Douglas Motorsport's Dayton Coulthard claimed his maiden GB4 race win in a hugely dramatic opening race of the deciding weekend at Donington Park, as front-row starting title rivals Dan Guinchard and Isaac Phelps collided on the first lap.
Right at the start of the race, Guinchard from second made clear his intentions, as he attempted to go around the outside of his closest pursuer in the standings at Redgate. That challenge was rebuffed, but moments later, Guinchard nudged the rear of Phelps at the Old Hairpin, with the leader dropping to 15th and Guinchard dropping even further to 21st.
With further first lap drama eliminating two other title challengers in the form of Jack Taylor (Fortec) and Alex O'Grady (KMR), the safety car was deployed, with Arden's Leon Wilson now leading from third on the grid, while Coulthard from sixth was up to second with his teammate Lucas Blakeley gaining a place to run third.
With two cars to collect from the gravel, the race resumed on lap four, and while Wilson looked to escape in pursuit of a second win of the year, Coulthard applied pressure, and chased him for several laps with the gap barely extending above half a second.
Then with just a couple of minutes still on the clock, the son of F1 legend David Coulthard dived up the inside of Wilson at the Old Hairpin to steal the lead. Wilson attempted to fight back, but was quickly demoted by Elite's title contender Ary Bansal. The Indian driver had started ninth after a tricky qualifying, but took full advantage of all the drama to surge up the order.
Wilson was then further nudged down the order by Blakeley, who regained his spot on the podium. Bansal had superb pace, setting the fastest lap on the final tour, but Coulthard had enough of a gap to claim his maiden single-seater win, just over half a second clear of Bansal, who is right back in the title mix.
On his GB3 return, Blakeley stood on the podium on his first attempt, while Wilson dropped to fourth in the final classification.
Fortec's Thomas Ingram Hill was fifth, a second clear of Hillspeed's Leandro Juncos while Elite's title hopeful Alex Kattoulas went from 15th to seventh.
Douglas Motorsport's Enzo Hallman took eighth ahead of a recovering Phelps, with Pace Performance's Stefan Bostandjiev completing the top-10. Guinchard's recovery drive took him up to 12th.
Just 18 points now separate the top-three in the driver's championship standings heading into the final day of the season tomorrow, with three races still to come. Guinchard leads by five points, with Bansal climbing to second and Phelps dropping to third. Kattoulas still has an outside chance of the crown, but O'Grady, Taylor and Hallman are now out of contention.
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park GP, provisional race one result:
1. Dayton Coulthard, Douglas Motorsport
2. Ary Bansal, Elite Motorsport, +0.550s
3. Lucas Blakeley, Douglas Motorsport, 1.997s
4. Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport, +2.644s
5. Thomas Ingram Hill, Fortec Motorsport, +3.230s
6. Leandro Juncos, Hillspeed, +4.421s
7. Alex Kattoulas, Elite Motorsport, +5.435s
8. Enzo Hallman, Douglas Motorsport, +8.763s
9. Isaac Phelps, Elite Motorsport, +10.422s
10. Stefan Bostandjiev, Pace Performance, +10.662s
11. Luca Magnussen, Fortec Motorsport, +13.991s
12. Dan Guinchard, Hillspeed, +19.160s
13. Josh McLean, Pace Performance, +22.467s
14. Ava Dobson, Arden Motorsport, +22.798s
15. Dudley Ruddock, Arden Motorsport, +23.172s
16. Flame Airikkala, Hillspeed, +25.864s
17. Lewis Wherrell, KMR Sport, +26.070s
18. John O'Donnell, Pace Performance, +33.064s
19. Holly Miall, Fox Motorsport, +33.782s
20. Caitlyn McDaniel, Fox Motorsport, +43.546s
21. Lily-May Watkins, KMR Sport, +44.285s
DNF. Jason Pribyl, ADM, +3 laps
DNF. Alex O'Grady, KMR Sport
DNF. Jack Taylor, Fortec Motorsport