GB4: Megan Bruce leads female entries at Snetterton with charging races, as Flame Airikkala Impresses on series debut
- RACERS
- 2 hours ago
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Six female drivers competed in the GB4 Championship round at Snetterton, where Megan Bruce led the way with strong recoveries and a best result of P12, newcomer Flame Airikkala impressed on debut with two top-20 finishes, and Ava Dobson delivered another consistent performance in a competitive weekend for the female contingent.
The fourth round of the 2025 GB4 Championship returned to the venue where the series first launched in 2022, and it marked a positive showing for the six female drivers on the grid.
Alongside the five full-time female drivers, the Snetterton weekend saw the addition of Flame Airikkala on her series debut. The British-Finnish driver made significant progress over the weekend, culminating in two top-20 finishes. The top female finisher in all three races was however Megan Bruce, who recovered from a challenging qualifying with remarkable charges through the field, claiming a best result of P12 in Race 2. Ava Dobson also made positive progress, gaining five positions in the final race to finish P14.
Lily-May Watkins had a strong Race 2, scoring P16, while Fox Motorsport teammates Holly Miall and Caitlyn McDaniel had more challenging weekends but showed determination throughout. McDaniel came home with a top-20 finish.
Six female drivers featured in the 24-car field — one of the largest female contingents in a junior single-seater championship in 2025. The series has attracted female participation thanks to the MSV-promoted prize fund: a £50,000 scholarship for the top-finishing female driver, which goes toward a seat in F1 Academy. The scholarship was secured in 2024 by Alisha Palmowski.
Ava Dobson and Megan Bruce have been the leading female drivers over the opening rounds — the former already making an appearance in F1 Academy earlier this year as a Wild Card entry for the Miami round. Both are in their second season of GB4 — although this marks Dobson’s first full campaign — and have regularly challenged for top-ten overall finishes, showcasing strong speed and racecraft through the first half of the season.
Holly Miall, a graduate of the Ginetta Junior Championship, is in her rookie year in single-seaters and continues to make solid progress each weekend — as do Lily-May Watkins and Caitlyn McDaniel. The latter is just beginning her motorsport journey, with no previous race experience, and is steadily closing the gaps.
Joining the field at Snetterton was Flame Airikkala, the granddaughter of Finnish rally legend Pentti Airikkala and daughter of racing driver Jo-Ann Airikkala. Flame has previously competed in the highly competitive Fiesta Junior Championship before switching to single-seaters with an appearance in the Formula Nordic. After a testing programme, she joined the GB4 field with the Pace Performance team for her first race in the category.
The series returned to the Snetterton circuit, the same venue where it was launched in 2022; practice sessions on Thursday and Friday were already quite representative, with Bruce and Dobson consistently within the top 15, Miall in the top 20, while Watkins, McDaniel, and Airikkala made notable progress across the sessions, significantly closing the gap to the front.
In qualifying on Saturday morning, Megan Bruce broke into the top ten early in the session, with Ava Dobson also close. Bruce improved to a 1:49.2, staying tenth as times began to tumble — already significantly faster than practice.
Flame Airikkala opened with a 1:51.1, placing her in P22 before finding a full second in her next run.
Lily-May Watkins also improved, posting a 1:50.212 to climb to P21 with two minutes to go.
Dobson improved on her final lap to a 1:49.050 but remained P19. Bruce broke into the 1:48s but dropped to P18 in the final minute.
The final classification saw Bruce in P18, Dobson in P19, and Airikkala qualifying for her first GB4 race in P20 — ahead of Watkins in P21, who secured her best qualifying to date. Holly Miall couldn’t improve in the closing stages and finished P23, just ahead of teammate Caitlyn McDaniel in P24.
Bruce, however, would have to serve a five-place grid penalty from the previous round, forcing the KMR Sport driver to recovery drives. The second-fastest lap times, which set the grid for Race 2, showed similar results: Bruce in P17, Dobson in P18, Airikkala in P20, Watkins in P22, Miall in P23, and McDaniel in P24.
In hot conditions at Snetterton, as all drivers cleared the opening corners cleanly at the start of the first race of the weekend. Ava Dobson emerged in P18, followed by Flame Airikkala in P19 and Lily-May Watkins in P20. Megan Bruce had an excellent opening lap, recovering five positions from her grid penalty to move into P18. Holly Miall also made a great start, gaining three spots into P19. Watkins, however, dropped two positions to P22.
Bruce continued her strong recovery, overtaking Dobson on lap 3 to become the leading female driver in the race, moving into P17. Miall meanwhile battled hard to stay in the top 20 against a recovering Pribyl. Watkins and McDaniel were running just behind, separated by half a second.
Airikkala had a brief moment on the kerbs but kept it on track; she recovered and passed Miall to return to the top 20. Bruce pushed on, chasing the Arden Motorsport car of Wilson and opening a gap to Dobson. Ava, on the other hand, dipped under the 1:50 barrier, posting a 1:49.9 and attempting to stay in touch with the group ahead.
