KMR Sport’s championship leader Tom Mills laid down an ominous marker for his rivals in the first GB4 test session of the week at Donington Park, setting a time nearly two seconds faster than last year’s pole.
Mills’ best effort of 1m27.871s came inside the final 10 minutes of the session, eclipsing the best qualifying time from last year by 1.766s on the resurfaced track.
His time was also three tenths quicker than the previous fastest time recorded by a GB4 car at Donington Park, set by Mills in pre-season testing.
The 18-year-old was 0.417s faster in the session than Fortec’s Colin Queen, with Evans GP’s Cooper Webster half a tenth further back in third.
Elite Motorsport’s returnee Josh Irfan was fourth quickest, 0.151s clear of the second Fortec car of Ruhaan Alva in fifth.
Liam McNeilly was the lead Fox Motorsport runner, three tenths of a second ahead of teammate Sid Smith, with Harry Burgoyne Jnr sporting a revised colour scheme and eighth for Graham Brunton Racing.
KMR duo Jack Clifford and Jeremy Fairbairn completed the top-10, ahead of series newcomer Kai Daryanani, who sampled a GB4 car for the first time with Evans GP, and was 11th.
A total of 14 drivers participated in the session, with Arden Motorsport running a GB4 car for Leon Wilson and Fortec running a spare car too.
Fox Motorsport also ran Smith’s father Rob in a third car, while Harri Reynolds, Thomas Lee, Aditya Kulkarni and Dylan Hotchin will join testing later this week ahead of the race event.
The second session of the day at Donington Park is due to commence at 14.40.
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park Thursday session one result:
1. Tom Mills, KMR Sport, 1m27.871s
2. Colin Queen, Fortec Motorsport, +0.471s
3. Cooper Webster, Evans GP, +0.530s
4. Josh Irfan, Elite Motorsport, +1.135s
5. Ruhaan Alva, Fortec Motorsport, +1.286s
6. Liam McNeilly, Fox Motorsport, +1.390s
7. Sid Smith, Fox Motorsport, +1.784s
8. Harry Burgoyne Jnr, Graham Brunton Racing, +1.959s
9. Jack Clifford, KMR Sport, +2.162s
10. Jeremy Fairbairn, KMR Sport, +3.728s
11. Kai Daryanani, Evans GP, +4.131s
12. Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport, +5.422s
