The second GB4 Championship season will commence at Oulton Park in just one month’s time (7-10 April) and there’s plenty to get excited about with four weeks remaining.
New drivers and teams will ensure the thrills of last year’s action are repeated up and down the country, with GB4 acknowledged as providing some of the best wheel-to-wheel drama in the UK last season. Here’s some of the key talking points as we get closer to the new campaign.
New teams join the established ranks
A pair of new teams have been attracted to the championship ahead of the 2023 season, with leading Ginetta Junior and sports car team Fox Motorsport, and Formula Regional Asian squad Evans GP have added their names to this year’s roster. For Fox Motorsport, it’s a new venture into single-seaters for the first time, while Evans GP has relocated to the UK for GB4, having previously been based in Australia and Malaysia!
Both teams wasted no time with confirming drivers in their cars; Fox has brought along Ginetta Junior front-runner Liam McNeilly and paired him with reigning Fiesta Junior champion Sid Smith, son of a former Le Mans winner no less! Evans has contracted S5000 star Cooper Webster and Taiwanese-American racer Thomas Lee for their first taste of UK competition.
USA v Australia v United Kingdom
All drivers announced in GB4 so far have something in common; they’re either from the USA, Australia or the UK!
Four drivers will each represent the USA and UK, with Colin Queen, Jeremy Fairbairn, Jason Conzo and Thomas Lee flying the stars and stripes and Dylan Hotchin, Liam McNeilly, Sid Smith and Harry Burgoyne the home heroes currently signed up.
They’re joined by Aussies Webster and Jack Clifford, though the pan-continent battle may well broaden further, given drivers from Africa, Asia and several European countries are known to have tested cars during the winter months!
Will the Shoot-Out winner reign supreme?
American contender Colin Queen won National Formula Ford’s GB4 Shoot-Out and the £20,000 prize towards a GB4 seat that came with it. He has since elected to graduate to GB4 with the squad which ran the test, Fortec Motorsport, and the Californian has shown well in testing with the team. Having topped one of the pre-season tests so far, he is tipped as a likely title contender.
Can a privateer mix it with the teams?
Dylan Hotchin will aim to prove that privateers can take on the might of GB4’s established teams, as he runs a true ‘lad and dad’ operation with his father Richard. The youngster, a front-runner in Ford Fiestas, is aiming to bolster his squad with engineers from British steel and is offering chances for apprentices to join the effort throughout the year.
From karting to GB4, how will the youngest driver on the grid rank?
Graduating from karting to cars, 15-year-old Scotsman Harry Burgoyne Jnr has teamed up with local squad Graham Brunton Racing for his first campaign of car racing. Harry has won just about everything in karts, can he use the race-winning expertise of Graham Brunton Racing to replicate that form in single-seaters?
The grid set to grow even further
The second GB4 campaign will build on the success of the first season with an even stronger grid in 2023. 2022 front-runners Elite Motorsport, Fortec Motorsport and Hillspeed have each tested numerous possible GB4 contenders to introduce to their line-ups, while drivers from the inaugural campaign are hoping to confirm their returns too! The grid for the opening round looks set to be very competitive, and the biggest seen yet in GB4!
