Holly Miall and Caitlyn McDaniel – who form Fox’s first all-female line-up, each made solid single-seater debuts on a weekend on which the team from Maldon, Essex, scored its 300th podium finish across all series.
Chelmsford racer Holly was the highest-placed female in Sunday’s finale; giving her an early claim to the £50,000 F1 Academy prize fund that will be awarded to the best-placed female in the end-of-season points.
In what was the series’ largest-ever field of 25 drivers, Holly qualified 21st on the debut of the new Tatuus GB4-025 car, but made a strong start to the season-opening race and benefitted from others’ mistakes to finish 19th.
Recovering from an early spin in Race Two that damaged her tyres, she added 22nd but saved her best till last as she made further gains to end Sunday’s finale in 17th spot.
Team-mate Caitlyn, whose programme was only confirmed at the conclusion of Thursday’s pre-weekend test day, showed improved pace throughout the weekend as the London-based American made her car-racing debut.
Caitlyn, from Fairfax, Virginia, qualified 24th and finished the opening race 22nd, but used the experience of Saturday’s opener to take a major step forwards in Race Two.
Setting a best lap more than 1.5s faster than she’d qualified, she finished 19th, despite being forced onto the grass to avoid a spinning car early on. She added 20th – and a second points-scoring finish – in the finale.
Paul McNeilly, Team Principal, said: “Our past two seasons in GB4 have shown us what a tough championship it is, but to have two rookie racers – one of whom hadn’t even sat in a go-kart this time last year – increases the challenge. Holly and Caitlyn both did a good job in the circumstances and you could see how both increased in confidence and speed as the weekend drew on. They’ve both had multiple points finishes and Holly’s been the top-finishing female in the last race, which is something she’d targeted for much later in the season, so in many ways we’re ahead of schedule. I think it’s going to be an interesting season.”
All photos credit (JEP)