Brands Hatch weekend talking points

Brands Hatch weekend talking points

14 September 2022

The Brands Hatch weekend may well have been the turning point in the race to become the inaugural GB4 champion, with Nikolas Taylor extending his lead at the top of the standings. But there were stories up and down the grid, and here’s just some you may not have noticed from our weekend in the ‘Garden of England’.

A five-way battle for the driver’s championship looms at the Donington Decider – and it’ll all be decided on the last day of the season!GB4 podium

Nikolas Taylor and Max Marzorati are still the favourites, but with 105-points still up for grabs at Donington Park, the first ever GB4 season will come down to a final day showdown! As well as the lead two, Jarrod Waberski, Tom Mills and Jack Sherwood are still mathematically in contention, and with 35 points available in each race, Taylor cannot build an unassailable lead until the Sunday, meaning the outcome of the GB4 title can only be determined on the final day of the season. You’d better grow those nails a little, because you’ll have none left by 16 October!

Grant’s best finish and weekend points score
Chloe Grant
Graham Brunton Racing’s Chloe Grant arrived at Brands Hatch riding the crest of a wave having made the final four of the FIA Girls on Track Rising Stars programme a few weeks ago. But signs at the start of the weekend didn’t suggest she was about to take her best result of the year, as she encountered troubles in practice. Her team worked wonders to get the car sorted, and Grant rewarded those efforts by landing a fourth place in race two, her best result of the seasons so far. She backed that up with fifth in race three having run inside the podium positions for much of the race, with those results contributing to her weekend score of 47 points, her biggest haul yet. The results continue an upward trend for Grant, and she’s now just six points behind teammate Logan Hannah. The intra-team battle at the Donington finale should be enthralling!

More weekend best scoresJessica Edgar

It wasn’t only Grant that earned a seasons-best points haul at Brands Hatch, with Jessica Edgar and Jack Sherwood also earning their biggest scores of the season. Fortec’s Edgar matched Grant’s tally of 47 points courtesy of two top-five finishes and a seventh place, while Elite’s Sherwood demonstrated his progress by standing on the podium in all three races in Kent, including his second win of the year in race three. He banked a massive 76 points, a tally only bettered four other times in 2022.

Taylor scoops another major honour

Nikolas Taylor’s seventh and eighth pole positions of the year meant he put the George Russell Pole Position Cup out of reach of his rivals, and he’ll take home the end of year £1,000 prize at Donington Park. That’s in addition to the £1,000 he’s already earned for his pole positions this year (£125 per pole), with £250 still up for grabs in the last qualifying session of the year, courtesy of award founder John Cavill.

Biggest championship lead of the year for TaylorNikolas Taylor wins

And to think after race one, there was a tie at the top of the standings following Taylor’s retirement. After the Anglo-Malaysian slid out of contention, both he and Max Marzorati had 415 points with five races remaining, but as he so often does, Taylor came back fighting and won the next race, before taking second place in the finale. All of a sudden, he has a 31-point lead at the top, the biggest margin he’s enjoyed all season, but with 105 points still up for grabs at Donington, there’s still plenty to fight for…

Mills becomes GB4’s super eighthTom Mills

Tom Mills’ long-awaited first victory in the opening contest means he’s now the eighth different driver to have won a race in the inaugural GB4 season. His triumph, earned with one of the moves of the season on the Grand Prix loop, means he joins Taylor, Sherwood, teammate Jarrod Waberski, Megan Gilkes, Alex Walker, Logan Hannah and Lucas Romanek as a GB4 race winner. With just three races remaining this year, there’s still a chance the winners’ list could extend into double figures!

Taylor now tops every major statNikolas Taylor

Most points? Yep! Most podiums? Of course. More laps led than any other driver? Check. Most fastest laps? Easy. Wins, pole positions, you name the stat, Taylor tops it. But it was only at Brands Hatch, when he made up six places in the final race, did he move to the top of the race three places gained chart too…

Teams battle tightensKevin Mills Racing Hillspeed

Hillspeed has headed the GB4 Team’s Championship for much of the second half of the season, as the mightily impressive Max Marzorati and Megan Gilkes, with some Silverstone help from Marcus Short too, have constantly racked up big points scores. But a more difficult weekend than usual for the Derbyshire team, combined with 100-plus points hauls for Kevin Mills Racing and Fortec means just 20 points separate the lead three teams, with only five points between Hillspeed and KMR at the top. The battle for honours at Donington is going to be very, very interesting!

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