Home Formula 4GB4 McNeilly wins Donington GB4 reversed-grid race

McNeilly wins Donington GB4 reversed-grid race

by Steve Whitfield

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Fox Motorsport’s Liam McNeilly resisted a late charge from Cooper Webster to take his second GB4 victory in the final race of the weekend at Donington Park. 

McNeilly climbed from eighth on the grid to finish 0.432 seconds ahead of Evans GP’s Webster who rose from 11th to take his fourth second place of the weekend.

Graham Brunton Racing’s Harry Burgoyne led the first few laps from reversed-grid pole before Kevin Mills Racing driver Jeremy Fairbairn moved ahead and pulled clear.

Burgoyne fended off a train of cars behind, but his resistance was finally broken at Old Hairpin when he lost out to McNeilly, Aditya Kulkarni and Webster.

McNeilly eradicated a 1.5s deficit to Fairbairn before snatching the lead by making a better exit from Old Hairpin.

Having passed Fortec Motorsports’ Kulkarni, Webster soon took second away from Fairbairn at Redgate and then started to close in on McNeilly.

By the last lap the front two were nose to tail, but McNeilly remained ahead until the finish.

Kulkarni finished third ahead of KMR’s Tom Mills, who climbed from 13th on the grid to pass Burgoyne for fourth in the closing stages.

Fairbairn slipped back to sixth ahead of Fox’s Sid Smith, who ran second in the early stages before fading.

Evans GP’s Kai Daryanani was eighth ahead of KMR’s Jack Clifford, while a late spin dropped Elite Motorsport’s Josh Irfan three places to 10th.

Irfan’s team-mate Harri Reynolds was a distant 11th after an opening lap spin. Fortec duo Colin Queen and Ruhaan Alva also hit trouble, Queen losing a lap after stalling at the start and Alva forced to pit early on with a damaged front wing.

Race result (13 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Liam McNeilly Fox Motorsport 19m29.026s
2 Cooper Webster Evans GP +0.432s
3 Aditya Kulkarni Fortec Motorsports +4.985s
4 Tom Mills KMR Sport +5.478s
5 Harry Burgoyne Graham Brunton Racing +7.179s
6 Jeremy Fairbairn KMR Sport +12.684s
7 Sid Smith Fox Motorsport +14.852s
8 Kai Daryanani Evans GP +15.347s
9 Jack Clifford KMR Sport +15.516s
10 Josh Irfan Elite Motorsport +26.545s
11 Harri Reynolds Elite Motorsport +43.452s
12 Thomas Lee Evans GP +51.499s
13 Colin Queen Fortec Motorsports +1 lap
14 Ruhaan Alva Fortec Motorsports +2 laps
Ret Dylan Hotchin
Fastest lap: Mills, 1m28.111s

Championship standings
Mills 266   2 Webster 183   3 McNeilly 180   4 Queen 166   5 Fairbairn 153   6 Reynolds 125   7 Burgoyne 109   8 Kulkarni 97   9 Alva 93   10 Clifford 92