Fortec Motorsports enjoyed another visit to the GB4 Championship podium over the weekend (July 12-13), as Jack Taylor recorded a second-place finish at Snetterton.
The team was on site on Thursday and Friday for test sessions in increasing heat, with Thomas Ingram Hill finishing day two third quickest and Jack Taylor seventh, as their teammate Luca Magnussen would have to miss the meeting due to last minute surgery.
Conditions remained hot and sunny on Saturday morning for the 15-minute qualifying period, where both drivers continually improved their times, Tom finishing eighth and Jack 12th for Jack.
Both drivers had clean starts to the opening race later that afternoon, with the duo soon running side-by-side as Jack moved up to ninth and Tom dropped to 10th. Those positions would reverse the following lap, and Tom pushed on, closing in on the car ahead and taking eighth with six of the planned 18 minutes remaining.
The pair were boosted further as they crossed the line, as a car ahead took a penalty for a false start, being classified seventh and ninth, respectively. “I’ve made a couple of big steps learning wise and I took that into the weekend,” said Tom. “I was confident in P8, raced cleanly with Jack, and can’t thank Fortec and my manager, Dan [Wells] enough.”
The grid for race two, held on Sunday morning, was set by drivers’ second fastest times in qualifying, with Tom seventh and Jack 19th. Tom moved into sixth off the line but then lost momentum on the outside of one corner and had contact from a rival at another, leaving him ninth over the line.
It was a tough start for Jack as he spun at turn two on the opening lap, dropping him to 21st, though he quickly started fighting back, moving to 18th. Tom capitalised when two cars ahead came together, taking seventh – which became sixth after a post-race penalty for a rival – while Jack was also able to show pace, taking the flag 13th.
Jack started on pole for the final race of the weekend, though the original start was delayed when another car came to a stop and the duration reduced to 16 minutes. Both started well, with Tom into fourth, but unfortunately Jack was passed into turn two, dropping to second. The Safety Car was then called to recover a stricken machine with the cars being released to race with just over three minutes remaining.
On the penultimate lap Tom looked to take third but had to relent, taking the flag fourth, while Jack was just 0.5s behind the winner as he finished second. “I am happy with P2, but into turn two I didn’t expect the car behind to be so close so only half defended, which was pretty stupid,” said Jack. “I had good pace but couldn’t get the place back with the time we had.”
Fortec Motorsports will return to GB4 Championship action over the weekend of August 2/3, with three races on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, while the F4 British Championship side of the team heads to Zandvoort in two weeks’ time.
Jack Taylor #50
Grid 1 – 12, Race 1 – 9
Grid 2 – 19, Race 2 – 14
Grid 3 – 1, Race 3 – 2
Championship: 9 (121 points)
Thomas Ingram-Hill #8
Grid 1 – 8, Race 1 – 7
Grid 2 – 7, Race 2 – 7
Grid 3 – 5, Race 3 – 4
Championship: 12 (113 points)
