Fortec Motorsport scored a brace of podium finishes on a rain-shortened trip to Silverstone GP in the GB4 Championship last weekend [6-7 May].
Having opened its silverware account for the new season at Oulton Park over Easter weekend, the Daventry-based team made the relatively short trip to the ‘Home of British Motorsport’ looking to continue its march to the front of the grid.
And the young trio of Colin Queen, Aditya Kulkarni and Ruhaan Alva immediately acquitted themselves well around the world-famous, 3.6-mile circuit, known globally as the host venue for the British Grand Prix.
Pace in practice was then converted into a front row start for Queen, with Alva and Kulkarni firmly in the mix amongst the top ten runners. Heavy rain, however, plagued the circuit for much of Saturday afternoon, leading to the cancellation of the opening race.
In contrast, Sunday brought about bright, dry conditions. From the front row, Queen initially lost some ground off the start, but the South Californian rallied superbly, and send a bold move to the inside at Stowe to reclaim second spot.
He then set about chasing down race leader Mills but ran out of laps to make any serious headway. Kulkarni led home Alva in P11 and P14 respectively, with the pair locking out the front row for the reverse grid finale to the weekend.
It would prove to be a race punctuated by frequent safety car stoppages, but regardless, Alva was able to bring home a maiden GB4 podium in second position. Queen also rose tremendously through the order, gaining six spots to finish fourth. Kulkarni equalled his career-best result with seventh at the chequered flag.
Fortec remain third in the Teams’ Championship, just three points shy of second spot and with everything to play for when the action resumes at Donington Park, Leicestershire on 27-28 May.
View from the Cockpit
Aditya Kulkarni (#23) said:
“It’s been another positive weekend of development for me, and it’s great to get points in both races.
“I had to miss a day of testing pre-event to sit my exams, but in spite of that, I think we showed good pace and we were able to compete with a lot of far more experienced drivers.
“A huge thanks to the team for all their hard work, and I’m looking forward to getting back out in the car and continuing my development at Donington.”
Ruhaan Alva (#27) said:
“It’s crazy, it’s really nice to be here. We could have had a better race, I had a really bad launch and then I don’t know what happened, I saw a car fly over me basically, it was a bit scary at the beginning, but we were able to defend, keep fighting, and finish P2.
“Ideally it would have been P1 but Harri passed me and I just had to stick with him and hope that no one else caught me and started fighting me so then I could get a gap behind.
“Obviously I’d like to thank the big sponsors who helped me get here, my Dad, and it’s really great thing being an Indian driver being able to get podiums outside of India now.”
Colin Queen (#62) said:
““Overall, this weekend was definitely a good one. We came away with solid points, and strong finishes across both races.
“It’s unfortunate with the weather, and some safety cars, we only really ended up getting in one and a half races, but these things happen.
“Now it’s time to go away, look at how we can continue to improve and show up at Donington Park in a few weeks’ time prepared to go again.”
Oliver Dutton, Team Principal said:
“It’s never a bad weekend when you come away with silverware, and a special mention to Ruhaan. He raced superbly to get his maiden podium in race three, and it’s a fantastic marker for how he’s coming along as a driver with our development programmes.
“Colin and Adi both did a tremendous job, too. Some of the moves Colin was pulling off were absolutely textbook, and had we not had the first race cancelled because of the rain, I’m sure he’d have had two shots at winning a race this weekend.
“Adi is coming on superbly as a driver, and it was great to see him in the thick of it all weekend. We keep improving as a team across the board, and now we look ahead to Donington in three weeks.”
