Lucas Blakeley starts his GB4 return by topping pre-event Snetterton test

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Esports star Lucas Blakeley was fastest for KMR Sport in GB4’s two-day test ahead of this weekend’s round at Snetterton.

Blakeley, making his first GB4 appearance since racing for the team at the Donington Park season finale last year, topped Friday’s final two sessions to lead Fortec Motorsports’ points leader Linus Granfors and Elite Motorsport’s Alisha Palmowski.

Palmowski topped all three sessions on Thursday to edge Blakeley by 0.007 seconds. She posted a 1m49.535s to end session one 0.7s ahead of Granfors, with Blakeley third.

Laptimes wereslower in session two, with Palmowski leading once more from Blakeley and Granfors. The top three was the same in session three, with Blakeley recording a new benchmark of 1m49.249s before being denied by Palmowski’s final effort of 1m49.242s. Palmowski’s team-mate Finn Harrison was just under a second off the pace in fourth.

Granfors lowered the time to beat by 0.1s in the closing stages of session four on Friday, but Harrison snatched top spot by 0.03s as the chequered flag fell with a 1m49.083s. Palmowski was third while Blakeley was beaten to fourth by team-mate Harry Burgoyne Jr.

Harrison was the only driver not to improve in session five and was shuffled back to sixth in the overall classification. Blakeley knocked 0.7s off Harrison’s benchmark by posting a 1m48.365s at the halfway stage before finding a further 0.14s and improving again to 1m48.160s on his penultimate lap to finish 0.138s clear of Granfors.

A late effort left Palmowski just 0.02s further adrift, with Burgoyne and Graham Brunton Racing’s Callum Baxter also making late improvements to fourth and fifth.

Despite not lowering his pace any further, Blakeley dominated the second half of session six to end up 0.367s clear of Baxter, who set a personal best late on to end testing in fourth overall. He was behind Granfors and Palmowski, who both did not improve in the final session. Harrison did go quicker but ended 0.003s shy of Burgoyne in sixth.

Testing results