Fred Green welcomed a return to the top step of the 2026 GB4 podium after taking his fourth victory of the season in Race 1 at Donington Park, while Yani Stevenheydens revealed confusion over the starting procedure contributed to him losing the lead from pole.
Elite Motorsport’s Green capitalised immediately when teammate Stevenheydens struggled away from the front of the grid, taking the lead ahead of KMR Sport championship leader Alex O’Grady. A mid-race Safety Car erased Green’s advantage, but he controlled the restart and eventually beat O’Grady by 0.774s, with Stevenheydens recovering to third on his championship debut.
The result allowed Green to make another small gain in the title fight, although O’Grady continued to protect his sizeable championship advantage with another podium.
Green pleased to end victory drought
Green had not won since earlier in the campaign despite remaining one of O’Grady’s primary title challengers. His opportunity at Donington came after qualifying second alongside Stevenheydens, who had dominated the session to secure both poles.
The Brit made the stronger start when Race 1 began and quickly established himself at the front. From there, his race largely became one of managing the advantage and avoiding the track-limits infringements that could have threatened the result.
“Yeah, no, it’s lovely to get a race win, of course. It’s been a while since I’ve had one, actually, for quite a few reasons. So, yeah, it’s a pleasure to be back on the top step.
“Quite a simple race, really. A good start, and then I just managed it, really. I got a warning for the track limits early, so I had to manage that a bit. But yeah, it was all good.”
Green’s victory came after a lengthy wait between Qualifying and the evening race, but he did not feel maintaining his concentration created a significant problem. His more immediate difficulty came from the low sun and his reluctance to use too many visor tear-offs.
Green manages lead despite visibility issue
Once Green moved into first, he did not need to extract everything from the car on every lap. His priority became controlling his advantage while ensuring he did not make an unnecessary error.
“Yeah, I suppose so. I wasn’t fully – well, I was focused, but I wasn’t testing myself too much when I was in the lead, because obviously I didn’t need to. I’m known for being quite tight on my tear-offs, and it was quite sunny, so I couldn’t see a lot through my visor, so I might have to get myself a new tear-off on there. But yeah, no, really happy with the result, and yeah, good to be back on top.”
The Safety Car for Solenn Amrouche’s stranded Arden Motorsport car removed Green’s advantage during the middle of the race and gave O’Grady another opportunity. Green responded with a clean restart and prevented his championship rival from getting close enough to attempt a move.
Green can only keep winning in title chase
O’Grady’s second place limited the championship damage despite Green taking maximum points for the victory. Green would naturally prefer his rival to finish further down the order, but accepts that he cannot control O’Grady’s performances.
Instead, his focus remains on continuing the winning form that has kept his championship challenge alive heading towards the Brands Hatch finale.
“Yeah, of course. It’d be nice if Alex finished further back, but you know, he’s a good driver and experienced, so he’s always going to be there, unfortunately, and I can’t really control that. I can just keep winning and doing what I’m doing and, yeah, see what happens to him.”
Green will have another strong opportunity in Race 2, when he once again starts alongside Stevenheydens on the front row.
O’Grady content to limit championship damage
O’Grady had started third but immediately capitalised on Stevenheydens’ difficult getaway to move into second. Green initially pulled clear, with the championship leader attributing some of his early struggles to bringing his tyres into their operating window after a lengthy wait on the grid.
His pace improved considerably following the Safety Car, particularly through Donington’s middle sector, although he remained unable to get close enough to Green to challenge for the victory.
“Yeah, I mean, it doesn’t really make much difference. It’s not that many points, so happy enough to be P2. Fred done a good job.
“He was really quick at the start. I think my tyres were really hard to get in because we were waiting on the grid for about two minutes and I had two new tyres on, so they didn’t quite come in at the start, but after that safety car, we were really quick, especially in sector two. I mean, we were driving up to him.
“Yeah, the last two hairpins in Tour 1 have always been an issue for us. We just seemed to lose a bit, but, no, the middle sector was really good, so I could keep closing in on him. Yanni was quicker than both of us, definitely, but, yeah, the dirt here around here was quite strong, so I got away with it.”
Stevenheydens spent the closing stages immediately behind O’Grady, but the championship leader managed to keep the Belgian out of attacking range despite believing the Elite driver possessed greater outright pace.
O’Grady targets progress from fourth in Race 2
O’Grady faces a slightly more difficult starting position in the second race after qualifying fourth on second-fastest times.
Rather than changing his approach substantially, he intends to focus on another strong start and attempt to immediately gain positions before settling into the race.
“I don’t know. I’ll be starting a bit further back. I’ll be P4 for that one.
“So, yeah, hopefully, I’ll get a good start and, yeah, try and make a position or two and then we’ll see from there.”
With Green again starting from the front row, limiting any championship gain by his rival will remain important as O’Grady continues to manage his advantage through the penultimate round.
Stevenheydens explains slow start from pole
Stevenheydens had produced the standout Qualifying performance by taking both poles during his first GB4 weekend, but a misunderstanding of the championship’s starting procedure immediately compromised his opportunity to convert the first into victory.
The Belgian expected another formation lap following the warm-up lap and therefore still had his engine switched off when the five-second board appeared.
Despite the confusion, he managed to start the car in time and avoid an even greater problem, although Green and O’Grady had already gained the advantage.
“Of course, considering what happened at the start, I think we can be happy to still bring it home on a podium basis there, so I would say it’s all to fight for tomorrow, actually. Talk us through the start. I didn’t know we didn’t have a formation lap after.
“I’m used to always having a formation lap after a warm-up lap, so when the five-second block came on, the engine was still off. So I was very lucky to actually get it going straight away. Something to learn, bring it to tomorrow, so tomorrow we’ll see a different start than today.”
Stevenheydens recovered to third and remained close to O’Grady during the closing stages, eventually finishing only 1.264s behind Green. Given his limited experience of both the car and championship procedures, he considered a podium a positive recovery.
Stevenheydens expects different start on Sunday
After the race, Stevenheydens immediately sought clarification from Green about what had happened at the beginning of the contest.
“I was asking about the start. I really thought we had a formation lap and then congratulated him, of course, because he did a very good job at bringing it home in P1.”
The mistake gives Stevenheydens one clear lesson to carry into Sunday. He will again start from pole for Race 2, with Green alongside him, but this time enters the start fully aware of the GB4 procedure.
That leaves Elite Motorsport in a strong position once again, although the championship picture remains firmly in focus. Green needs further victories and larger points gains to threaten O’Grady, while the KMR Sport driver continues to accumulate the consistent results required to maintain control heading towards the season finale.
