GB4: Top-10 finish for Jordyn Martin at Oulton Park, McDaniel and Amrouche gain positions in race 3
- LIAM REDFORD
- 26 minutes ago
- 9 min read
Jordyn Martin enjoyed a superb weekend in the GB4 Championship at Oulton Park as the American racer secured her first top-10 in the series and twice finished inside the top-15. After challenging qualifying sessions, Caitlyn McDaniel and Solenn Amrouche rebounced to score a large haul of championship points as both drivers produced spirited performances to score top-20 results in race 3.
Jordyn Martin enjoyed a superb weekend in the GB4 Championship at Oulton Park as the American racer secured her first top-10 in the series during a weekend which in the Fortec Motorsport driver twice finished inside the top-15.
After challenging qualifying sessions, Caitlyn McDaniel and Solenn Amrouche rebounced to score a large haul of championship points as both drivers produced spirited performances to score top-20 results in race three.
It was a character-building weekend for KMR Sport teammates Lily Watkins and Holly Miall who battled through adversity to secure best results of 19th and 20th positions respectively.
The 2026 GB4 Championship got off to a thrilling start on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit where all five female drivers scored championship points. Lily Watkins left the home of British motorsport as the highest-placed female driver after scoring 11 points with two top-16 finishes to her name. However, it was American rookie Jordyn Martin who achieved the best finish at Silverstone with the Fortec Motorsport driver taking the chequered flag in 14th position in race one.
The only driver to score in all three races at Silverstone was Caitlyn McDaniel with the second-year driver taking significant steps forward in performance from her debut campaign. Both Solenn Amrouche and Holly Miall experienced a challenging weekend and therefore they were aiming to leave Oulton Park with a sizeable haul of championship points.
Track action got underway on Thursday with four short test sessions for the drivers to work on car setup. Martin continued her strong form by setting the fastest time out of the quintet of female drivers with a quickest lap of a 1:37.001 which placed her in 15th. Taking a significant step forward from Donington Park, Amrouche was just being in 16th with Watkins also securing a top-20 time. Miall and McDaniel banked valuable experience as they completed the opening day of running in 25th and 26th positions respectively.
Two further test sessions were held on Friday with Martin again setting the pace among the female drivers as she improved to a 1:36.842. McDaniel was the most improved driver of the day as she jumped inside the top-20, just ahead of Watkins in 21st position. Amrouche ended Friday’s running in 24th position with Miall in 25th spot in her KMR Sport prepared machine.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and with a new set of tyres available to the drivers, the lap times were significantly faster than in testing. At the halfway point in the session, Martin was challenging for a top-10 position as the times continued to improve as heat was generated into the rubber.
The session ran uninterrupted which allowed for some of the fastest times to be set at the end of qualifying. Martin was once again the leading female driver as the American racer qualified in 17th position on a 1:35.799. The Fortec Motorsport driver was just a quarter of a second away from securing reverse grid pole to underline the close nature of the GB4 Championship at Oulton Park.
With a superb improvement on her final lap, Watkins set the 21st fastest time on a 1:36.123. Miall was challenging for a top-20 position for the majority of the session, ultimately qualifying in 26th spot with a 1:36.447. McDaniel followed closely behind in 27th, less than a tenth of a second behind the KMR Sport driver. Amrouche experienced a challenging session with the French racer stopping out on circuit mid-way through qualifying and as a result, she set the 28th fastest time.
Race one of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the fastest lap times set in qualifying, Martin was leading female driver in 17th position. Watkins lined up from 21st with Miall in 26th, McDaniel in 27th and Amrouche in 28th position.
It was a clean start throughout the field and Martin held 17th position at the end of lap one with the positions remaining closely contested in the midfield. Miall made a superb start as she gained three spots to move into 26th, while Amrouche made an excellent getaway in her Arden Motorsport machine as the French racer climbed to 24th. McDaniel also gained a spot as she completed lap one in 26th position before a battle emerged between herself, Jasser Iskander and Enzo Rujugiro.
On lap three, Archie Bullard picked up damage to his Fox Motorsport machine and this elevated Watkins to 21st and Miall to 22nd position, while Amrouche remained in 24th spot after being overtaken by Jamie Leverton. McDaniel briefly moved inside the top-25 before being overtaken by Rujugiro while Iskander was forced to retire from the race.
On lap six, misfortune struck for Martin as she had a spin in the middle sector and rejoined the race at the rear of the field in 26th position. Fortunately, there was minimal damage and the Fortec Motorsport driver was able to maintain a competitive pace. This incident benefited the other four female drivers with Watkins now the highest placed of the quintet in 20th position.
After overtaking Amrouche, Leverton was looking to make further progress at his home circuit and this forced Miall into some defensive driving. Martin, meanwhile, was consistently lapping on pace with those inside the top-10 as she hoped for a safety car period in order to make late race progress.
On lap 10, Luke Hilton slowed with a technical issue, however he was able to pull the car over in a safe place and therefore a safety car intervention was not required. This misfortune for the British racer elevated Watkins to 19th with Miall now also inside the top-20. Amrouche moved up to 22nd position and after a spell of pressure, McDaniel overtook Rujugiro for 23rd spot.
As the race entered the closing stages, Leverton passed Miall with the two drivers continuing their battle on the final lap. Watkins completed a good race as she took the chequered flag in 19th position with Miall re-passing Leverton on the final tour for a top-20 finish. Amrouche crossed the line in 22nd spot with McDaniel close behind in 23rd. Martin took the chequered flag in 25th position after her earlier spin with the Fortec Motorsport driver looking to bounce back in the two following races.