McDaniel and Watkins continued to improve, with the American setting a personal best of 1:51.9.
Bruce and Dobson matched each other’s pace, but Wilson ahead found a few more tenths to maintain a safe margin.
Over the final laps, Dobson had the more consistent pace and halved the gap to Bruce, setting a personal best of 1:49.759 on lap 9 — but couldn’t mount an attack.
Megan Bruce completed a superb recovery to finish P17, ahead of Dobson. Flame Airikkala took the chequered flag in P20 in her GB4 debut — in a very solid performance. Miall followed in P22, Watkins in P23, and McDaniel in P24, with the latter breaking the 1:53 mark.
Warm conditions again met the drivers for race 2, as Ary Bansal led from pole, with Isaac Phelps alongside on the front row. Dobson lined up P17, Bruce P18, Airikkala P20, Watkins P22, Miall and McDaniel from the final row in P23 and P24.
The opening corners were chaotic: Dobson had a good launch but had to navigate multiple contacts and dropped down the order. She began recovering immediately and was back in the top 20 by the end of lap 1.
Bruce gained two positions on the first lap. Airikkala also made up places despite a lock-up, climbing to P17. Miall made a brilliant start, gaining five positions. Watkins capitalized on others’ incidents and rose to P19. McDaniel went off at Turn 1 in avoidance of Ruddock, but rejoined in P22 as Ruddock and Bostandjiev both hit trouble — the latter pitting.
Miall, despite her great start, pitted on lap 2 with an issue and dropped down the order.
Dobson had also sustained damage and eventually pitted, rejoining at the back.
Airikkala battled Taylor for P17, trading places, while Bruce opened a gap ahead of them as she chased Baxter.
Watkins and McDaniel kept it clean and moved into P19 and P20 amid the chaotic early laps.
Dobson, now several seconds behind, lapped in the 1:49s — clearly faster than the group ahead, but over 30 seconds adrift.
Meanwhile, Juncos and Wilson made contact and picked up damage; Bruce continued her charge, climbing into P14. Airikkala also benefited from the incidents ahead to move up to P16, around six seconds clear of Watkins and McDaniel — the latter improving her lap times steadily.
On lap 8, Pribyl spun through the grass, allowing Airikkala to close the gap to within two seconds of the top 15. Megan Bruce set a personal best of 1:49.869 and caught up to Baxter, staying within a second.
A final-lap off for Coulthard promoted Bruce to P12 — thus securing a fantastic result for the KMR Sport driver, again the top female finisher.
Airikkala delivered an equally strong performance to secure her first top-15 finish in only her second GB4 race. Watkins came home P16, and McDaniel completed a clean and consistent run in P18. Dobson, despite the pit stop, finished P19. Miall ultimately retired.
On Sunday's the reverse grid race wrapped up the weekend at Snetterton. Megan Bruce lined up in P18, Dobson P19, Airikkala P20, Watkins P21, Miall P23, McDaniel P24. Callum Baxter had an issue on the formation lap, prompting a start delay.
Once the lights went out, the field made it through the start cleanly, with Wilson and Taylor battling for the lead. Race 1 and 2 winner Ary Bansal however was hit by Hilton, and Coulthard went off in avoidance. Bansal suffered suspension damage, and the Safety Car was deployed.
Bruce had made a superb getaway, gaining five places to P13. Dobson gained four to reach P15, just ahead of Airikkala, who also gained four spots. Miall climbed to P18, with Watkins and McDaniel also surviving the first lap and running in the top 20 as the race was neutralized.
The race resumed with four minutes to go; Hilton and Coulthard, recovering from the back, quickly overtook several cars, as Miall, Watkins, and McDaniel lost a few spots at the restart.
Bruce held P13 and began pressuring Pribyl, while Dobson looked for a way past McLean. Airikkala held P16 with a small gap behind but was eventually passed by Hilton on lap 6. She dropped to P17 but kept the pressure on
.
Megan Bruce lapped in the 1:51.9 range and ultimately retained P13 — in her third consecutive finish as the top female driver.
Ava Dobson passed McLean on the final lap to finish P14, also completing a strong recovery.
Flame Airikkala completed her rookie GB4 weekend with a P18 finish. Although she couldn't hold off Coulthard on the final lap, it was another top-20 result for the British-Finnish racer.
Holly Miall came home P20, just ahead of Caitlyn McDaniel, who overtook Lily-May Watkins with two laps to go after the latter hit trouble and pitted.
After four rounds, Megan Bruce sits P17 overall with 77 points, making her the top-ranked female driver at the halfway mark of the season. Ava Dobson is not far behind on 59 points, just seven ahead of Holly Miall, who remains in contention.
The next round will take place at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit on 2–3 August.
