The fifth round of the GB4 Championship took Holly Miall back to Silverstone.
Qualifying:
After two full days of testing, Holly and the other 24 drivers took to the Silverstone circuit for the all-important qualifying session. Over the short 15-minute window, Holly steadily improved her pace, ultimately setting her fastest lap at 2:04.206. Unfortunately, two of her lap times were disallowed for exceeding track limits, impacting her final position.
She qualified P21 for Race 1 later that day, with her time approximately three seconds off pole. Grid positions for Race 2 were determined by each driver’s second-fastest lap, which placed Holly in P22. For Race 3, which features a reverse-grid format for the top 12 qualifiers, Holly was set to start from P23.
Race 1:
In Race 1 on Saturday, Holly started from P23. During the formation lap, competitor Lily-May Watkins pulled off track with a technical issue, causing a delayed start and an additional formation lap. As a result, the race duration was reduced from the usual 18 minutes to 16 minutes. Holly lost a position on the opening lap to PACE Performance’s Flame Airkkala and held P23 for the remainder of the race. However, she inherited a position post-race after Stefan Bostandjiev received a 10-second penalty for track limits, moving Holly up to a final result of P22.
Race 2:
Race 2 was action-packed on Sunday morning, beginning with rain during the formation lap. Starting from P22, Holly, along with most of the field, dove into the pits to switch to wet tires, leaving just two cars on the grid for the Race 2 start. Amid the flurry of pit stops, she managed to beat two drivers out of the pit lane, moving up to P20. A lack of grip on her first lap back out saw her drop two positions. However, a safety car was deployed halfway through the race following a crash by Elite Motorsport’s Alexandros Kattoulas, which helped Holly move back up to P21. On the final lap, she capitalised on a technical issue for car #44, Mayer Deonarine, making a clean pass to reclaim P20 at the finish.
Race 3:
The weekend concluded with Race 3 on Sunday afternoon, where Holly started from P23. The race however was reduced to 16 minutes from the usual 18 minutes. Holly held her position off the line and remained composed through the opening laps. In the 14th minute, a battle between Dayton Coulthard and Jack Taylor created an opportunity, and Holly reacted brilliantly, navigating the chaos and gaining an impressive five places to move up to P18. Despite a determined effort to defend her position in the closing stages, she ultimately dropped two places, crossing the line in P20.
Holly summarised her weekend: “It was great to be back at Silverstone. There were definitely some challenges, especially with the changing conditions, but I’m happy with the progress we made. I was able to take a lot of learnings from this weekend, and feel like I’m building good momentum heading into the final two rounds. I’m looking forward to finishing the season strong.”
