Josh McLean claimed his first GB4 Championship victory in a dramatic 100th race for the series at the 2026 Snetterton Round, leading every lap of a shortened Race 3 for Pace Performance.
McLean started from pole on the top-12 reversed grid and stayed clear of a chaotic contest behind him, which featured two Safety Car periods and ultimately ended under red flags after five laps. Enzo Hallman inherited second after Connor Willis and John O’Donnell retired following contact, while Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso completed the podium.
Championship leader Alex O’Grady, who won the weekend’s opening two races, recovered from first-lap avoiding action to finish 12th and extended his advantage to 70 points after chief rival Fred Green retired following damage sustained in an opening-lap incident.
McLean leads reversed grid away
Race 3 featured a top-12 reversal from the Qualifying classification, placing McLean on pole alongside Hillspeed’s Willis. O’Donnell started third for Pace Performance ahead of Fortec Motorsports’ Franciszek Cegielski, while Del Grosso and Hallman occupied the third row.
McLean made a strong launch to retain first, while Willis struggled slightly from second. O’Donnell immediately put the American under pressure and moved into second with a pass through the Brundle and Nelson complex.
Hallman also made rapid progress from sixth, passing his teammate to move into third as Willis initially slipped backwards.
Byrne incident triggers opening-lap chaos
While two Pace Performance cars ran at the front, teammate Torrin Byrne encountered trouble at Wilson. Contact damaged his car through the tight right-hander before a tyre deflated on the approach to Palmer, sending him spinning across the pack.
Several drivers became caught up in the incident. Green sustained damage, while O’Grady joined several others in taking avoiding action through the run-off area.
Byrne retired at the scene, while Green and Cegielski returned to the pits but did not rejoin. The incident therefore dealt another major blow to Green’s championship challenge after his Race 1 retirement while leading.
Race control deployed the Safety Car, although Willis had already begun recovering from his difficult opening lap.
Willis fights back before first Safety Car
Willis produced two bold moves in two corners early on Lap 2 to reclaim second before the race became fully neutralised.
The Hillspeed driver first worked his way back past Hallman before demoting O’Donnell, restoring the position he had lost at the start. McLean therefore headed the field behind the Safety Car from Willis, with O’Donnell and Hallman remaining close behind.
When racing resumed with nine minutes remaining, McLean again controlled the restart well. Willis stayed within range through the opening corners, while Hallman immediately began applying pressure to O’Donnell for third.
However, the race only remained green briefly.
O’Donnell and Willis clash fighting for second
One lap after the restart, O’Donnell attempted to reclaim second from Willis at Agostini. The Pace Performance driver made contact with the rear of the Hillspeed car, leaving both stranded at the side of the circuit.
Race control immediately deployed another Safety Car before showing the red flag with three minutes remaining. Officials subsequently declared the result at the end of Lap 5.
Post-race investigations also resulted in a five-place grid penalty for O’Donnell at his next race after officials found him responsible for causing the collision.
With Willis and O’Donnell no longer running when the race ended, the incident significantly reshaped the podium positions.
Hallman and Del Grosso complete podium
McLean remained untouched at the front and consequently secured victory in GB4’s 100th race. The result capped a chaotic contest in which the Pace Performance driver successfully managed the initial start, first restart and the pressure created by repeated interruptions.
Hallman inherited second and finished 1.116s behind McLean, while Del Grosso climbed from fifth on the grid to complete the podium for Elite Motorsport.
Dayton Coulthard gained five places from ninth to finish fourth for Douglas Motorsport, while Thomas Ingram Hill made identical progress from 10th to fifth. Conor Grant followed in sixth, giving Douglas two cars inside the top six.
Achituv and Bocquet make major gains
Several drivers capitalised on the incidents ahead to produce substantial recovery drives.
Matan Achituv climbed seven positions from 14th to finish seventh for Elite Motorsport. However, Romuald Bocquet made an even larger gain, charging from 21st to eighth for Scorpio Motorsport.
Lily-May Watkins completed her strongest GB4 weekend to date with another notable recovery. The KMR Sport driver started 16th and climbed seven places to ninth, securing her maiden top-10 finish in the championship.
Jasser Iskander initially completed the top 10 on the road after gaining 13 positions from 23rd. However, officials handed him a one-place penalty for crowding Michael Koh, promoting the Arden Motorsport driver to 10th. Koh had also gained 14 positions after starting 24th following his Race 2 grid penalty.
O’Grady extends championship advantage
O’Grady faced a difficult opening lap after taking evasive action during Byrne’s incident, but the championship leader recovered sufficiently to finish 12th.
The result brought an end to a highly successful Snetterton weekend for the KMR Sport driver after victories in both Race 1 and Race 2. More importantly, Green’s retirement allowed O’Grady to further increase an advantage that stood at only 25 points before the weekend.
He now leaves Snetterton with a 70-point championship lead.
Enzo Rujugiro finished directly behind O’Grady in 13th after gaining 13 places from 26th on the grid, while Demitri Nolan and Jamie Leverton completed the top 15.
Martin penalised after Safety Car infringement
Fortec’s Jordyn Martin also received a post-race penalty following the shortened contest.
Officials added five seconds to her race time for overtaking Holly Miall before the Safety Car restart line. The penalty dropped Martin behind Miall into 19th in the amended classification.
Meanwhile, Archie Bullard, Archie Davies, Caitlyn McDaniel and Faris Organji completed the classified finishers ahead of the six retirements.
2026 GB4 Snetterton Race 3 results
- Josh McLean — Pace Performance — 5 laps
- Enzo Hallman — Hillspeed — +1.116s
- Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso — Elite Motorsport — +1.841s
- Dayton Coulthard — Douglas Motorsport — +2.190s
- Thomas Ingram Hill — Fortec Motorsports — +2.571s
- Conor Grant — Douglas Motorsport — +3.307s
- Matan Achituv — Elite Motorsport — +4.143s
- Romuald Bocquet — Scorpio Motorsport — +5.072s
- Lily-May Watkins — KMR Sport — +5.959s
- Michael Koh — Arden Motorsport — +6.449s
- Jasser Iskander — Fox Motorsport — +6.186s*
- Alex O’Grady — KMR Sport — +6.844s
- Enzo Rujugiro — Fox Motorsport — +7.256s
- Demitri Nolan — Hillspeed — +8.720s
- Jamie Leverton — Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing — +10.482s
- Archie Bullard — Fox Motorsport — +10.618s
- Archie Davies — Scorpio Motorsport — +11.190s
- Holly Miall — KMR Sport — +13.807s
- Jordyn Martin — Fortec Motorsports — +17.555s**
- Caitlyn McDaniel — Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing — +59.440s
- Faris Organji — Scorpio Motorsport — +1m17.878s
DNF. Solenn Amrouche — Arden Motorsport — 4 laps
DNF. Connor Willis — Hillspeed — 5 laps
DNF. John O’Donnell — Pace Performance — 5 laps
DNF. Franciszek Cegielski — Fortec Motorsports — 0 laps
DNF. Fred Green — Elite Motorsport — 0 laps
DNF. Torrin Byrne — Pace Performance — 0 laps
* One-place penalty for crowding
** Five-second penalty for overtaking before the Safety Car restart line
