Leading Formula Ford squad Kevin Mills Racing has officially confirmed it will move into the GB4 Championship partnered by the BRDC, with a minimum two-car entry for 2022.
The Gloucestershire team has ordered two Tatuus F4-T014 cars from MSV, is close to announcing its first driver, and is considering entering a third car following significant levels of interest.
Established in 1998, the team is a five-time winner of the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone, a multiple Formula Ford Festival winner and has won countless national Formula Ford titles.
Looking to build on that success, Team Principal Kevin Mills believes GB4 is the perfect opportunity for his team to expand.
“The cars are at a sensible price, and we can come in and offer the championship to drivers with a budget that’s a bit more obtainable for people that are less well funded,” he commented.
“For a team like ourselves that have come from Formula Ford, we’ve been really successful there and it was the right step up for us to move to. The championship, with it being alongside GB3 and British GT, is a really, really good package. We were fortunate enough to support that package at one meeting in 2021 and when you see how well it is run, we just wanted to be part of that.
“The cars are really fast but really reliable and they have a proper carbon tub, and the young drivers all want to be in that type of car, so as a team it was a no brainer really to get involved.”
Kevin Mills Racing has slicks and wings experience from previous seasons, but are relishing the opportunity to get hold of modern kit.
“We’ve run cars in the Formula Ford Ecoboost, and I did have some involvement with BARC Renault for a while, so I’ve ran some slicks and wings cars but not a modern one like this. We’ve got quite a lot of help and information from some people that have been involved with that type of car previously, so we’ll be OK and can transfer our success over.”
The team has been a popular port of call for young Formula Ford racers, and levels of interest in the GB4 operation has been very high, to the point where the team is close to announcing its first driver.
“I’m really pleased with the levels of interest, I’ve been asked for quotes from a lot of people already; a lot of people have got in touch with us and want to be involved. One of the cars will be taken, I can’t quite announce that yet, but one car will be taken. And we’re now possibly looking to run a third car, but we need to get the first two drivers signed up and we’ll look into getting a third after that.”
Mills hopes one of those cars will be for his 16-year-old son Tom, who has had a successful season of racing, and was a front-runner at the recent Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch.
“He’s [Tom] had a really good year, he was only old enough to start back in May so he didn’t do a full season but he won the last National round. We’re just tidying up some budget things around that and hopefully we’ll get him sorted.”
With his team’s entry now confirmed, Mills is looking forward to a busy pre-season testing campaign.
“During pre-season we’ll look to get in as many days as we can so we can hit the ground running. That’s the key with anything, to get in as many laps as you can for the team and drivers so when we get to the first round we can run right at the front.”
