Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Elite Motorsport’s Isaac Phelps was fastest in GB4’s two-day pre-event test on Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout.
Phelps was just 0.024 seconds quicker than Ajen Kraling, who is making his GB4 debut this weekend with Douglas Motorsport.
The German, who recently turned 15, only made his first car racing starts last weekend with Agenti Motorsport in British Formula 4’s overseas round at Zandvoort, taking a best result of 11th. He replaces Luke Hilton in Douglas’s three-car line-up.
Fortec Motorsports’ Thomas Ingram Hill topped all three sessions on Thursday. He led his team-mate Jack Taylor by 0.267s in session one by posting a 2m02.427s, with Hillspeed’s championship leader Daniel Guinchard a further 0.1s behind in third.
A 2m02.685s was enough for Ingram Hill to edge out Isaac Phelps by 0.059s in session two, as Taylor completed the top three.
Ingram Hill lowered the pace in session three to 2m02.124s, which was a quarter of a second quicker than Phelps and Taylor’s new personal bests. Guinchard was one of only three drivers who failed to improve and tumbled to 11th in the day’s overall classification.
While GB3’s Friday running was disrupted by rain, GB4’s final two sessions ran in the dry. Ingram Hill used the more favourable conditions to knock 0.043s of his own benchmark in session four, and he then responded to Taylor’s even faster effort by reclaiming the advantage with a 2m02.002s.
But Phelps set two fastest laps in succession inside the final 10 minutes to secure top spot ahead of Kraling and Elite team-mate Ary Bansal, while Ingram Hill was shuffled back to fourth.
Elite’s Alex Kattoulas topped the final session, having been one of many to set a new personal best. His 2m01.724s also moved him up to third in the overall classification. Despite not improving on their times from session four, Phelps and Kraling remained as the top two.
Ingram Hill set a new personal best, but remained in fourth, ahead of Bansal, Arden’s Leon Wilson, Taylor, KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady and Guinchard. All five also improved their pace in the final session.
Test results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isaac Phelps | Elite Motorsport | 2m01.575s | 51 | |
| 2 | Ajen Kraling | Douglas Motorsport | 2m01.599s | +0.024s | 52 |
| 3 | Alex Kattoulas | Elite Motorsport | 2m01.724s | +0.149s | 52 |
| 4 | Thomas Ingram Hill | Fortec Motorsports | 2m01.852s | +0.277s | 55 |
| 5 | Ary Bansal | Elite Motorsport | 2m01.894s | +0.319s | 50 |
| 6 | Leon Wilson | Arden Motorsport | 2m01.923s | +0.348s | 52 |
| 7 | Jack Taylor | Fortec Motorsports | 2m01.927s | +0.352s | 56 |
| 8 | Alex O’Grady | KMR Sport | 2m02.104s | +0.529s | 54 |
| 9 | Dan Guinchard | Hillspeed | 2m02.127s | +0.552s | 48 |
| 10 | Enzo Hallman | Douglas Motorsport | 2m02.139s | +0.564s | 55 |
| 11 | Dayton Coulthard | Douglas Motorsport | 2m02.235s | +0.660s | 55 |
| 12 | Callum Baxter | Graham Brunton Racing | 2m02.295s | +0.720s | 44 |
| 13 | Jason Pribyl | ADM | 2m02.296s | +0.721s | 54 |
| 14 | Luca Magnussen | Fortec Motorsports | 2m02.435s | +0.860s | 53 |
| 15 | Leandro Juncos | Hillspeed | 2m02.483s | +0.908s | 48 |
| 16 | Mayer Deonarine | Graham Brunton Racing | 2m02.576s | +1.001s | 46 |
| 17 | Ava Dobson | Arden | 2m02.704s | +1.129s | 51 |
| 18 | Joshua McLean | Pace Performance | 2m02.730s | +1.155s | 51 |
| 19 | Stefan Bostandjiev | Pace Performance | 2m02.804s | +1.229s | 45 |
| 20 | Megan Bruce | KMR Sport | 2m02.939s | +1.364s | 51 |
| 21 | Dudley Ruddock | Arden | 2m03.660s | +2.085s | 50 |
| 22 | Flame Airikkala | Pace Performance | 2m04.836s | +3.261s | 50 |
| 23 | Lily-May Watkins | KMR Sport | 2m04.864s | +3.289s | 48 |
| 24 | Holly Miall | Fox Motorsport | 2m04.905s | +3.330s | 54 |
| 25 | Caitlyn McDaniel | Fox Motorsport | 2m05.897s | +4.322s | 26 |