Home Formula 4GB4 Mills wins heavily-disrupted GB4 race two at Oulton Park

Mills wins heavily-disrupted GB4 race two at Oulton Park

by Steve Whitfield

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Tom Mills won from pole in a rain-soaked second GB4 race which featured only three green flag laps at Oulton Park.

The KMR Sport driver resisted a final lap safety car restart to finish 2.246 seconds ahead of Fox Motorsport’s Liam McNeilly, with Elite Motorsport’s Josh Irfan completing the podium.

The track was already wet for the start, with the arrival of another shower as the cars commenced their formation laps making conditions even more treacherous.

Mills had the front row to himself after Evans GP’s Cooper Webster pulled into the pitlane with an issue before the start. McNeilly slotted into the second off the line behind Mills, as Colin Queen resisted a challenge from Irfan into Old Hall to retain third.

But Queen came to grief before the opening lap was completed, losing control on the entry to Druids before sliding into the barriers. That resulted in the first of two safety car periods, during which the rain became torrential.

At the restart race one winner Jeremy Fairbairn, who was attempting to recover from a poor start, collided at Old Hall with Fox’s Sid Smith, who retired after hitting the barriers. That quickly resulted in the second safety car intervention, following which there was only time for one more racing lap.

Mills pulled clear of McNeilly once the green flags were waved, while Irfan held off team-mate Harri Reynolds for third by 0.3s. Harry Burgoyne Jr was fifth for Graham Brunton Racing ahead of Fairbairn, who finished the race missing his front wing.

Aditya Kulkarni was seventh for Fortec, while privateer Dylan Hotchin held off Oldfield Motorsport’s Jason Conzo for eighth, the pair both having recovered from excursions across the grass in the greasy conditions.

KMR’s Jack Clifford slipped back from sixth to tenth with a spin on the final lap, while Webster returned to the race and finished 11th.

Race result (7 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Tom Mills KMR Sport 18m13.574s
2 Liam McNeilly Fox Motorsport +2.246s
3 Josh Irfan Elite Motorsport +5.888s
4 Harri Reynolds Elite Motorsport +6.166s
5 Harry Burgoyne Jr Graham Brunton Racing +11.402s
6 Jeremy Fairbairn KMR Sport +13.444s
7 Aditya Kulkarni Fortec Motorsports +14.929s
8 Dylan Hotchin Dylan Hotchin Racing +16.093s
9 Jason Conzo Oldfield Motorsport +18.592s
10 Jack Clifford KMR Sport +21.607s
11 Cooper Webster Evans GP +1 lap
Ret Ruhaan Alva Fortec Motorsports
Ret Sid Smith Fox Motorsport
Ret Colin Queen Fortec Motorsports
DNS Thomas Lee Evans GP
Fastest lap: Mills, 1m53.404s

Championship standings
1 Mills 64   2 Fairbairn 52   3 McNeilly 46   4 Irfan 43   5 Webster 34   6 Reynolds 32   7 Burgoyne 31   8 Kulkarni 25   9 Clifford 24   10 Queen 21