Fortec’s Nikolas Taylor claimed his fifth GB4 Championship win of the season in the first race of the weekend at Snetterton.
The British-Malaysian driver secured pole position in qualifying this morning, which he converted into a lights to flag win, extending his championship advantage as a result.
Qualifying
Taylor earned a double pole position in the 18-minute qualifying session after a convincing performance in Norfolk. His overall best time was a quarter of a second clear of Kevin Mills Racing’s Tom Mills with fellow KMR-runner Jarrod Waberski third and 0.046s further behind.
Title challenger Max Marzorati was the lead Hillspeed qualifier in fourth, three tenths of a second away from pole and a couple of tenths clear of teammate Megan Gilkes, with Elite’s Jack Sherwood completing the top-six.
Taylor’s second best time earned him pole for race two also, this time with Waberski second and Mills third, with just a thousandth of a second separating the KMR pair.
Race one
Taylor made a strong start to lead the field down to Riches on the first lap, while behind, Mills fended off a challenge from teammate Waberski, with the pair going wheel-to-wheel through the first corner.
Once free of the attentions of the South African, Mills was able to get into the slipstream of the race leader, but his challenge was hit by a 10 second penalty for an out of position start.
Despite the early challenge, Taylor was able to pull out a small lead and took the chequered flag 1.5 seconds ahead, but the penalty dropped Mills from second to sixth, promoting Waberski and Sherwood to the podium positions, with Marzorati and Gilkes completing the top-five.
Behind the reclassified Mills came the battling Graham Brunton Racing duo of Chloe Grant and Logan Hannah, who swapped positions on several laps before Grant claimed seventh, her best result of the season so far.
Race one winner Taylor said: “Quali was amazing and the car’s been great. I just wanted to get a good start and lead into turn one, which is what I did. After that I tried to control it, I made a few mistakes but I’m sure I’ll clean those up for tomorrow.
“As long as I get a good start I think we can do this again tomorrow. Anyone can challenge, in testing everyone was so close but in quali I really nailed that lap. But anyone could challenge me tomorrow.”
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Snetterton qualifying top-six:
1. Nikolas Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, 1m48.549s
2. Tom Mills, Kevin Mills Racing, +0.251s
3. Jarrod Waberski, Kevin Mills Racing, +0.297s
4. Max Marzorati, Hillspeed, +0.345s
5. Megan Gilkes, Hillspeed, +0.553s
6. Jack Sherwood, Elite Motorsport, +0.637s
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GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Snetterton race one top-six:
1. Nikolas Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, 10 laps
2. Jarrod Waberski, Kevin Mills Racing, +1.856s
3. Jack Sherwood, Elite Motorsport, +2.202s
4. Max Marzorati, Hillspeed, +6.760s
5. Megan Gilkes, Hillspeed, +7.181s
6. Tom Mills, Kevin Mills Racing, +11.538s*
*10 second penalty
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GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Championship standings after race 13 of 24
1. Nikolas Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, 304pts
2. Max Marzorati, Hillspeed, 278pts
3. Jarrod Waberski, Kevin Mills Racing, 247pts
4. Alex Walker, Elite Motorsport, 244pts
5. Jack Sherwood, Elite Motorsport, 221pts
6. Megan Gilkes, Hillspeed, 217pts
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GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Teams’ Championship standings after race 13 of 24
1. Hillspeed, 495pts
2. Fortec Motorsport, 493pts
3. Elite Motorsport, 465pts
4. Kevin Mills Racing, 464pts
5. Graham Brunton Racing, 266pts
6. Valour Racing, 71pts
Click here for full standings
For more championship information, visit www.gb-4.net