- Daventry team bag double podium over Easter weekend
- First podium finish of the season for Jessica Edgar
- Nikolas Taylor adds a second piece of silverware in Cheshire
Fortec Motorsport added another brace of podium finishes in the second meeting of the 2022 GB4 Championship partnered by BRDC over the Easter weekend (16-18 April) at Oulton Park.
After a race-winning start to life in the new-for-2022 championship, the Daventry-based team entered the second visit of the season with hopes high for a repeat performance at the 2.69-mile International circuit in Cheshire.
Anglo-Malaysian teenager Nikolas Taylor was the team’s winner at Snetterton, and he once again showed his pace in testing as he led a Fortec one-two with team-mate Elias Adestam during the two days of on-track action before finishing the combined times in second overall.
That pace transferred into qualifying on Saturday morning as Taylor flew to second on the grid, finishing just over a tenth of a second behind his rival Alex Walker as he grabbed a front row spot for the first two races of the weekend. Adestam – who impressed at Oulton in pre-season testing – finished fifth with time on the table, while Fortec’s third driver Jessica Edgar was not far behind in ninth.
Saturday’s opening race later in the afternoon did not initially go to plan for the trio, both Taylor and Adestam stalling at the start although the latter regained momentum quickly enough to begin a strong recovery charge from eighth. The 16-year-old Swede fought his way up to seventh before taking team-mate Edgar at Cascades, quickly taking fifth at Knickerbrook chicane where he would stay until the finish.
Taylor’s charge was equally relentless, carving his way up the field from almost last to sixth, grabbing the final spot on the run to the line. Edgar was competitive throughout as she chased for fifth place in the first half of the race, but she lost out through the squabbling which dropped her to an unrepresentative 10th place at the chequered flag.
Attention turned to Monday, with Taylor and Adestam starting second and third respectively. The former would again be victim to a slow start as he fell from the front row to sixth place, but a swift overtake at Shell Oils Hairpin was followed by a bold move around the outside of team-mate Adestam at Lodge corner to end lap one in fourth place.
Taylor’s charge continued as he relentlessly looked for a way around Max Marzorati for the final spot on the podium, eventually sneaking by his man at Island bend to put a Fortec car on the podium. Behind them, Adestam was victim to a lunge at the hairpin from Jack Sherwood as contact put him into a spin, but the Swede recovered brilliantly to seventh place.
Edgar had her chance to shine in the final race of the day from a front row starting position, and she made best of that opportunity with a superb drive after maintaining second spot off the line.
The 17-year-old from Cumbria settled into her position, and gapped a fierce battle for third to ensure all three Fortec drivers have secured a podium finish after just two meetings. Adestam tried everything in his locker to join his team-mate on the rostrum, but could not quite usurp Marzorati from third, finishing fourth ahead of a battling Taylor who brilliantly rounded Walker at Lodge corner late on to put all five Fortec cars into the top five.
Fortec Motorsport sit third and 18 points from the lead of the Teams’ Championship after a double podium in Cheshire, next heading to Silverstone GP circuit on 7-8 May.
Oliver Dutton, Team Manager said:
“The pace has been there all weekend from the three drivers, so to come away with podium finishes was important. Nikolas and Elias were rapid throughout testing and I think knew they were capable of wins this weekend, but we’ve been impressed with them once again as rookies. For Jessica, getting that first podium on the board was fantastic and will no doubt give her that confidence she needs to add more to her name this year.”
#8 Elias Adestam
“We were very quick here in pre-season and then in testing it looked like we would be right up there on the pace. The Fortec team has been amazing and we all had pace this weekend. In race one I had a problem at the start but it put me into a recovery drive which was quite nice. The potential was there, but in race two we lost out in traffic. Overall, we could have had a win, and Fortec have done a great job again.”
#17 Jessica Edgar
“I’m really happy to be on the podium and for the first time this season, so hopefully we can go and push on to get some more. I think that now I know I can do it, I can achieve more for the rest of the season.”
#66 Nikolas Taylor
“The pace is there but now I need to work on my starts. I’m not as experienced, but Monday was much better with P3 and P5 results, and my pace I felt was pretty good. That last race was a lot of fun, and I think it was a good ending to the weekend. We were all racing fair so it was fun to be a part of and we’ll come back fighting for wins.”
