Fortec Motorsports scored two more victories in the GB4 Championship at the weekend (April 27/28) as Linus Granfors doubled up on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.
Linus, Jack Taylor, and Dan Hickey had two test days ahead of the meeting to familiarise themselves with the track, as the young Swedish driver ended fastest in five of the six sessions. Topping the times for much of Saturday morning’s qualifying, Linus was pipped late on, finishing second, while Jack rounded out the top 10, with Dan just behind in 12th.
In the opening contest, held later that afternoon, there was a superb battle between Finn Harrison and Linus, the pair swapping the lead repeatedly, before the Fortec driver pulled out an advantage to win by over seven seconds at the flag. Behind, Jack fell back in the early laps but fought through to regain 10th, while Dan, battling a sprained wrist, dropped back on the penultimate lap and crossed the line 14th.
As heavy and persistent rain fell overnight and through Sunday morning, racing was delayed for the GB4 Championship, eventually running race two later in the afternoon, with the plan to run race three at a later date. Linus started well, passing one car off the line and took the lead from Harrison through turn one on lap two.
Jack and Dan did well to avoid a car which was slow off the line, the former making up two further places, but the latter had a spin at Vale when trying to avoid contact with another driver, before recovering well to gain back one place before the end of the contest. Jack continued to drive well, but ran wide and fell back a few places, crossing the line in 12th, while out front Linus clinched another victory to extend his championship advantage.
The GB4 Championship competitors will return to action over the weekend of May 25/26, as the series makes the first of two visits to Donington Park in Leicestershire.
Linus Granfors #16
Race 1: Start – 2, Result – 1
Race 2: Start – 3, Result – 1
Championship: 1 (134 points)
“Qualifying went well and that set up the races to be strong. I got a good lap in, but [Finn] Harrison put his time at the end to take pole. The first race was fun. We had a lot of fighting but then I overtook him and started to do qualifying laps to pull away as much as I could. I was looking for a new lap record, but I needed one more lap!
“After I knew we could do well in both dry and wet conditions, I was feeling confident in the car, and both races were really fun. We struggled a bit at Oulton Park, but we improved on our wet set up a lot which is really promising. It feels great to have had such a strong weekend as we were strong from practice, but we weren’t sure what our pace would be in the wet. I’m looking forward to the next round at Donington Park.”
Jack Taylor #50
Race 1: Start – 10, Result – 10
Race 2: Start – 12, Result – 12
Championship: 12 (48 points)
“Qualifying didn’t go too bad. I know I could have been faster, but I always take a while to come on and need a few laps to be quick. For race one my start wasn’t very good. I lost a few spots, but I managed to make them back and I found a lot more pace compared to testing. I was about a second quicker, so I feel like it was a good race as I didn’t lose any spots.
“My start was quite good for race two and I made up three or four places. As the race went on there were a couple of corners, like Stowe, which I was struggling quite a lot on, so the rest of the pack caught up. Then, I had a moment where I went off which cost another position, and then I was overtaken in the last few laps as well. I made good improvements when the track was fully dry, but there wasn’t much time in the full dry conditions. I definitely learned more about the car and improved my pace.”
Dan Hickey #17
Race 1: Start – 12, Result – 16
Race 2: Start – 10, Result – 14
Championship: 14 (43 points)
“Qualifying was okay but unfortunately, I had my best lap deleted for track limits which would have put us P9, so I started P12. I had the fastest final sector in qualifying which I was pretty pleased with. The opening race was a bit of struggle as I was driving with a bit of an injury to my hand, which didn’t help, and I ended up going backwards.
“My start was good for race two, considering I was starting on the wet side of the track. I made up a couple of places at the start, and then got down to Vale and the car in front braked a lot earlier than I was expecting, so I had to come out wide to avoid it and try to get past but ended up on the damp side of the track. That meant I understeered a bit clipped it, and then ended up spinning round, so that wasn’t an ideal start the race.
“I had to recover and got one place back and brought the car home in one piece. It was tricky as there was only one dry line and wet everywhere else, plus a few corners were still a bit damp. It’s not been the easiest time with the injury, but I still did a lot of learning and gained a lot of experience to take to the next round.”
