Fortec Motorsport enjoyed its strongest round of the 2023 GB4 Championship season so far, claiming four podium finishes at a sun-soaked Donington Park this weekend [27-28 May].
After making two trips to the rostrum in MSV’s entry-level Formula 4 series last time out at Silverstone GP, the Daventry-based team made the short trip to the East Midlands in optimistic mood, and on the hunt for more silverware.
That confidence proved to be well-founded after qualifying, with US racer Colin Queen a mere tenth of a second shy of earning the team’s first outright pole of the season – he would, however, start up front on second-fastest times for Race 3.
An equally promising showing for Queen’s less-experienced team-mates, Indian talents Ruhaan Alva and Aditya Kulkarni, only fuelled the team’s optimism ahead of a bumper four-race schedule.
The first race epitomised single-seater action around Donington Park’s 2.4-mile GP layout, with Queen locked in a heated, three-way battle up front for the victory. Despite running side-by-side with his chief title rival, Tom Mills, the 18-year-old was forced to slot in for second.
He kept the pressure on race-long, but ultimately took the chequered flag a half-second shy of his maiden win in second spot. Two late excursions for Alva and Kulkarni dropped the duo back, with the former rounding out the top ten, and the latter forced to retire a lap from home.
Saturday afternoon’s second contest once again brought about silverware for the team, this time Queen rounding out the top three after an equally frenetic battle out front for the spoils.
An improved run for Alva and Kulkarni ensured the pair would take the chequered flag less than a second apart after a spirited battle to eighth and ninth respectively.
Sunday morning’s third race followed a similar theme, with Queen once again completing the podium in third. The South Californian lost out from pole after a tense first-lap battle with Mills, then dropped behind Webster after a last-lap spin.
Nonetheless, it marked a fourth podium in five races for the teenager. Alva impressed, recovering from a jump start to score a weekend-best result of sixth, with Kulkarni shadowing his team-mate once more in seventh.
It would be Kulkarni that starred in the finale, however, the youngster belying his relative lack of experience to mix it with a whole host of the championship’s top names at the front and come away with a first podium in single seaters.
A stall for Queen and contact for Alva left both bound for the pit lane, but they returned to the fray to bank valuable points in P13 and P14 respectively.
Snetterton’s 300 circuit hosts the next three rounds of the 2023 campaign on 17-18 June.
Aditya Kulkarni (#15) said:
“I enjoyed every bit of the race weekend, working from missing Thursday testing because of my exams to getting a podium in the final race! Lots of tough racing and I enjoyed it all at the end.
“I want to keep this momentum going and keep on building on the foundations that we have set. I have to thank Fortec Motorsport for helping me, James Shotton, my parents, and everyone else involved in the weekend.”
Ruhaan Alva (#27) said:
“It’s been another positive weekend for me, we’ve shown that we are making good progress on one-lap pace and over a race distance.
“I’m feeling more confident in the car every time we go out, and it’s clear that the team and I are getting faster with each weekend. Now I’m looking forward to Snetterton in two weeks to continue this.”
Colin Queen (#62) said:
“This was definitely our strongest weekend to date in the GB4 Championship, and it’s great to come away with three podiums from four races.”
“We’ve made strides forward with our one-lap pace, I think we were unlucky not to get overall pole position, it was a super-close session. To get pole for Race 3 on second-fastest times was great experience for me, even if we didn’t convert it into the win this time.”
“This weekend has probably been the first time we’ve qualified up front and enjoyed some really fierce battles for the lead all the way through, so it’s all great experience to take forward.”
“We’re running highly in the championship now heading to Snetterton, so the important thing is we keep this momentum rolling and aim for even better next time out.”
Oliver Dutton, Team Principal said:
“I’m really pleased with how this weekend has gone – to score a podium in every race is a good team effort, and on a personal note, I’m so pleased for Adi to get his first silverware in single seaters.
“Colin’s put in a tremendous shift, and some troubles in the last race definitely shouldn’t take the shine off a weekend in which he got his first pole and banked three podiums in a row. It’s a great effort, and we know that first win is coming.
“Luck hasn’t always been with Ruhaan this weekend, but he’s applied himself really well. The pace is improving every single time he gets in the car, and had a few things played out differently, I think he’d be leaving here with silverware too. That’s how it goes, sometimes.
“All in all, a very positive weekend, and we’re all looking forward to building on it at Snetterton.”
