The GB3 and GB4 Championships took to the track at Donington Park in support of the British GT Championship, but this time there was much more than just victory at stake, from Formula One factory tours to strong positioning for the second half of the season. Here are three key takeaways from the Donington Park weekend.

By Richard Smyth

Granfors and Taylor win tours of the Red Bull factory

Current GB3 championship leader Joel Granfors and current GB4 leader Nikolas Taylor will get a factory tour of four-time Formula One world champions Red Bull.

This tour is courtesy of John Cavill, a long-time supporter of the MotorSport Vision championships. He placed the winning bid for the opportunity at the Autosport Awards in February.

The tour will give the two Fortec drivers a sense of what it is like to be part of a Formula One team, and it might just give them added motivation going into the rest of 2022 with potential places in the FIA Formula 3 Championship up for grabs in the next few seasons.

Six races, six different winners

Both GB3 and GB4 have a few drivers who have made themselves real title contenders, but nobody is certain to be a race winner even if they start from pole position.

The Donington race weekend proved once again that just about anyone in either series can take a race victory. This level of opportunity will be encouraging for prospective drivers, which could bolster grids going forward.

There were wins for Callum Voisin, Max Esterson and Bryce Aron in GB3 and for Taylor, Megan Gilkes and Logan Hannah in GB4. Of the Donington Park victors, Esterson and Taylor are the only drivers currently in the top three of their respective series, highlighting that the title might just be decided on consistency rather than the number of race victories.

Gilkes and Hannah impress

While the GB4 Championship grid might not be the largest, it is a competitive one, and it was great to see some of the best female racing talent making headlines at Donington Park.

According to the GB4 Championship, the victories for Gilkes in Race 2 and Hannah in Race 3 marked the first time that two different female drivers won races on the same day in the same contemporary championship in the UK.

Gilkes – who has already been on the top step of the podium this season – won the second race from pole position, with her second-best time in qualifying enough to give her the honour of leading the pack away from the front of the grid.

Hannah – who was second in Race 3 last time out at Silverstone – went one better this time to take victory in the reverse-grid race after an incredible opening lap in which she rocketed from fourth to first.

The GB3 and GB4 Championships continue at Snetterton, where GB4 will be visiting for the second time this season, from 23–26 June.

Header image credit: Jakob Ebrey