Youngsters from around the world will get the new season underway in the revitalised GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, at Donington Park this weekend (5/6 April).
 

The 24-strong grid, easily the biggest yet seen in GB4, features 11 different nationalities and three sons of F1 stars across an 11-strong team line-up, as the UK’s best value entry-level single-seater category enjoys a boom in interest.
 

The Tatuus MSV GB4-025 car has been introduced into the championship for 2025, with major safety upgrades and a revamped technical package that has been widely acclaimed as a perfect platform for young drivers to begin their careers.
 

As a result, this weekend’s grid is GB4’s biggest yet, and pre-season testing has indicated that the 2025 title battle to follow in the footsteps of Nikolas Taylor, Tom Mills and Linus Granfors to claim the £50,000 champion’s prize towards a drive in GB3 next year, should be wide open.

 

The testing form guide

A comprehensive build-up of official pre-season testing dates over the past month has given an insight as to the potential early season competitive order.
 

The returning Leon Wilson, a podium finisher in GB4 last year, was the driver to beat at the first test at Snetterton, topping both days for Arden Motorsport in Norfolk, while fellow returnee, Canadian Mayer Deonarine, took over at the top for Graham Brunton Racing on the first day at Oulton Park.
 

24 hours later, it was the turn of Elite’s Greco-Japanese karting graduate Alex Kattoulas (an Andrea Kimi Antonelli-beater no less!), before his Ginetta Junior-winning teammate Isaac Phelps led the first day at Donington Park. Kattoulas ended the Donington test on top, despite Hillspeed’s ex-Mercedes Junior Dan Guinchard setting the pace in three of the four sessions on the final day.
 

Then, at last week’s Silverstone test, Douglas Motorsport’s Radical graduate Luke Hilton was on top for two days, but with just 0.055 seconds covering the top-three by the end, it’s clear this isn’t just GB4’s biggest field ever, but potentially the closest matched too!

 

Sons of F1 stars choose GB4

In amongst the 20-plus grid, there’s three sons of F1 stars vying for honours. The first to confirm their place on the grid was Fortec’s Luca Magnussen, son of Jan and brother to Kevin. Then came Douglas Motorsport’s Dayton Coulthard, son of BRDC President and 13-time Grand Prix winner David, sporting the same iconic helmet design as his father. Both have flirted regularly with top-10 positions in pre-season testing as they graduate from karting into cars.
 

Then there’s Alex Berg, son of 1980s Grand Prix racer Allen, who arrives in the series with perhaps the biggest pedigree of all. He’s taken wins in both USA and British F4, but his first taste of GB4 machinery will come with Graham Brunton Racing in the pre-event tests on Thursday and Friday. 
 

There’s an IndyCar connection too! Leandro Juncos, son of the Juncos Hollinger Racing Team Owner Ricardo Juncos, makes his first steps into European competition with Hillspeed.

 

The female battle for a big cash prize

GB4 has quickly established itself as a key proving ground for up and coming female single-seater drivers. Last year’s championship runner-up Alisha Palmowski has already proven herself as a star in the new F1 Academy season, winning the opening race of the season in China, to add to her three GB4 triumphs in 2024. Palmowski won a €30,000 prize towards her F1 Academy drive as a result of her GB4 exploits last year, and this year’s crop of female drivers will battle for an increased €50,000 sum to put towards a potential seat in the F1-support category.
 

KMR Sport’s Megan Bruce will start as one of the favourites in this particular battle. The British driver was a dependable contender in her first year of single-seater racing last year, and the switch to the multiple champions will further aid her cause. Arden’s American Ava Dobson will push her hard though, having shown huge improvements in pre-season testing.
 

Fox Motorsport’s Holly Miall makes the move to slicks and wings for the first time after two seasons in Ginetta Juniors with the team, while racing newcomer Lily-May Watkins is one of Bruce’s teammates at the all-conquering KMR squad.

 

Brits against the world

A total of 11 British drivers are pitching themselves against talent from around the world. In addition to Hilton, Coulthard, Wilson, Phelps, Bruce, Watkins, Miall and Guinchard, the UK is represented by Fortec’s Ginetta Junior graduate Thomas Ingram Hill, Pace Performance’s racing newcomer Josh McLean, who has just three starts to his name in the Ginetta GT Championship, and Rossoverde Scorpio Racing’s Neirin Evans, who jumps up from karting.
 

