Phelps leads Elite Motorsport 1-2 in GB4 pre-event testing at Snetterton

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Isaac Phelps edged out his Elite Motorsport team-mate Ary Bansal to the fastest time in GB4’s two-day pre-event test at Snetterton.

Phelps set a test-topping 1m48.206s on day one, with Bansal closing to within 0.04 seconds during Friday’s final session.

Both drivers began their Snetterton preparations early, as Elite, Hillspeed and Pace Performance tested privately on Wednesday. Phelps was fastest with a 1m48.309s, and was 0.078s ahead of Hillspeed’s championship leader Daniel Guinchard.

Pre-event testing started on Thursday, with Douglas Motorsport’s Luke Hilton setting an early best of 1m49.812s. Bansal and Phelps also led briefly before Hilton improved twice to top the timesheet by 0.269s with a 1m49.066s. Phelps was second, followed by Fortec Motorsports’ Thomas Ingram Hill, while Bansal and Guinchard were separated by just 0.001s.

Guinchard hit back with the best time of session two, his 1m49.323s provisionally moving him to second in the overall classification. 

Having been unable to better his session one time, Hilton was shuffled back to third overall during Thursday’s final session. Bansal and Phelps took it in turns to lower the pace, with the latter setting a 1m48.206s to be quickest by 0.058s, while Alex Kattoulas also improved to be the third Elite driver in the top four.

Phelps was quickest again in sessions four and five on Friday but was a second off his Thursday benchmark. Douglas’s Enzo Hallmann was just 0.006s behind him in session four, the Swede climbing to fifth overall ahead of Guinchard who also posted a new personal best. Arden’s Leon Wilson, Fortec’s Jack Taylor and Hillspeed’s Leandro Juncos also found time to climb into the top 10.

Bansal topped the sixth and final session, having been one of 15 drivers to set a new personal best. He knocked 0.018s off his previous fastest lap to slightly close the gap to Phelps, who remained quickest overall despite being the only driver in the top 10 to not improve.

Ingram Hill remained third overall ahead of Kattoulas, while KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady surged up to fifth. Guinchard slipped to eighth behind Hilton and Taylor. Less than a second separated the top 11 drivers.

Karting graduate Dudley Ruddock was 21st for Arden ahead of his car racing debut, and there will be another new face on the grid at Snetterton: Flame Airikkala, granddaughter of British Rally champion and 1989 RAC Rally winner Pentti Airikkala, will make her series bow with Pace Performance. 

The 18-year-old began her career in the 2023 Fiesta Junior championship before making her first single-seater starts in Formula Nordic last year. The Anglo-Finnish racer has taken part in a number of GB4’s test days in recent months, and ended this week’s test one place behind Ruddock.

Fortec will be without Luca Magnussen this weekend as the 15-year-old is recovering from emergency surgery.

Test results