Second GB4 Victory Of Season Plus Lap Record For Megan Gilkes At Donington GP
Canada’s Megan Gilkes raced to her second GB4 Championship partnered by the BRDC victory at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday, 29th May, with a tremendous performance in round 11 of the season for the Hillspeed team – the Markham Vale squad also topping the team standings.
Having charged to her maiden GB4 pole position with her second fastest time in qualifying on Saturday, 28th May, the former W Series race winner slipped to second at the start of race two but hit back on lap four and dominated thereafter – winning by five seconds and setting the lap record.
Racing to seventh position in the weekend’s opening race, round 10, on Saturday afternoon, Gilkes added eighth place in the concluding round 12 from 12th on the grid and once again set the fastest lap of the race.
Team-mate Max Marzorati was just 0.3 seconds shy of a maiden GB4 victory in race one, taking second place and his sixth podium of the year, and just missed out on another podium in the second encounter on Sunday morning. In race three, Marzorati charged through the order into fourth place from 10th on the grid, missing the podium by just half a second, and remains second in the title race.
In the sister GB3 Championship partnered by the BRDC, Nick Gilkes faced an incredibly challenging series of races at Hillspeed’s home track after a steering part failure in qualifying meant back of the grid starts for each contest. Storming into the top 15 in round seven, before contact led to retirement, in round eight he raced to 18th in a rebuilt car and in round nine starred to finish 12th.
“Everybody has gone away very happy – a win for Megan and the GB4 lap record, another podium for Max, we lead the GB4 Team Championship and Nick battled well in GB3”, said Hillspeed team principal Richard Ollerenshaw, “Megan has got some speed, she was impressive, but Max’s weekend was comprised as he ran all three races on a pair of tyres after a flat spot in qualifying. He did well.
“Nick had a challenging weekend but he responded impressively. As we went out for qualifying a steering component failed, but the guys did a fantastic job to get him out with time for one flying lap. In the first race he was hit and it caused huge damage, so the team had to do a full rebuild of the car – new engine and airbox, gearbox. We started at 6.30pm on Saturday evening and were still there at 2.30am on Sunday morning. I’m really very proud of Hillspeed and all we delivered.”
Strong trophy haul in GB4 for Hillspeed on home ground
Megan Gilkes was so close to topping qualifying in GB4 for the first time on Saturday, just pipped in the final minute by a mere 0.012 seconds. On second best times though, setting the grid for race two, she did indeed secure a maiden category pole with a time of 1m29.692 seconds (99.83mph).
Team-mate Marzorati ensured both Hillspeed cars would start on the first two rows for round 10 after moving back up into fourth on his last lap of the session, a time of 1m29.829 seconds (99.68mph). On second best times he secured fifth place on the grid for round 11.
Making a great start to Saturday’s encounter, Marzorati passed Gilkes for third and duly moved into second out of Redgate into Hollywood. Just behind, Gilkes challenged successfully for third at Craner Curves and into lap two the Hillspeed pair were line astern. At the end of the second tour, though, Gilkes was bundled back to fifth and on lap four she slipped to sixth at Melbourne Hairpin.
Marzorati came under increasing pressure from Alex Walker but he repelled his rival expertly. As the race entered its closing stages he dropped Walker and closed on race leader Nikolas Taylor. Pushing hard on the final lap, Marzorati was just 0.3 seconds shy of victory on lap 12. Gilkes fought hard as part of a three-car battle over fourth, but was pipped on the run to the flag and so took seventh.
Lining-up on pole for round 11 on Sunday morning, Gilkes slipped to second into Redgate but stayed with leader Taylor and pressured immediately. On lap four Taylor took too much kerb at the Fogarty Esses, which enabled Gilkes to challenge and pass into Melbourne Hairpin. Dominating thereafter, Gilkes was imperious – setting the fastest lap of 1m29.666 seconds and winning by five seconds.
From the third row of the grid, Marzorati moved up into fourth off the start but was elbowed back to fifth at McLeans. Regaining fourth on lap two, he initially stayed within half a second of the podium placings but latterly had to pay more attention to the advancing Jarrod Waberski. Maintaining fourth to the flag on lap 12, Marzorati chalked up more important championship points.
