Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady climbed from seventh to take a maiden GB4 victory at Oulton Park after a pre-race rain shower turned the form book on its head.
With the weather changing within minutes of the start, some drivers opted for slick tyres while others switched to wets.
O’Grady was the highest-placed driver on the grid to fit wets, and it took him just two corners to move into the lead before pulling seven seconds clear.
Hillspeed’s polesitter Daniel Guinchard tumbled to 18th, while Elite Motorsport’s fellow slick runners Alex Kattoulas and Ary Bansal briefly squabbled for the lead before slipping down the order as well.
Fortec Motorsports’ Luca Magnussen gained nine places to second on the opening lap ahead of Pace Performance’s Stefan Bostandjiev, KMR’s Megan Bruce and Douglas Motorsport’s Enzo Hallman, the quartet scything through the field on wet tyres.
Bruce, who started the race in 20th, swept around the outside of Bostandjiev into third on lap two before the safety car was deployed – due to Douglas’s Dayton Coulthard and Hillspeed’s Leandro Juncos both sliding off the road and becoming beached in the gravel.
There was only enough time left for three more green flag laps once the safety car was withdrawn. O’Grady edged away once more before taking the chequered flag 2.5s ahead of Magnussen, who scored his first car racing podium.
Hallman passed Bostandjiev shortly after the restart, and then snatched third from Bruce at the beginning of the final lap.
Pace’s Josh McLean came from 21st to finish sixth ahead of Arden duo Leon Wilson and Ava Dobson, while Fox Motorsport’s Holly Miall and KMR’s Lily Watkins both made up 13 places to ninth and 10th respectively.
Graham Brunton Racing’s Alex Berg was the highest finisher on slicks in 11th, one place ahead of his team-mate Callum Baxter. Guinchard came home 13th, while Kattoulas initially recovered into the top 10 before going off late on and tumbled to 15th.
Race results (8 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex O’Grady | KMR Sport | 17m12.082s |
| 2 | Luca Magnussen | Fortec Motorsports | +2.506s |
| 3 | Enzo Hallman | Douglas Motorsport | +4.151s |
| 4 | Megan Bruce | KMR Sport | +5.187s |
| 5 | Stefan Bostandjiev | Pace Performance | +8.466s |
| 6 | Josh McLean | Pace Performance | +16.201s |
| 7 | Leon Wilson | Arden | +16.675s |
| 8 | Ava Dobson | Arden | +17.470s |
| 9 | Holly Miall | Fox Motorsport | +26.883s |
| 10 | Lily-May Watkins | KMR Sport | +28.085s |
| 11 | Alex Berg | Graham Brunton Racing | +39.509s |
| 12 | Callum Baxter | Graham Brunton Racing | +42.123s |
| 13 | Daniel Guinchard | Hillspeed | +42.623s |
| 14 | Caitlyn McDaniel | Fox Motorsport | +42.827s |
| 15 | Alex Kattoulas | Elite Motorsport | +46.938s |
| 16 | Ary Bansal | Elite Motorsport | +50.259s |
| 17 | Isaac Phelps | Elite Motorsport | +51.218s |
| 18 | Mayer Deonarine | Graham Brunton Racing | +51.494s |
| 19 | Luke Hilton | Douglas Motorsport | +53.335s |
| 20 | Jason Pribyl | ADM | +55.607s |
| 21 | Thomas Ingram-Hill | Fortec Motorsports | +1m21.226s |
| 22 | Jack Taylor | Fortec Motorsports | +1 lap |
| Ret | Dayton Coulthard | Douglas Motorsport | |
| Ret | Leandro Juncos | Hillspeed | |
| Fastest lap: Taylor, 1m49.198s
Championship standings |
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