Fox Motorsport’s Liam McNeilly enjoyed a strong opening to his debut single-seater campaign at Oulton Park, and proved his pace by claiming the first Sunoco Fastest Driver of the Weekend Award.
The 16-year-old’s best lap came in the first race of the weekend on Saturday, held in dry conditions. The time of 1m35.250s is a new GB4 lap record for the circuit, and established McNeilly and Fox Motorsport as prime contenders in their first single-seater campaigns.
“The car was mega all weekend” said McNeilly. “With the fastest lap we couldn’t ask for much more, and a lap record as well, it’s all just ended the weekend on a high especially with the Sunoco Fastest Lap award.
“It gives us a big boost going into Silverstone and I’m looking forward to it.”
McNeilly’s fastest lap came on his way to sixth place in the first race. After the strong opening to his GB4 season, he followed that result up with second place in a very wet second encounter on Sunday morning, before ending the weekend in style with a feisty drive from ninth on the grid to victory in race three.
“It feels amazing to have taken my first GB4 win on my first weekend racing a single-seater and it’s definitely going to take some time to sink in.
“The race three win is obviously the highlight from ninth on the grid in the wet, but honestly none of the moves felt particularly high-risk, even if they didn’t look that way on TV. The car was just planted so a huge thanks to my mechanic Geoff [Wingard] and the team for giving me what I needed to deliver. I could definitely get used to this feeling.”