Beginning the reverse grid race, round 12, from 10th and 12th respectively, Marzorati and Gilkes both made progress on lap one with the former scything through to seventh and Gilkes running in 11th place. Moving into the top six by the start of lap three, Marzorati leapt into fourth soon after with a great performance and concluded the race just 0.5 seconds shy of the podium.
Gilkes’ pace was again very impressive, ultimately setting the fastest lap for the second race in succession with a time of 1m30.109 seconds. After moving into the top 10 on lap two, Gilkes took an eventual result of eighth position.
Nick Gilkes delivers impressive race drives from back of grid in GB3
Having prepared well during two days of official testing, Nick Gilkes’ hopes in qualifying were dashed almost immediately when a steering component on his GB3 car failed and he had to return to the pits. Impressively, the Hillspeed mechanics repaired the car and managed to get Gilkes back out in the session for a single flying lap before the flag fell – he had to settle for 22nd on the grid.
With a tall order ahead in round seven on Saturday afternoon, Gilkes rose to the challenge and made great progress on a chaotic opening lap into 17th place. Gaining two more positions the next time around, a strong finish looked in prospect but on lap nine, as he headed into Goddards, contact from a rival caused significant damage to the Hillspeed car and a vexing retirement was instantaneous.
Following a Herculean effort by Hillspeed overnight into the small hours of Sunday, Gilkes lined-up for round eight with a freshly rebuilt car which ran faultlessly. Gaining one place on the opening lap to climb into 21st, by the midway point of the race a six-car train had developed behind 15th and Gilkes was lapping faster than five of the cars ahead.
Then, on lap nine, Gilkes served up a great cut back on Tommy Smith through Redgate and ran wheel-to-wheel down the daunting Craner Curves, sealing 20th place with a terrific move into the Old Hairpin. Gilkes wasn’t done there either, gaining another position on the 12th and final tour and actually finishing in 18th position due to a time penalty for Branden Oxley.
Due to not meeting the required qualification cut-off time on Saturday after the steering damage, Gilkes wasn’t able to benefit from the ‘reverse grid’ for round nine and so again had a long race ahead from 22nd place.
Driving impressively and with a very cool head, as a number of others made mistakes or became caught-up in unnecessary dramas, Gilkes made great progress through the order. During the second half of the race he gained positions almost lap by lap, eventually taking the chequered flag on lap 12 in an excellent 13th position – post race becoming 12th due to a time penalty for a rival.
Megan Gilkes – Hillspeed GB4 Driver:
“In the first race of the weekend I struggled with my start a bit and I knew that was something I needed to work on. I didn’t actually lose quite as much on that start [race two], we managed to get it a little bit better. Nik [Taylor] made a bit of a mistake in the chicane and I was able to get alongside going into the hairpin, took the lead and never looked back. Thank you so much to Quattro Group for their support, without them I wouldn’t be racing this weekend. Every race I win, for me, is special but this one is extra special because I qualified up there, put myself up there with a good qualifying.”
Max Marzorati – Hillspeed GB4 Driver:
“Race one was so much fun. I was so down after quali and it was like we were only two tenths off pole – under that – and I was really upset as I thought we had the pace to try and push for a pole this weekend. We got Megan at the start, then [Alex] Walker as he was battling [Nikolas] Taylor, and then it was about not being overly defensive when Walker was trying to get by. If there was one more lap we might have been able to have him [Taylor]!”
Hillspeed will be back in action four weeks from now with GB3 and GB4 resuming their respective seasons at Snetterton 300 Circuit in Norfolk, over the weekend 25th/26th June.
2022 GB4 Championship – Driver Standings (after Rd12)
2nd Max Marzorati, 257pts; 6th Megan Gilkes, 198pts
2022 GB4 Championship – Team Standings (after Rd12)
1st Hillspeed, 455pts
2022 GB3 Championship – Driver Standings (after Rd9)
14th Nick Gilkes, 65pts
2022 GB3 Championship – Team Standings (after Rd9)
9th Hillspeed, 65pts
