Brandon McCaughan once again highlighted his phenomenal speed and racecraft as he produced two eye-catching charges up the order in the second round of the 2024 GB4 Championship season at Silverstone this past weekend (28-29 April).
After a stunning introduction to ‘slicks and wings’ single-seater competition with a breakthrough GB4 race victory in the season opener at Oulton Park over Easter weekend, McCaughan headed to Silverstone hoping to make his mark around the iconic Grand Prix circuit.
The Northern Irishman, who is racing this season as the inaugural winner of the coveted GB4 Shootout, enjoyed a positive start across pre-event testing with reigning champions KMR Sport. Finishing inside the top four at the end of both days of running, he was in high spirits heading into qualifying.
That session didn’t quite go his way as he lapped sixth fastest overall, and there was further frustration as he stalled at the start of race one. Fired up from the error, the 20-year-old rising star was determined to fight back and immediately set about making progress up the order.
Ending lap one in 15th place, he pulled off some stunning overtaking moves to gain four places in each of the next two laps to rise to seventh. Getting his head down and hunting down a three second gap to the next car, he ended up grabbing sixth right on the finish line.
Sunday began with torrential rain leading to the postponement of race two until conditions had improved later in the day, which ultimately resulted in the Ballymena-based racer only getting to contest two races over the weekend instead of three.
McCaughan used his lightning reactions to avoid a stationary car ahead of him off the start of race two and gain two places to sixth exiting the first corner. He pushed on through the opening lap, with a good run up the Hangar Straight and a slick move into Stowe getting him up to fourth.
After another good overtake into Brooklands netted him third, he tucked under the rear wing of Finn Harrison ahead and put in multiple challenges for second. Unfortunately, a move into Brooklands resulted in contact between them though, spinning McCaughan around to a final finish of eighth.
Brandon McCaughan: “We had the pace to be challenging for the wins this weekend, so it’s frustrating that a couple of simple mistakes would cost me the opportunity to get the results that our speed ultimately deserved.
“After the stall in race one, it was all about fighting back and getting as many points as possible. Race two started well getting up to third and when the move was there, I went for it but unfortunately it didn’t pay off.
“This weekend has been a hard one to take, but I’ll learn from the mistakes and make sure I don’t do them again. The big positive is that the pace was there to be right at the front again, so we’ll be working hard to make sure I’m on the grid at Donington Park to get back on the podium again.”
The 2024 GB4 Championship continues next month (25-26 May) with a visit to Donington Park for three races on the Grand Prix circuit.
Image from Thru The Lens Media.
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