Seventh podium of the season for Alisha Palmowski in GB4 Championship

Single seater rookie Alisha Palmowski secured her seventh podium finish of the GB4 Championship season with another strong performance that saw the Elite Motorsport driver finishing third in race 1 at the Silverstone GP circuit, as she retains third in the championship standings.

Photo credits: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Alisha Palmowski secured her seventh podium finish of the GB4 Championship season - her first in single seaters - with another strong performance that saw the Elite Motorsport driver finishing third in race 1 at the Silverstone GP circuit.

Palmowski, who is currently third in the standings after a superbly consistent season, continued the streak of podiums at every single round so far.

Palmowski, who is currently third in the standings after a superbly consistent season, continued her streak of podiums at every round so far. The British teenager made a sensational debut with a race win at Oulton Park, taking the world of junior formulas by storm in only her third year in race cars and her first after transitioning from Ginetta Juniors. She went on to score second place at Silverstone, third at Donington, and two race wins and a second place at Snetterton, putting her back into championship contention.

On the series return to Silverstone, Palmowski was again aiming for podiums and victories - and proved to have the pace to deliver once again after a strong practice day where she finished third fastest ahead of qualifying on Saturday morning.

The weekend enjoyed dry, sunny conditions at the home of British motorsport.

Palmowski ran at the front during qualifying, initially placing second on her first flying lap before Lucas Blakely took the top spot. In the final runs, Palmowski improved but remained P4 as Callum Baxter moved up to third, with Linus Granfors taking pole as the only driver under the 2:01 mark. Alisha's 2:01.373 was enough for the second row of the grid - and her second-best lap, a 2:01.386, placed the Elite Motorsport's #21 Tatuus third on the grid of race 2.

In race 1, Palmowski had a great getaway from fourth, with Granfors also launching well from pole and leading ahead of Blakely, who was under pressure from Baxter.

Alisha soon joined the battle for the top three, passing Baxter into Stowe to move up to P3. She set a purple first sector and targeted the top two, who were less than two seconds ahead.

Although Palmowski couldn't quite catch the top two once positions settled, she safely held position, keeping Burgoyne at bay, who was half a second behind. The battle between Burgoyne and Baxter, fourth and fifth, allowed Palmowski to stretch her legs and she drove away, creating a buffer.

She set a new personal best of 2:02.0 on lap 5, pulling away from Burgoyne; ahead, Granfors took a lights-to-flag victory, half a second clear of Blakely, while Palmowski scored her fifth consecutive podium in a superbly consistent rookie season, gaining one position from the start.

"It was quite nerve-wracking, especially towards the start of the race", she commented after the first race. "But we had a good start and managed to get into third on lap one at Stowe. However, I didn't have the pace of the front two."

"We have a debrief to do as a team because I don't turn up to finish third; I want to win races", she continued. "I was aware I was falling away and didn't have a slipstream to the guys in front, and I was towing the guys behind. At such a high-speed track like Silverstone, I was worried about being a sitting duck. But we managed to pull away, and although it was a bit boring, I had a lot of understeer to manage."

Photo credits: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Starting from third, Palmowski faced a more challenging race 2 on Sunday. Lucas Blakely surprised Linus Granfors at Copse, taking the lead, while Palmowski made a move at Stowe but Granfors held on, also by going off track. The two would make contact two corners later, causing Palmowski to end up in the gravel and lose two positions.

Despite some slight damage, Palmowski made a stunning move at Maggots on Templeton and immediately recovered one position; As Granfors and Burgoyne battled ahead, Palmowski closed in on them once again, determined to get back in the fight for the podium.

Granfors, in fact, was struggling to keep Burgoyne behind, and Palmowski caught up to the group. Alisha attempted an attack on the KMR Sport driver, but had to back off - and this battle allowed both Templeton and Harrison to join the party for the top three, eventually shuffling Palmowski down to sixth.

She regrouped, overtaking Templeton on lap 6 and, once in clear air, she set her personal best laps, in a mission to catch back her Elite Motorsport teammate Finn Harrison.

Ahead, Lucas Blakely had checked out and took a dominant victory, having opened a 14-second gap. Linus Granfors managed to hold on for second from Harry Burgoyne. Alisha Palmowski set a 2:02.3 on the final lap and caught Harrison - but ultimately had to settle for fifth place, adding valuable points to her tally.

Despite hurting her hand in the contact at the beginning of race 2, Palmowski was cleared by the doctors to race in the afternoon. In the reverse grid race held in the afternoon, series newcomer Ava Dobson started on reverse grid pole for the first time in her single-seater career, alongside Megan Bruce on an all-female front row. Palmowski would have to start from the very back of the field in P13.

A delayed start and an extra formation lap shortened the race length. Chaos ensued at the start of the second formation lap, causing a red flag and a new starting procedure.

When the race finally got underway, Dobson stalled from pole, and Bruce took the lead ahead of Harrison and Taylor. Palmowski passed Granfors for P11 and continued to overtake cars in the action-packed first laps, eventually moving up to ninth with a stellar recovery drive. A crash involving Wilson and Baxter deployed the safety car.

With less than 5 minutes left when the green flag waved again, Finn Harrison made a perfect restart, and Palmowski went back into attack mode, overtaking Harry Burgoyne. She then passed Megan Bruce into Brooklands with a late braking maneuver, before immediately targeting the cars ahead. Chloe Grant was in fact battling KMR Sport teammate Lucas Blakely ahead, which gave Palmowski the chance to close in on the group.

Ahead, Harrison built a 3-second gap, with a three-car battle for the podium behind him. Jack Taylor held on for second, with Branden Templeton third.

Palmowski looked strong to catch Grant on the final lap but was unlucky to fall behind Burgoyne, finishing P7 ahead of championship leader Linus Granfors.

Despite the misfortunes, Palmowski collected more crucial points and continued her incredible rookie campaign in single-seaters with at least one podium at every race meeting. She retains third in the championship standings with 290 points, keeping everything open with now two weekends to go.

The next round after the summer break is at Donington on 7-8 September, where Palmowski previously finished third in race 3 and will now aim to climb even higher.