Douglas Motorsport's Dayton Coulthard believes his maiden car racing victory during the Donington Park season finale last month was a clear indicator of the improvements made during the course of the 2025 season.
Speaking in a column in this week's edition of Motorsport News, the 16-year-old Scotsman said: "The win definitely underlined my improvement during the season. The first race in 2025 was also at Donington Park and when I reflect on how we performed at that initial race and then look at the last one, the difference is huge."
Having earned his second best qualifying result of the year with sixth place, Coulthard kept his nose clean on the first lap amidst the title drama unfolding around him, as well as a daring around the outside pass of teammate Lucas Blakeley at Coppice.
"Any opportunity I saw, any single gap or any mistake that anyone would make, I'd just take the opportunity and go for it. My mindset was there's nothing to lose. And once I got to the front my only concern was just to keep it clean, keep it on the tarmac and stay in front."
That mindset paid off, as he claimed his first win with a pass on Arden's Leon Wilson at the Old Hairpin with two minutes remaining in the contest. The victory was something Coulthard had imagined in his formative career.
"I'd played that scenario in my head hundreds and thousands of times, it's almost like a dream. When I knew there was a possibility of winning that race, all I could think of was to get to the front and keep all other cars behind me."
Coulthard's GB4 campaign came after a karting career that pushed him through various ranks before reaching the British Kart Championship, but he preferred the style required in single-seaters.
"While I had karting experience, coming into car racing is almost like a new world. When you go from a kart to a car it's like learning how to walk again. The way you drive it is completely different, even the way you race, which is something I'm a big fan of in cars as there's no contact, or at least not as much compared to karting."
After what he described as a "learning and development" year, Coulthard climbed to finish just outside the top-10 in the final standings, with another podium earlier in the year at Oulton Park adding to his silverware haul.
As a sign of his progress, he only qualified outside the top-10 once in the final half of the year, as he continually moved closer to the front-running pace.
"The season correlated pretty well with my expectations because I knew it was going to be a tough year with a lot of learning. I didn't have expectations of running in the top-three all year. I wanted to focus on improving and to keep it clean throughout the season.
"It's nice to look back, look at both ends of the timeline and see where we've come up to. I want to extend that timeline out next year and just keep pushing forwards and do the best I can."
As for 2026 plans, Coulthard hopes to remain in the MSV paddock, either with a GB4 return, or a step to GB3.
"We're looking at a few options for next season. I'm very keen on doing one of the MSV championships as they're very well organised and put together. And, as I said, there's a lot to learn within them."
