Sara Misir and Alana Carter give the Lotus Emira GT4 its UK competition debut

History was made at Donington Park as Formula Woman winners Sara Misir and Alana Carter debuted the Lotus Emira GT4 in the GT Cup Championship, achieving a best finish of fifth for 24-7 Motorsport while improving significantly across the course of the weekend.

Photo credits: Sara Misir

History was made at Donington Park as Formula Woman winners Sara Misir and Alana Carter debuted the Lotus Emira GT4 in the GT Cup Championship. Driving in Group GTH for GT4 homologated machines, the duo achieved a best finish of fifth for 24-7 Motorsport while improving significantly across the course of the weekend. The team will now look ahead to the final round of the GT Cup Championship at Snetterton where the Lotus Emira GT4 will return to competition.

Jamaican racer Sara Misir is no stranger to the GT Cup Championship having piloted a McLaren 570S GT4 in 2022 alongside fellow Formula Woman star Steph Sore. Sara has spent the majority of this season competing in her native Jamaica but has been eager to return to GT4 competition following past successes.

Donington Park marked Alana’s first race weekend on British soil having been crowned a Formula Woman winner in 2022. Canadian racer Carter has previously competed in North America, driving a range of formulas including dirt late models, single seaters and tin tops.

Coming together for the final two rounds of the GT Cup Championship, Sara and Alana were targeting progress in their debut weekend as a partnership, while further developing a new car. The Lotus Emira GT4 is the first GT4 offering from the legendary British car manufacturer since the Lotus Evora GT4 which claimed multiple race victories in the British GT Championship, last competing in 2017.

The GT Cup Championship provides the perfect platform in which to develop, for both cars and drivers alike. The weekend format features a significant amount of track time, with a practice and qualifying session opening each day, followed by a sprint and mini endurance race. With four races and a total of eight separate sessions across each meeting, the Formula Woman winners were given a fantastic opportunity to build up their confidence in a new car and fight for top honours within Group GTH.

Saturday’s action began with a fifteen-minute practice session, immediately followed by fifteen-minutes of qualifying, Alana took charge of driving duties for the majority of the day, qualifying the 24-7 Motorsport car sixth in Group GTH. A sixth place result in the opening sprint race followed, with Carter showing sizeable improvements in her performance across the day. The fifty-minute pitstop race to close out the day saw Sara make her competitive debut in the Lotus Emira GT4.

A great start saw Misir set fast lap times even on a heavy fuel load, with Alanna bringing the car home seventh in Group GTH while setting her fastest time on the final lap of the race.

Sara took over the majority of the driving duties for Sunday and after qualifying eighth in Group GTH, achieved the team’s best finish to date in the sprint race by finishing fifth.

"It was a great weekend, I learned so much and felt so much more confident in the car and on track", Misir wrote. "It was the Lotus Emira's first race in the UK and it ended with nothing but smiles for both the team and the drivers."

As both drivers continued to gain confidence in the car, a further challenge was presented to them in Sunday’s pitstop race with rain falling midway through the opening stint. An extended stay in the pits led to the 24-7 Motorsport team failing to be classified, however the Lotus Emira GT4 took the checkered flag and completed 20 laps to round of the weekend.

"This weekend was seriously a dream come true for me", added Carter. "The Lotus Emira GT4 was simply fantastic to drive, it gave me so much confidence and I continued to improve throughout the entire weekend."

"I can’t thank 24-7 Motorsport enough for giving me a smooth introduction to the series and holding my hand through everything and to Sara Misir for being such an awesome teammate. I’m taking so much away from this weekend and I can’t believe how much I learned in such a short amount of time."

Both Sara and Alana enjoyed a positive debut weekend in the Lotus Emira GT4 and will be looking to build upon this performance when the Formula Woman winners return to the GT Cup Championship at Snetterton, the home track for Lotus, on the weekend of 7th/8th October.