A 15-car field will engage in battle at Donington Park as the GB4 Championship grid heads for the first of this year’s visits to the East Midlands.
After a double win last time out at Silverstone, Fortec’s Linus Granfors heads the bolstered pack to Donington. The Swedish driver has now won the last three GB4 races, but has yet to sample the swoops and inclines of the 1993 European Grand Prix venue.
His nearest challenger, KMR Sport’s Harry Burgoyne has though, thanks to his GB4 experience from last season. Sitting just 14 points away from Granfors, the young Scotsman is gunning for his maiden victories with the championship-winning squad, having earned his first podiums during the Oulton Park season opener.
Elite Motorsport’s Alisha Palmowski has made a big impression across her first five single-seater contests. The Ginetta Junior graduate won on her debut at Oulton Park, and another podium at Silverstone keeps her firmly in the mix at the front, and well placed in pursuit of the €30,000 prize contribution for this year’s lead female racer.
Shoot-out winner Brandon McCaughan is the third driver on the grid with a GB4 victory to his name, having won race two at Oulton Park. With boosted support from backers in Ireland, he’s back on the grid with KMR Sport again this weekend as he aims for more silverware, continuing his strong graduation from Formula Ford.
The fight at the front could well be gate-crashed, as Fox Motorsport’s Liam McNeilly returns to the series for this weekend’s triple header. The British driver finished third overall in GB4 last year with wins at Oulton Park and Donington Park, and has continued that form across the Atlantic in USF Juniors, having claimed a win during his first weekend at the NOLA Motorsports Park. A gap in the schedule means he returns to GB4 to keep race sharp, while also assisting the development of the team’s two newcomers for 2024.
Branden Templeton will hope to benefit from McNeilly’s presence, and is Fox’s leading full-time contender at present. Despite no previous car racing experience, the 17-year-old sits fifth in the early standings with a podium finish in just his second race, in wet conditions at Oulton Park.
Templeton is 13 points clear of the lead Graham Brunton Racing entrant of Callum Baxter. The Canadian is a multiple Formula Ford champion in his homeland and has adapted well to slicks and wings competition in the UK, with two fourth places and a clean sweep of top-10 results so far.
Arden Motorsport’s Leon Wilson could well be one to watch here this weekend. The car racing newcomer has progressed rapidly in recent weeks, and fresh from his first podium at Silverstone, where he was a front-row starter, then dominated the recent official test at Snetterton, where he was quickest on both days.
Privateer Marcus Luzio created a bit of GB4 history last time out at Silverstone, as he became the first such entrant to claim a podium finish in the series after a superb rise through the field in the first race.
Series returnee Chloe Grant sits eighth at present, the Scottish driver made her single-seater debut in GB4 in 2022 before participating in the inaugural F1 Academy campaign last year. She demonstrated her progress at Oulton Park with a maiden slicks and wings podium, and she’ll be out for more in the third KMR Sport car.
Graham Brunton Racing’s Mayer Deonarine completes the top-10 heading into the event, the affable young Canadian has proved a dependable driver as he adapts to UK competition, and while his best results are a pair of seventh places, his pace has shown he is capable of podiums.
Elite Motorsport’s Finn Harrison banished memories of a troubled Oulton Park opener with a double pole position at Silverstone and his first single-seater podium too. At the centre of some breath-taking racing, Harrison still has a point to prove and has raced at Donington in GB4 previously, with the circuit being the location of his series debut at the end of last year.
The third Fox Motorsport car is occupied by Megan Bruce, who is looking to build on some promising outings so far, having only started racing of any sort last year in Caterhams. She’s equal on points with Fortec’s Australian Jack Taylor, who entered GB4 with Indian F4 experience, and has racked up the points finishes during his first races in the UK.
Fortec’s third contender, Dan Hickey, was another driver to have made their first GB4 appearance at the end of last year, and is continuing to build his experience, again having not raced prior to the season ending event in 2023.
The aspiring young F1 pretenders will do battle three times this weekend, with qualifying on Saturday morning forming the grid for race one, which starts at 17.05 on Saturday, and for race two, which is due to commence at 10.07 on Sunday. The final contest will feature a full reverse grid of all drivers within 103% of the fastest qualifying time, and is due off at 16.15.
GB4 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park entry list:
#9 Megan Bruce, Fox Motorsport
#11 Marcus Luzio, Luzio.com
#16 Linus Granfors, Fortec Motorsport
#17 Dan Hickey, Fortec Motorsport
#21 Alisha Palmowski, Elite Motorsport
#24 Branden Templeton, Fox Motorsport
#27 Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport
#38 Finn Harrison, Elite Motorsport
#44 Mayer Deonarine, Graham Brunton Racing
#45 Callum Baxter, Graham Brunton Racing
#49 Liam McNeilly, Fox Motorsport
#50 Jack Taylor, Fortec Motorsport
#66 Chloe Grant, KMR Sport
#68 Harry Burgoyne, KMR Sport
#89 Brandon McCaughan, KMR Sport
