Ary Bansal becomes GB4 champion as Juncos wins season finale

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Elite Motorsport’s Ary Bansal clinched the GB4 title in the final race of the season at Donington Park, while Leandro Juncos claimed a maiden win.

In a deciding contest rescheduled from the previous round at Brands Hatch, Juncos led home his team-mate Daniel Guinchard for a Hillspeed one-two, while third was enough for Bansal to become champion.

Pace Performance’s Stefan Bostandjiev led away from pole at the start, as Juncos moved ahead of Fortec Motorsports’ Jack Taylor into second. Taylor locked up and ran wide into Redgate, losing further ground to Alex O’Grady and Dayton Coulthard.

Juncos challenged Bostandjiev further around the lap through Macleans and Coppice, and O’Grady made it a three-wide battle for the lead into Fogarty. Juncos prevailed to move ahead, while Bostandjiev and O’Grady both missed the corner – the latter tumbling down the order with front wing damage.

Bostandjiev held off Taylor for second after rejoining, but there pair then collided into Old Hairpin on lap two, with Taylor’s car ending upside down in the gravel trap. That resulted in the safety car being deployed, and racing resumed with nine minutes remaining.

Guinchard eventually snatched second from Coulthard, and applied pressure on Juncos for the final two laps but could not find a way by, ending the season third in the standings despite leading the way at the beginning of the weekend.

Bansal demoted Coulthard to fourth before the finish, while Phelps also missed out on the title by finishing fifth – though he pipped Guinchard to runner-up spot.

Arden’s Leon Wilson was sixth ahead of Thomas Ingram Hill and Jason Pribyl, while Alex Kattoulas survived an early collision before coming home ninth.

Fortec’s Lucas Magnussen was 10th ahead of Josh McLean and Ava Dobson, who ended the season as the top female driver in the championship to earn a €50,000 prize fund towards an F1 Academy drive next year.

Race results (10 laps)