin Mills Racing, 10 laps
2. Jack Sherwood, Elite Motorsport, +0.152s
3. Jarrod Waberski, Kevin Mills Racing, +1.712s
4. Max Marzorati, Hillspeed, +2.087s
5. Jessica Edgar, Fortec Motorsport, +3.610s
6. Megan Gilkes, Hillspeed, +3.771s
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GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Championship standings after race 19 of 24
1. Nikolas Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, 415pts
2. Max Marzorati, Hillspeed, 415pts
3. Jarrod Waberski, Kevin Mills Racing, 366pts
4. Tom Mills, Kevin Mills Racing, 351pts
5. Jack Sherwood, Elite Motorsport, 329pts
6. Megan Gilkes, Hillspeed, 327pts
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GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Teams’ Championship standings after race 19 of 24
1. Hillspeed, 749pts
2. Kevin Mills Racing, 717pts
3. Fortec Motorsport, 684pts
4. Elite Motorsport, 573spts
5. Graham Brunton Racing, 412pts
6. Rossoverde Racing, 102pts
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For more championship information, visit www.gb-4.net