Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Isaac Phelps boosted his GB4 title ambitions by taking two poles in the final qualifying session of the season at Donington Park.
The Elite Motorsport driver was over 0.2 seconds quicker than chief rival and championship leader Daniel Guinchard, who will start alongside him in both races one and two.
Phelps also topped the two-day pre-event test, setting a best time of 1m28.381s on Thursday, with rain preventing anybody from challenging his time on day two.
KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady denied Phelps in session one with a late effort of 1m28.887s. The latter responded with two improvements in the final minutes of session two to be 0.3s quicker than Arden’s Leon Wilson, who led session three with a 1m28.727s – edging out Guinchard by just 0.003s.
Phelps, Guinchard and fellow title protagonist Ary Bansal topped a session each on Friday.
Esports star Lucas Blakeley – a three-time race winner in GB4’s previous-generation car last season – also shone in testing after confirming a championship return this weekend with Douglas Motorsport.
Guinchard led the early stages of Saturday’s wet and windy qualifying with a 1m41.770s before the red flags were shown due to KMR Sport’s Lily May Watkins coming to a halt a Goddards bend.
Despite the persistent rain, Phelps eclipsed Guinchard’s benchmark by registering a 1m41.131s with three minutes remaining, with Blakeley and Bansal surging up to second and third. Guinchard soon reclaimed top spot by 0.139s, but Phelps responded with a 1m40.757s to snatch race one pole as the chequered flag fell.
Wilson pipped Blakeley to third by 0.1s, with Leandro Juncos, Dayton Coulthard and O’Grady close behind. Phelps’ second-best laptime was good enough to also beat Guinchard to race two pole, with Wilson third ahead of Juncos, O’Grady and Blakeley.
Two drivers are making their GB4 debuts this weekend. Karting star Lewis Wherrell is racing for KMR Sport, and qualified eighth for race two. He is replacing Megan Bruce due to her taking up the opportunity to debut in F1 Academy this weekend in Singapore. John O’Donnell, who has previous F4 experience in the USA, has joined Pace Performance at Donington.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Isaac Phelps Elite Motorsport 1m40.757s
2 Daniel Guinchard Hillspeed +0.235s
3 Leon Wilson Arden +0.443s
4 Lucas Blakeley Douglas Motorsport +0.544s
5 Leandro Juncos Hillspeed +0.598s
6 Dayton Coulthard Douglas Motorsport +0.695s
7 Alex O’Grady KMR Sport + 0.704s
8 Jack Taylor Fortec Motorsports + 0.851s
9 Ary Bansal Elite Motorsport +0.955s
10 Thomas Ingram Hill Fortec Motorsports +0.964s
Race 2 grid
1 Phelps 1m40.964s
2 Guinchard +0.267s
3 Wilson +0.413s
4 Juncos +0.601s
5 O’Grady +0.603s
6 Blakeley +0.706s
7 Bansal +0.771s
8 Lewis Wherrell Pace Performance +0.844s
9 Jason Pribyl ADM +0.950s
10 Taylor +0.952s