Colin Queen banks solid points at Brands GP
Colin Queen banked a hat-trick of points finishes on a sun-soaked weekend [9-10 September] in the GB4 Championship at Brands Hatch’s Grand Prix circuit.
The 2.4-mile Kent venue is synonymous worldwide as a proving ground for many of the sport’s stars past, present, and future, and the South California native arrived looking for a return to the podium, having enjoyed a stellar run of 8 trips to the rostrum in 11 races earlier in the campaign.
Qualifying put a dent in the Fortec Motorsport star’s ambitions, however, with a late red flag hampering Queen’s final flying efforts, putting him out of position in fifth on the grid for the opening race.
Despite starting on the unfancied side of the grid at the bottom of Brands Hatch’s sloping main straight, Queen’s start was as scorching as the temperatures overhead, and he quickly dispatched the driver starting ahead with a bold move around the outside of Paddock Hill Bend.
From there, Queen even had a half-chance to seize third around the outside of Druids but was forced to slot into the queue. From there, further progress proved difficult, and the 18-year-old took the chequered flag a solid fourth.
The US racer was unlucky to fall back to ninth in a hard-fought second race on Sunday morning, but the reverse grid contest gave Queen every opportunity to showcase his overtaking prowess, starting from seventh.
Queen showed his intent from the get-go, immediately gaining a position at the start on the inside at Paddock Hill.
Whilst holding his line attempting to pass another on the inside of Druids hairpin, however, the #62 car was pinned to the kerb. Contact was made as a competitor turned down on Queen, causing both cars to tangle together, and ending Queen’s charge up the order.
He pitted for repairs and duly re-joined the action in the hope of another safety car to bunch the order up once more, but none materialised. Queen did, however, hold the fastest lap for most of the contest, demonstrating his front-running pace in clean air en route to P12 at the flag.
Queen remains fourth in the GB4 Championship standings, with Fortec occupying second spot in the Team stakes, as the series heads to Donington Park for the finale on 21-22 October.
Colin Queen (#62) said:
“This past weekend's results were definitely not what we worked for.
“We struggled with pace throughout the weekend, not showing our full potential from qualifying through to the second race.
“The reverse grid race made any hopes of a podium and even win possible but was quickly diminished due to unavoidable contact in Druids on lap 1. It was a bittersweet end to the weekend as we finally got to show our true pace with both lap times and consistency but did not get the results we wanted.
“I'm truly glad I got to experience racing on the GP circuit at Brands, as it was one of if not the most enjoyable track to drive on the calendar. It's onward and upwards to the finale at Donington Park, and I am determined to earn great results.”