In addition to the drivers already mentioned, they’ll go up against Australia’s Jack Taylor, Canada’s Callum Baxter, Sweden’s Enzo Hallman, India’s Ary Bansal, Ireland’s Alex O’Grady, the USA’s Jason Pribyl and Bulgaria’s Stefan Bostandjiev.
 

Fortec’s Taylor and Graham Brunton Racing’s Baxter are both returnees from last year. Taylor made strong progress with the team in 2024, while Baxter was a double podium finisher and is targeting wins this time around.
 

Douglas Motorsport’s Hallman is a multiple race-winner in Formula Nordic and a front-runner in the all-electric NXT Gen Cup, having also won the Swedish Karting Championship. Bansal, who competes for Elite Motorsport, is another driver with F4 experience having raced in the Spanish F4 Championship and the Middle East Trophy.
 

O’Grady brings further F4 experience to the grid, having taken podiums in French F4 last year. He’s signed up with KMR, and even though he’s had just a couple of days in the GB4 car, has demonstrated he should be another in the title mix. Pribyl makes the step up to slicks and wings racing for the first time with Gary Ward’s ADM team, having enjoyed a front-running campaign in the United Formula Ford Championship in 2024.
 

Finally, Bostandjiev makes his single-seater debut with Pace Performance. The Bulgarian is an accomplished sports car racer, and while his main programme is in GB3 this year, he’ll also do GB4 rounds where his commitments allow.

 

More to come?

With 24 drivers entered into this weekend’s action at the time of writing, just four seats remain to be taken up across the Arden, Hillspeed, Fox Motorsport and Pace Performance squads before the grid reaches capacity. But there’s still plenty of interest, and time to enter, so don’t rule out one or two more additions before the weekend action starts!

 

The weekend format

GB4 will race three times this weekend, but the first action will be testing on Thursday and Friday, with three 30-minute sessions on each day. Saturday’s first qualifying session of the year will play a role in the formation of all three grid line-ups. The qualifying classification will determine the starting order for race one, while each driver’s second quickest times will form the race two grid on Sunday morning. Finally, the top-12 drivers within 103% of the fastest qualifying time will be reversed on the grid for Sunday afternoon’s finale, with the remaining drivers lining up behind them at the back of the grid. With extra points on offer for places gained in this event, the weekend will end in style.
 

GB4 has a superb live streaming package of all races via the official championship website, www.gb-4.net, with full on track coverage plus preview shows ahead of each contest.

 

Weekend timetable

Thursday 3 April - official testing
09.45-10.15 - Session one
12.50-13.20 - Session two
15.30-16.00 - Session three

Friday 4 April - official testing
10.20-10.50 - Session one
13.45-14.15 - Session two
16.30-17.00 - Session three

Saturday 5 April
11.50-12.05 – Qualifying
17.30-17.48 - Race one

Sunday 6 April
10.10-10.28 - Race two
15.05-15.23 - Race three

 

The record-breaking entry list
#3 Alex O’Grady, KMR Sport, Ireland
#7 Enzo Hallman, Douglas Motorsport, Sweden
#8 Thomas Ingram Hill, Fortec Motorsport, United Kingdom
#9 Megan Bruce, Fox Motorsport, United Kingdom
#15 Lily May Watkins, KMR Sport, United Kingdom
#17 Stefan Bostandjiev, Pace Performance, Bulgaria
#23 Luca Magnussen, Fortec Motorsport, Denmark
#27 Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport, United Kingdom
#28 Dayton Coulthard, Douglas Motorsport, United Kingdom
#32 Luke Hilton, Douglas Motorsport, United Kingdom
#35 Isaac Phelps, Elite Motorsport, United Kingdom
#44 Mayer Deonarine, Graham Brunton Racing, Canada
#45 Callum Baxter, Graham Brunton Racing, Canada
#46 Ary Bansal, Elite Motorsport, India
#48 Holly Miall, Fox Motorsport, United Kingdom
#49 Daniel Guinchard, Hillspeed, United Kingdom
#50 Jack Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, Australia
#51 Alex Kattoulas, Elite Motorsport, Japanese-Greek
#55 Ava Dobson, Arden Motorsport, United States of America
#59 Jason Pribyl, ADM, United States of America
#64 Neirin Evans, Rossoverde Scorpio Racing, United Kingdom
#76 Josh McLean, Pace Performance, United Kingdom
#77 Leandro Juncos, Hillspeed, Argentinean-American
#98 Alex Berg, Graham Brunton Racing, Canada
 

For more championship information, visit www.gb-4.net