After a rest day on Sunday, the drivers returned to action on Monday morning for race two at Oulton Park. The grid positions were based upon the second fastest times set in qualifying with Martin leading the way among the female drivers from 15th position. Following a grid penalty assessed to Watkins, this promoted Miall to 24th with Amrouche in 26th, McDaniel in 27th and Watkins lining up from 29th on the grid.
As the lights went out, Martin got a superb start and she did a nice job to avoid an incident at Cascades between Dayton Coulthard and Joshua McLean. With both cars out of the race, the safety car was deployed with the American racer up to 11th position at the conclusion of the first lap. Positions were also gained by her fellow female drivers with Miall up to 22nd, Amrouche 23rd, McDaniel 24th and Watkins in 26th position.
The race resumed on lap four and Amrouche was quickly looking for a way ahead of Miall with the French driver shaping to the inside at Old Hall corner. Miall initially held on with her teammate Watkins then engaged in a close battle with Archie Bullard who was recovering from a early pitstop. Bullard moved ahead during the first sector before Watkins ran side-by-side with her rival through Hislops.
Watkins was keen to fight back and following a nice move out of Lodge, the KMR Sport driver regained 26th position.
On lap five, Amrouche’s pressure paid off as she made a clean overtake on Miall to climb up to 22nd position. Now clear of her fellow female driver, Amrouche’s pace was strong as she quickly bridged the deficit to Jasser Iskander.
On the fringes of the top-10, Martin was still running well and as the drivers began lap six, she defended her position smartly from Conor Grant. After Martin fended off the Douglas Motorsport driver, Grant came under pressure from those behind and this allowed Martin to focus forward on applying pressure to Emilio Del Grosso. Following a superb run out of Cascades, Martin completed the move on the Elite Motorsport racer to claim a position inside the top-10. Martin was now in her highest running position of the season and her pace was comparable to those ahead in just her second ever formula car event.
As Amrouche caught Iskander, the Saudi Arabian driver was forced to defend his position and this brought Miall back into contention along with McDaniel, Rujugiro, Watkins and Bullard. The battle between this group of seven drivers continued into the closing stages with Rujugiro making good progress on lap 10 as he overtook both McDaniel and Miall to move into 23rd.
Growing in confidence with each passing lap while running in tenth position, Martin was the seventh fastest driver on the penultimate lap of the race. Continuing this speed to the chequered flag, the Fortec Motorsport driver secured a superb tenth place finish and in doing so she became the first female driver to achieve a top-10 result in the 2026 season.
Amrouche continued to apply pressure to Iskander and the Arden Motorsport driver took the chequered flag in 22nd position, just over a tenth of a second behind her rival. Miall crossed the line in 24th ahead of McDaniel in 25th position. It was a challenging race for Watkins who finished in 26th position following her grid penalty as overtaking once again proved difficult on the narrow Oulton Park layout.
The final race of the weekend took place on Monday afternoon in extremely hot conditions with the grid formed by the original qualifying positions with the top-12 reversed. Martin lined up from 17th position with Watkins in 21st, Miall in 26th, McDaniel in 27th and Amrouche from 28th position. Both Martin and Amrouche made superb starts and they immediately gained positions with the Fortec Motorsport driver into the top-15, while the French racer was on the fringes of the top-20.
As the drivers exited the Brittens chicane and approached Hislops, contact was made between Watkins, Charlie Myers and John O’Donnell with Myers and O’Donnell hitting the barriers while Watkins brought her car back to the pits with a broken front wing. This incident necessitated the deployment of the safety car with Martin up to 15th position, Amrouche in 22nd, Miall in 25th and McDaniel in 26th position.
The race was then red flagged in order for the stricken cars to be recovered and the barrier to be repaired. With less than one lap of green flag racing completed, the lineup reverted to the original grid positions for a revised race duration of fifteen-minutes. Following good work from the KMR Sport crew, Watkins was able to rejoin the race as she started from the pitlane.
As the lights went out for a second time, Martin was battling for positions through the opening turns and although she initially dropped back, the Fortec Motorsport driver completed lap one in 17th position. Miall completed the first tour in 22nd with McDaniel and Amrouche following close behind in 23rd and 24th positions respectively. After starting from the pit lane, Watkins was in 27th position and looking to close the gap to the drivers ahead.
On lap two, Matan Achituv went off the circuit and this promoted Martin into 16th before she overtook Michael Koh for a spot inside the top-15. Romauld Bocquet also found trouble and therefore Miall was up to 20th position with McDaniel and Amrouche in 21st and 22nd positions, while Watkins had climbed to 25th spot.
The reverse grid at the head of the field meant that positions were closely contested and therefore Martin was just seven seconds away from the race lead despite sitting in 15th position. The American racer was looking to capitalise on any incidents ahead as she remained less than half a second behind Conor Grant.
On lap six, an off-track moment for Miall promoted McDaniel inside the top-20 while Amrouche followed through into 21st. The Fox Motorsport driver rejoined just behind Watkins who was up to 24th with Miall now down to 25th position. After starting from 28th on the grid, Amrouche was up to 21st and she was applying significant pressure to McDaniel as both drivers targeted a sizeable haul of progression points.
On lap nine, contact between Koh and Archie Bullard saw Koh beached in the gravel while Bullard limped his machine around with damage. As a result, McDaniel and Amrouche were up to 18th and 19th positions respectively while Watkins and Miall had climbed to 22nd and 23rd spot.
Completing an excellent weekend of racing, Martin took the chequered flag in 15th position just two tenths of a second away from Grant. Amrouche set a personal best time on the final lap as she crossed the line in 19th position with McDaniel in 18th as both drivers enjoyed hard-charging drives throughout the field.
Challenging weekends for both Watkins and Miall came to a close with 22nd and 23rd place results with both KMR Sport teammates unfortunate not to achieve higher finishes. The GB4 Championship drivers will return to action at Donington Park on the weekend of June 26th/27th.
