GB4 rookie Holly Miall is confident that she can continue to improve this season after enjoying her ‘best round yet’ at Oulton Park. In the build-up to the championship’s fourth  round at Snetterton this weekend, Feeder Series spoke to the Fox Motorsport driver about her progress.

By George Sanderson

Just before the first GB4 Championship race at Oulton Park last time out, Fox Motorsport and driver Holly Miall had a choice to make: follow the frontrunners by starting on slicks on a damp but drying track, or take the wets and hope they last the distance.

On that rainy Saturday afternoon in Cheshire, Fox chose the latter and won out. Despite starting 21st of 24 cars, Miall went on to secure a ninth-place finish.

“I feel like we made the most of it,” she told Feeder Series. “We were just happy to keep it on track and finish the race.”

Miall’s ninth place in race one was her first top-10 finish in cars since the final race of the 2023 Ginetta Junior Championship. The results came after chaotic scenes unfolded within the assembly area pre-race as teams gambled on which tyre compound to use.

“I just remember it being quite hectic,” Miall said. “I remember being in the assembly area. It was just very stressful for everyone.”

In the third race of the weekend, wet weather and extra formation laps combined for some extra pre-race confusion.

Once again, a light rain shower fell with cars still in the assembly area, but this time the vast majority opted to remain on the slicks, including all of the top 16 drivers. Miall, starting 22nd, was one of only five drivers choosing the wet compound, but after a crash for KMR Sport’s Lily-May Watkins on the formation lap caused the start to be delayed, everyone on the slicks came into the pits.

With that, Miall was suddenly elevated to fourth despite still lining up in the 22nd grid slot.

“It was probably the weirdest thing ever,” the Chelmsford native said. “A lot of them lined up and then they started having people run out, push the cars back, go into the pit lane. It was just hectic and I was just sat there waiting to go!”

Miall said that before the race, she and Fox made ‘the wrong choice’ with their tyre pressures, believing the rain would be heavier. As she struggled with tyre wear later in the race, the drivers behind her, including those who had started in the pits, began catching up.

Still, she hung on for 11th, earning five points for the finishing position and 11 points for each position she gained from her starting spot. Results-wise, it was her best weekend in motorsport, and it came after her first-ever races on a bespoke wet tyre.

Miall previously spent two years in the Ginetta Junior Championship, which uses the same tyre compound for all conditions. The 17-year-old told Feeder Series that adapting to using two different tyre compounds was one of the main lessons she had to learn upon graduating to single-seaters.

“In Ginettas it was a road tyre, so it was just completely different,” she said. “The Ginetta tyres are best when they’re cold… but in the GB4, on the slicks, you really need to work the car to get heat into the tyres for it to actually drive well.”

Beyond new tyres, the transition from the nimble Ginetta G40 sports car to the Tatuus MSV GB4-025 required a lot of hard work.

“The biggest thing has been the physicality of it, the amount of more strength I’ve needed, how much more I’ve needed to be in the gym,” she said. “It’s such a harder car to drive.”

Miall credited Fox Motorsport and the team around her for making the step up as smooth as possible. Since the end of last year, Miall has worked with performance coach Sacha Smith, calling her ‘one of the most important people in my racing’.

“I knew them [Fox Motorsport] so well from the two years before,” Miall said. “I really got on with everyone. I think having familiar surroundings going into something that was completely new to me was quite helpful.”

This year also marks the first time that Miall has raced alongside a female teammate, with American 18-year-old Caitlyn McDaniel completing an all-female lineup at Fox.

“It makes a difference having a female teammate. You’re kind of in the same boat,” Miall said. “I’ve only ever had boys as teammates, so it’s quite a big difference having another girl.”

With her best results of the season at Oulton Park, Miall comes into the Snetterton race weekend with renewed confidence.

“It’s shown that I can do it, and it’s also shown me that qualifying is one of the most important things,” she told Feeder Series.

Miall is also competing for GB4’s €50,000 contribution towards a drive in the 2026 F1 Academy series for its highest-placed female driver at the end of the season. KMR Sport’s Megan Bruce is currently the best-ranked eligible driver, but Miall is just seven points behind the 20-year-old, with Ava Dobson of Arden Motorsport two points further back. Both Bruce and Dobson have prior GB4 experience, with Bruce taking part in every race last season and Dobson, who previously raced at the entry level in the United States, featuring in the second Donington Park and Silverstone rounds.

“They’ve had a lot more single-seater experience, so I wouldn’t be massively disappointed in myself if I didn’t [win the prize],” Miall said. “I know it’s not my only option, but I think publicity-wise and looking at it as a championship, it would be a really good option.”

Whoever wins this year has big shoes to fill. Alisha Palmowski won last year’s prize and joined the all-female series following her second-place finish in the 2024 GB4 Championship. She is currently fifth in the drivers’ standings with one victory and two further podiums.

“I’ve spoken to Alisha recently about it,” Miall told Feeder Series. “She’s explained what she’s done, differences between [the cars]. Going from GB4 to F1 Academy, that’s something I’d ideally like to do. So I suppose, in a way, I would look up to what she’s done.”

Miall first got into a kart aged four and, unlike her older siblings, loved it immediately. Her father couldn’t afford to race himself, but he was a mechanic for a family friend, which opened the door for them to go into karting.

At first, she and her father had planned on testing as ‘a weekend thing’ for fun. Now, the Briton has a golden opportunity to take the next step in her career – a possibility she didn’t believe would ever come a few years ago.

“I don’t really think younger me would probably believe it, because it was never our plan to race, let alone go into cars. Especially with F1 Academy becoming a thing, no one had any idea that that would even come about years and years ago,” she said. “I think younger me would be quite proud of myself now.”

Header photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography