Fox Motorsport’s Archie Bullard has demonstrated a big step forward in performance during the two days of testing at Oulton Park, as he continues his rookie campaign in single-seaters.
The 19-year-old secured a best position of 15th across the two days, and for the first time in his GB4 career, he was also within two seconds of the fastest lap times in each session.
“Since we were last here at the official test, it’s been another big improvement,” he said. “I was about P24 or P25 [in the official test], and I’ve been mingling around the top 15 now. It’s been good, a few unlucky bits, a disaster yesterday, but we got it all fixed and we are looking good for qualifying.”
Bullard spun into the gravel in session three of Thursday’s testing, ruling him out of the fourth session of the day too. He had set times good enough for 15th and 16th respectively in the first two sessions, averaging roughly 1.6 seconds off the pace.
He returned to action on Friday and picked up where he left off, ending the first session 18th and 1.757 seconds off the fastest time, set by Alex O’Grady of KMR Sport. Bullard explained how he has been able to make so much progress since the first round at Silverstone.
“It is all just mental work and actually believing that I can be quick,” he said. “At the start it is quite daunting jumping in a GB4 car and compete against more experienced drivers. It’s quite hard coming from rentals [karting] but I think I can mingle in the top 15.”
“I have a few things to work on, but it’s easily fixed overnight, it’s not going to take weeks and weeks to fix. We’re looking good and aiming for a good result.”
Bullard will look to continue his strong start to the weekend tomorrow, with the slightly extended 20-minute qualifying session due to commence at 11.05. The first race is set to begin at 15.00, and the Briton is excited to race around Oulton Park.
“I’ve been briefed about how tight and close the wheel-to-wheel racing gets around here,” he said. “I like getting wheel-to-wheel with other drivers, but it’s a whole different kettle of fish in single-seaters [than karting]. You can’t wheel-bang or anything like that, but I’m just looking forward to it.”
