Race-winning GB4 squad Oldfield Motorsport won the legendary Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch on Sunday (20 October).
The Warwickshire team’s driver Josh Smith put in a battling drive to take his and the team’s second victory at the iconic event, replicating their 2018 performance.
Smith won his heat and then finished second in the semi-final, putting him fourth on the grid for the Final. There, he capitalised on early drama for two front-runners to take the lead on a wet circuit, and then defended well, survived safety car restarts and resisted big pressure from behind to win by just over a tenth of a second.
GB4 podium finisher Callum Baxter also showed strong form in the event, and took 11th place in the final for Graham Brunton Racing.
There was further success for GB4 contenders over the weekend, as Megan Bruce scored four podiums at Donington Park in two different Caterham categories, while GB4 race-winner Brandon McCaughan was a front-runner during his European sports car debut.
Bruce qualified third in the Caterham Seven 270R Championship in a 31-car field, but a retirement in the opening contest meant she had to start from 28th on the grid in race two. Bruce put in a storming drive though and blasted through the field to take third place, gaining 16 places on the first lap alone, before ending her weekend with the runner-up spot in the final race, less than a second behind the race winner.
In an even bigger 34-car field in the Caterham Graduates Sigma 135 division, Bruce qualified on pole by 0.017s, and converted that into second place in the first race after a race long battle for the lead with two different drivers. Then from third on the grid for the second event, she was again firmly involved in the lead scrap throughout, and claimed second place, just 0.166s away from the win after a late red flag.
Finally, double GB4 race-winner Brandon McCaughan demonstrated front-running pace during his debut in the Ligier European Series. In his first qualifying session at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, McCaughan was just 0.091s away from pole position and ran second for his stint in the first race, only losing out on a podium after his co-driver suffered a spin after the driver change. The duo recovered to finish fourth, and claimed fifth place in the second contest, with McCaughan battling up from eighth in the final half of the event.
