Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing’s Luke Hilton secured his and the team’s first-ever GB4 victory in the first race of the weekend at Donington Park. The British driver led every lap of the contest from pole position to secure the win in his second season of single-seaters, despite late pressure from Fortec’s impressive rookie contender Franciszek Cegielski.
Qualifying
KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady had set the fastest time in qualifying this morning, initially putting himself on pole position for both races one and two of the weekend.
But a series of track limits penalties were handed out after post-session investigations, resulting in a significantly amended grid, with the majority of drivers losing several lap times. Hilton therefore secured pole position ahead of Cegielski, with Dayton Coulthard (Douglas Motorsport) and Demitri Nolan (Hillspeed) immediately behind. Jordyn Martin (Fortec) and Josh McLean (Pace) were fifth and sixth on the amended result.
The race two grid was also modified, with Nolan securing race two pole based on each driver’s second quickest times. He will start tomorrow morning’s race ahead of Coulthard, with Martyn moving up to third ahead of Arden’s Michael Koh. His teammate Solenn Amrouche and Fox Motorsport’s Jasser Iskander complete the race two grid top-six.
Race one
From his first pole position, Hilton made a strong start to lead the pack down to Redgate corner on the first lap. He’d built up a lead of almost a second, only to see that wiped out by the appearance of the safety car following a tangle at the Fogarty Esses.
Hilton made a strong restart to keep hold of the lead, and while he threatened to pull away again, he was instead kept well in check by Cegielski, who belied his lack of experience to run second throughout. The young Pole kept Hilton firmly in his sights, and the pair were separated by just over half a second as they crossed the line. Coulthard meanwhile claimed third, to maintain his record of standing on the podium at every circuit so far this year.
Taking full advantage of his elevated grid position, Nolan secured fourth, his best GB4 result to date ahead of McLean and O’Grady. The Irishman mounted a strong recovery drive after being demoted to 10th on the amended grid.
Martyn secured her own best GB4 result with seventh ahead of Hillspeed’s Enzo Hallman, who gained 11 places in the contest as he surged up the order. John O’Donnell gained five places on his way to ninth, while championship leader Fred Green minimised the damage to his advantage at the top by blasting from 18th to tenth.
Hilton said: “All I can say is thank you to everyone who is involved. Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing really deserve that, Gary Ward [Team Principal] has really put in the hard work, and thank you to David Williams [Team Co-Owner] for everything as well. Thank you to my mechanic ‘Captain’, my engineer Andre. Thank you so much to my dad as well for putting this together as well, and his wife Kirsty. And to everyone for their support, I really can’t thank them enough. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster so far this season and hopefully we can just start getting more wins now. We’ve got our first win out of the way and hopefully this momentum carries on.
“The prep that goes on away from the track is beyond belief, the team works really hard in the workshop day and night, and we work really hard off the track as well. My dad has been ripping his hair out to get money together so we can race. So this is a big thank you to everyone for their hard work.”
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park race one grid top-six:
1. Luke Hilton, Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing, 1m29.954s
2. Franciszek Cegielski, Fortec Motorsports, +0.172s
3. Dayton Coulthard, Douglas Motorsport, +0.259s
4. Demitri Nolan, Hillspeed, +0.399s
5. Jordyn Martin, Fortec Motorsports, +0.632s
6. Josh McLean, Pace Performance, +0.762s
Click here for full race one grid
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park race one top-six result:
1. Luke Hilton, Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing, 11 laps
2. Franciszek Cegielski, Fortec Motorsports, +0.528s
3. Dayton Coulthard, Douglas Motorsport, +1.856s
4. Demitri Nolan, Hillspeed, +2.570s
5. Josh McLean, Pace Performance, +3.385s
6. Alex O’Grady, KMR Sport, +3.655s
Click here for full result
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, drivers' championship standings after race seven of 21:
1. Fred Green, Elite Motorsport, 151pts
2. Alex O'Grady, KMR Sport, 144pts
3. Enzo Hallman, Hillspeed, 133pts
4. Thomas Ingram Hill, 108pts
5. Dayton Coulthard, Douglas Motorsport, 96pts
=. Luke Hilton, Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing, 96pts
Click here for full standings
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, teams' championship standings after race seven of 21:
1. Hillspeed, 228pts
2. Fortec Motorsports, 202pts
3. Douglas Motorsport, 194pts
4. Pace Performance, 170pts
5. KMR Sport, 163pts
6. Elite Motorsport, 139pts
Click here for full standings
For more championship information, visit www.gb-4.net