Technical issues and incidents make for challenging weekend for Chloe Grant at Snetterton

Chloe Grant fought through adversity and showed great character in light of the difficulties faced across the GB4 races at Snetterton, which saw the KMR Sport driver caught up in unfortunate incidents. A strong second race saw Chloe finish in eighth place.

Photo credits: Nikolas Taylor @thruthelensmedia_

Achieving a best result of eighth at Snetterton, it was a character building weekend for KMR Sport driver Chloe Grant at Snetterton. Grant ran solidly within the midfield during the course of the event, but was caught up in unfortunate incidents in both races one and three. A strong second race saw Chloe finish in eighth place as she continued to gain single seater experience.

Sitting eight in the overall championship standings prior to the trio of races at Snetterton, Grant was aiming to push towards the top-5 during the second half of the season. At the previous round at Donington Park, Chloe achieved two sixth-place finishes and secured her best results away from the reverse grid contest, highlighting both her qualifying and race pace. As a result, she was targeting a top-5 result at Snetterton while searching for her second podium finish of the campaign, two years after her latest visit to the circuit.

Track action got underway on Thursday as the GB4 Championship drivers participated in three short test sessions. Conditions were good throughout the day with Grant completing 50 laps, setting her best time in session three which placed her seventh overall. During Friday’s sessions, another 41 laps were completed by Chloe as she found two seconds worth of lap time, despite a lack of power and straight-line speed. The turbo was identified as the source of the issue and subsequently solved.

Track temperatures were slightly lower for qualifying on Saturday morning and therefore the tyres took a significant time to reach their peak level of performance. Grant built herself into the session well and improved her times, but the Scottish driver was impeded on her fastest lap, which cost her nearly half a second and she had to settle for the ninth fastest lap overall.

The KMR Sport driver however was just two tenths of a second away from seventh position and was set for three close races to come at Snetterton.

The opening race of the weekend took place late on Saturday afternoon with dry and sunny conditions at Snetterton. Grant made a good start and held her position with Callum Baxter running directly ahead. As the race settled into an early rhythm, Chloe was showing good speed in the final sector as she maintained a close gap to the drivers ahead.

As Baxter and Leon Wilson battled for position ahead, this brought Grant in contention for seventh position. The two drivers ahead ran side-by-side for almost a whole lap with Chloe showing excellent racecraft to overtake Wilson on lap six.

As a result, Baxter opened out a gap with Grant running in eighth as she defended from the Arden Motorsport driver into Brundle. Exiting Nelson corner, Wilson made contact with the rear of Grant’s car and this dislodged the rear wing and forced the KMR Sport driver into an unfortunate retirement.

Photo credits: Nikolas Taylor @thruthelensmedia_

Looking to bounce back in race two of the weekend, Grant lined up ninth on the grid courtesy of her second fastest time from qualifying. The KMR Sport driver made a good start and gained one position on the opening lap following a stall from Callum Baxter.

Running less than half a second behind Branden Templeton, Grant was aiming to push forward and use her experience to gain positions. It was a quiet middle portion of the race for Chloe, but when a recovering Baxter found a way through on lap six, she attempted to stay in close proximity.

On lap seven, Baxter passed Templeton and this brought Grant closer to the drivers ahead. Two laps later, Baxter spun while attempting to pass Leon Wilson and this allowed Chloe to reclaim eighth position in the closing stages of the race. Setting her quickest time on the final lap, Grant finished eighth in race two to bank valuable championship points ahead of the reverse grid contest to end the weekend.

Lining up fourth for the reverse grid race at Snetterton, Chloe aimed to make a good start but was a little eager and moved before the lights went out. As a result, she was handed a ten second penalty for a false start. Nonetheless, she battled hard in the early stages of the race and aimed to fight back after dropping to eighth at the end of lap one.

Grant then fell behind Alisha Palmowski and Linus Granfors on lap two, before Lucas Blakeley found a way through on lap three. Callum Baxter was the next driver to move ahead on lap four, before Chloe turned her attention forward to applying pressure on Dan Hickey ahead. On lap six, contact was made between Grant and Hickey which saw both driver retire from the race with suspension damage.

It was a tough weekend for the KMR Sport driver at Snetterton who will be looking forward to a quick turnaround before the next round of the GB4 Championship.

“Although the weekend was not as successful as hoped, I’m remaining positive and the team and I have identified the issues to address before the next round at Silverstone GP", Chloe commented. "I can only apologise to KMR Sport and my sponsors for the mistakes made during the weekend, and focus on making the necessary improvements for round 5.”

Grant fought through adversity and showed great character in light of the difficulties faced across the three races. Silverstone will host the next round of the series with the drivers tackling the challenging Grand Prix circuit on the weekend of 27th/28th July.

Photo credits: Nikolas Taylor @thruthelensmedia_