GB4 Championship: Mills does the double on busy Saturday at Donington Park
KMR Sport’s championship leader Tom Mills claimed two wins at a sun drenched Donington Park on Saturday, as he extended his GB4 Championship advantage. The 18-year-old claimed pole position in qualifying, won the rescheduled race carried over from Silverstone, and then triumphed with a near identical performance in the second race of the day, stretching his title advantage to 69 points in the process.
Qualifying
On a newly resurfaced circuit, qualifying proved a fast and frantic affair as Mills and Fortec’s Colin Queen battled to take pole. It was Mills who ultimately claimed pole for race one, with a time 2.4 seconds faster than last year’s fastest pole effort.
Mills could have gone quicker too, and had just set an improved first sector time when he suffered a suspension failure, potentially opening the door to Queen, but the American’s final flying lap was just a tenth of a second shy. However, Queen secured pole position for round eight of the season, due to start at 10.35 on Sunday morning, by virtue of his second fastest effort from the 15-minute session.
For the race one grid, Mills was 0.111s clear of Queen, with Evans GP’s Cooper Webster third. Elite Motorsport duo Harri Reynolds and Josh Irfan were fourth and fifth, with Liam McNeilly completing the qualifying top-six for Fox Motorsport, and exactly seven tenths of a second away from the pole time.
Rescheduled Silverstone race
With rain forcing the cancellation of round four of the season at Silverstone three weeks ago, the race was instead held at Donington Park, and was the first racing action of the day. The grid was carried over from the Silverstone qualifying session, and Mills converted pole into his third win of the season. But he had to work for it as despite opening up a small gap in the first couple of laps, Queen fought back and chipped away until the duo were separated by just four tenths of a second.
Mills hung on to claim victory from Queen, with Webster keeping the top-two in close company, with the Australian eventually taking second after Queen was penalised post-race for a track limits violation, and settling for third instead. Jeremy Fairbairn (KMR), Sid Smith (Fox) and McNeilly completed the top-six in the rescheduled encounter.
Donington Park race one
Starting from pole again, it was a repeat performance for Mills who again led every lap, but this time had to hold off Webster for the majority of the 18-minute contest. Like in the earlier race, Mills built up a small early lead, with Webster gradually bringing that down to under half a second mid-race, with Queen also following in the wheeltracks of the top-two, having lost second to Webster at the start.
This time however, Mills found a late burst of pace to stretch out a margin, taking his second win of the day 1.5 seconds clear of Webster, with Queen taking third once more, six tenths away from the Evans GP car. McNeilly claimed fourth after a superb round the outside overtake on Reynolds at Redgate mid-race, with Farbairn and Irfan completing the top-six.
Two more GB4 contests are scheduled for Sunday, with the first due to start at 10.35 with Queen on pole, with the reverse grid contest set for 15.55.
Double winner Mills said: “It’s hard out there, it’s hot and these two keep putting a lot of pressure on me. It was the same as the last race really, I was just trying to hit my marks, trying not to make any mistakes and I still had a bit of pace in hand at the end and made a little gap. It’s been a fantastic day.”
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park qualifying top-six:
1. Tom Mills, KMR Sport, 1m27.250s
2. Colin Queen, Fortec Motorsport, +0.111s
3. Cooper Webster, Evans GP, +0.314s
4. Harri Reynolds, Elite Motorsport, +0.572s
5. Josh Irfan, Elite Motorsport, +0.651s
6. Liam McNeilly, Fox Motorsport, +0.700s
Click here for full result
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, rescheduled round four top-six:
1. Tom Mills, KMR Sport, 13 laps
2. Cooper Webster, Evans GP, +1.122s
3. Colin Queen, Fortec Motorsport, +5.403s
4. Jeremy Fairbairn, KMR Sport, +10.385s
5. Sid Smith, Fox Motorsport, +15.889s
6. Liam McNeilly, Fox Motorsport, +17.007s
Click here for full result