Dylan Hotchin will become the first privateer entry in the GB4 Championship when he joins the series next season. F1 Feeder Series spoke to the man from Lincolnshire about the opportunity to make his debut in single-seater racing.

By Richard Smyth

Hotchin started his racing career at the age of eight and has raced in karting championships alongside drivers who are these days competing in the FIA F3 Championship, British Touring Cars and W Series.

Not being part of an established team, Hotchin will be a single entry into the series without a driver teammate to help work out ideal set-ups, making the challenge harder but Dylan is up for it “They’ll obviously have the advantage on set up, but we will still be able to tackle through it. It’ll come out the same at the end of it, we just need to find the set-up a little bit more.”

GB4 is trying to market itself as one of the cheaper options in single-seater racing, while still proving a strong platform for drivers, something that Hotchin has seen. “It’s one of the cheapest out of them all and it looks like good fun.”

Hotchin is expecting to line-up on the grid with the number 50 this season and has a reason for doing so. “I think we are going with the number 50. I’ve had it all my life racing and I can remember when I was first asked what number I wanted and I just picked the middle one as that was the easiest and it stuck with me all through life really.”

Continue reading below the photo of Dylan Hotchin

As a privateer, Hotchin will find it more challenging to get in the same amount of testing time as you would from a fully-fledged team who are racing in multiple series, however, this won’t stop him attempting to gain some valuable experience in the car. “We will be joining others on test days but we might do some private testing. We are thinking about going to Spain to do some testing for a couple of weeks but that’s about it.”

Paying it forward

With Hotchin’s entry, it allows him to help out some of his apprentice colleagues and give them first-hand experience working in a motorsport team. “We’ve got some young engineers that want to be involved in racing and we are going to try and put their knowledge into how it all works. We are going to try and bring some of them through and help them gain experience.”

I just want to complete all the racing and go out and smash it

Dylan Hotchin on his approach to 2023

Despite the excitement about racing in GB4 next season, Hotchin doesn’t have any expectations or targets for the upcoming year. “Not really, I just would like to just qualify well, get my bearings of the car and the grip etc. I really just want to complete all the racing and go out and smash it.”

GB4 is also only stepping stone in Hotchin’s ambitions to climb the feeder series ladder.“I’m hoping to progress right up the ladder and see where it takes us personally, we will have to wait and see what happens. We need the sponsorships and the time to do it.”

Despite the fun and games of being a racing driver, it isn’t always easy balancing life, work and racing. “I’m working quite a lot and I don’t really get time to relax. I’m either going home and repairing my previous race car or I was at work until like nine or ten o’clock at night sometimes. Then at weekends I’m out working for my dad, so I don’t really have breaks. I just work to try and earn as much money as I can to race.”

Header photo credit: GB4