Getting a chance to race in single-seaters is a dream for Daryl DeLeon Taylor, so getting a call from Valour Racing to drive in the GB4 Championship is a dream come true. But the 16-year-old must have been pinching himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming when he landed on the podium during his race debut at Donington Park.
The Filipino-British driver joined the Corby-based team earlier this year to race in the Radical SR1 Cup. Their partnership has worked quite well with Daryl winning 2 of the 4 races so far in the 2022 season. So, when Valour Racing bought a pair of Tatuus F4-T014 cars for the championship, it made Daryl the obvious choice to drive one of them and he certainly did not disappoint.
Driving the #2 red-and-black liveried entry, he spent most of testing getting used to the aero and slick tires of the new machinery. But it didn’t take him that long to find his way near the top of the time sheets, which was impressive for a rookie. He then set the 5th fastest time in Qualifying out of a field of 13 cars.
Daryl, however, didn’t get the best of starts in Race 1 and dropped down to P7. That meant he had to work hard over the next 12 laps in search for a good result. Once the race had settled in, he managed to slot into P6 and later made a lunge at the hairpin to move up into P5. It was near the end of the race when caught up with 3rd and 4th places who were busy battling in front of him. Daryl positioned himself perfectly, got a run on both cars to shoot up into 3rd, and score a podium finish on his GB4 Championship debut.
It was a similar story in Race 2 with Daryl ending up in 10th after a slow getaway. This time though, he wasn’t as lucky. After clawing his way back up to P8, the other cars were already too far ahead and he didn’t have enough laps to chase them down. He would end up in 8th place when the chequered flag dropped – just half a second behind his teammate Danny Harrison.
The reverse grid start in Race 3 saw Daryl line up from the 5th row. While he spent most of the 12 laps fighting mid-pack, it was still an enjoyable learning experience for the rookie who wrapped up his single-seater debut in 9th place.
Daryl will be back behind the wheel of a Radical SR1 as that championship resumes on the 25th/26th of June at Snetterton.
Daryl DeLeon Taylor: “My GB4 debut went very well getting my first and the team’s first podium in the series. We showed respectable pace and ran at the front in some of the races, but the main takeaway from this weekend was the experience I have gained in single seaters and will defiantly be looking at the next few races. I feel like I am now more familiar to the racing style and the car in GB4 and I will definitely come back stronger when the opportunity comes.”
Daryl DeLeon Taylor is supported by Train Maintenance Services (TMS).
For news and updates, Like the Daryl DeLeon Racing page on Facebook, follow @daryldeleon on Instagram, or visit daryltaylorracing.com.
[Photos of GB4 Championship / Jakob Ebrey Photography]
