Guinchard emerges from Oulton Park wet-weather chaos with extended GB4 lead

On the face of it, two poles and a race victory may sound like a straightforward affair for GB4 leader Daniel Guinchard. But it was far from routine, as changeable weather created tricky tyre choices for everyone across the Oulton Park weekend.

Guinchard was one of many contenders to pay the price for remaining on slicks in the assembly area when rain arrived minutes before race one, as the Hillspeed racer tumbled down the order along with his closest title challengers within moments of the action getting under way.

It took just three corners for KMR’s Alex O’Grady, the highest-placed starter on wet-weather tyres, to climb from sixth into a lead that he maintained until the flag. Luca Magnussen, Enzo Hallman and Megan Bruce also charged up the order on wets to finish behind him.

Guinchard mastered race two’s greasy conditions on slicks to lead home his team-mate Leandro Juncos, who was later disqualified for a yellow-flag infringement, with O’Grady and Elite Motorsport’s Alex Kattoulas instead completing the top three.

Having initially lined up 17th, Hallman won ahead of Douglas team-mate Dayton Coulthard in an extraordinary finale. They were among only five drivers to start from the grid after fitting wets in the assembly area beforehand, while the rest began the contest from the pitlane by changing tyres after the start was delayed. Callum Baxter – the only driver to switch back to slicks – scythed through the field as the track dried to finish 0.099 seconds behind Coulthard, while Guinchard climbed to fourth.

Red Bull protege Rocco Coronel was another to extend his points lead at Oulton Park by stretching his winning streak to seven races during the first two Ginetta Junior encounters. He prevailed in a thrilling race one squabble with R Racing team-mate Alfie Slater – who was later penalised for an unfair overtake on Fred Green (Elite Motorsport) – and dominated the sequel ahead of Green and maiden podium finisher George Proudford-Nalder. Despite leading almost all of a safety-car disrupted race three, Coronel was defeated at the chequered flag by scholarship winner Green, who scored a maiden triumph by just 0.003s.

Robert Cronin took a wet-weather win in the first Ginetta GT Championship bout, while points leader Archie Clark retired following a collision with title rival Harry Gamble. Changeable weather created havoc in the pitstop race, with Gamble victorious ahead of Clark and fellow championship contender Nick White.

Jamie Caudle resisted early pressure from Charlie Digby to win behind the safety car in the first Ginetta GT Academy encounter. The pair both made the podium again in the other two contests, which were both won by James Nicholas.

The Legends Cars championship made its first appearance on the British GT support bill, and Chris Needham mastered monsoon conditions to win Saturday’s final while several of his pursuers skated off the circuit. Stephen Treherne, the 2011 champion, had earlier prevailed in a three-way fight to win heat one, while Jamie Moylan made a final-lap pass on Connor Mills to triumph in heat two.

Needham came close to winning another wet final on Monday only to be denied on the last lap by Oli Schlup, who recovered from 20th to win by 0.144s. It was Schlup’s second victory of the day, having edged Gibson by 0.01s in heat one, with Tyler Read dominating the second heat.

Needham was nearly a double winner as Legends made a first appearance on British GT bill

Photo by: JEP