While Tom Mills added another three victories to his 2023 tally at Donington Park, GB4 newcomers Evans GP scored a series of second-place finishes with Cooper Webster, marking their most successful weekend in the UK thus far. Feeder Series spoke to both Webster and Evans GP team owner Josh Evans after Round 3 of the GB4 season.

By George Brabner

Cooper Webster – also a race winner in Australian S5000 and part of the Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports team – was near faultless throughout Round 3 to take a perfect run of second places in what was a crucial weekend coming off the back of a retirement at Silverstone. His Donington Park outing has boosted him to second in the championship standings, drawing level with Fox Motorsport’s Liam McNeilly on 180 points.

“Over the previous two rounds it wasn’t a lot of points for me, so second position in every race – and then the reverse grid race as well – I couldn’t have asked for a much better weekend in terms of bagging points.

“I’ve got to have that form for the next rounds,” Webster told Feeder Series.

More pace and more points

Webster’s run of second places came not only through his ever-growing speed at Evans GP but also through consistency, as his weekend went largely without mistake.

Colin Queen, with whom he was closely matched on pace, would suffer from a five-second time penalty for track limits in the Silverstone carry-over race and a spin on the final lap of Race 2. Both incidents would promote Webster to second.

Neither Mills – who once again set the pace – nor Webster nor Queen started out of position in any of the weekend’s three non-reversed-grid races, allowing the trio to form something of a breakaway pack at times.

“Queen and Mills have been the standard for the field at the moment. And yet, the racing has been really good between us all, we race clean and very hard, so I really enjoy it. I think I know it’s going to be close between us three each time, but I do enjoy going into the race weekend,” Webster explained.

Despite the stiff competition, Webster has held his own and continues to grow in conjunction with Evans GP.

“I’m really happy with how [the season has] gone and how supportive the team are through the category. With time, it will get better and better with our speed against the Kevin Mills team and Fortec, so it’s good to be getting it right this early. It only means good things for the future,” he said.

How S5000 and esports are shaping Webster’s GB4 campaign

Whilst Webster is new to the GB4 Championship, he isn’t a total stranger to single-seaters having already made his way to the top step of the podium three times in Australian S5000 before jumping into his Evans GP machine. In 2023, he has already won two races down under in parallel with his GB4 season.

The two series’ similarities are numbered, but there is no doubt that running joint campaigns is only helping him move forward both here in the UK and in Australia.

“I think doing both categories – which are so different – has improved myself as a driver through adapting. I think I was a bit more worried about the small things between categories, but after getting back into the S5000 for the first time after driving GB4 for about two months, I had my best weekend in S5000, so you could say that doing both has helped me keep improving,” he said.

Sim racing definitely helps my real-world racing

Cooper Webster

Webster is also part of Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports and has been since 2021, notably picking up a Le Mans Virtual victory in late 2022, and just recently taking a podium finish in the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup, two of the highest regarded racing series in esports.

“Sim racing definitely helps my real-world racing,” Webster said.

“You have a lot more practice in the car in the sim than in a race weekend, so you have more time in the sim than in real life. You learn a lot of things in sim racing, [such as] what’s important to focus on, and the ins and outs which you can take into the real world,” he explained.

Hot out of the blocks, but there’s more to come

Having enjoyed success against Prema and Hitech in what is now the Formula Regional Middle Eastern Championship in 2021 and 2022, Evans GP are embarking on their maiden GB4 campaign, also the team’s first in Europe – let alone the UK.

Nevertheless, they have been successful from the get-go in 2023, scoring six podiums in nine races with team owner Josh Evans – who was also a team manager of BlackArts Racing during much of their success in Asia – at the helm.

“It has been a strong start to the year. It’s obviously been a big challenge to move the whole team and myself to a new country and a new championship, but all considered, it’s been good. It’s been strong,” Evans told Feeder Series.

“We see there’s room to improve, as with any new team in a new championship, and we look forward to doing that in the next few rounds,” he said.

As proven so far this season, Evans GP is in good company on the GB4 grid. Fortec Motorsport, KMR Sport and Elite Motorsport not only have deep roots in the UK but also have a crucial year of experience extra with the Tatuus F4-T014 chassis.

“There is a lot of good teams here obviously well-established in the British motorsport landscape, and we highly respect those teams. But, at the same time, we believe in ourselves and our processes,” Evans explained.

“It’s a lot different to racing in the Asian Formula 3 or Formula Regional series where you go track to track working out of containers… But, you know, race cars are race cars, tracks are tracks! As long as you put the hard work in, get good drivers, learn how to get the most out of people and the car, you’re able to be competitive,” he said.

Making strides at Donington Park

Whilst Webster’s performances at the front of the field made Round 3 Evans GP’s most successful weekend in the UK to date, Donington Park signified another milestone for the Australian outfit as they expanded to a three-car operation.

Evans GP took on Virtuosi British F4 driver Kai Daryanani to partner with Thomas Lee and Cooper Webster for the weekend and will do so again for the final two rounds of the GB4 season.

This is competition and everyone is fighting for the win

Josh Evans

“It’s encouraging that we can get those results while expanding as well,” Evans said. “You know, we went to three cars and had Kai on board, which was really great. I think he was a great addition to the team and now we need to get the next-level results going for that first win. If we keep working hard and working in the same direction, those results will start coming.”

“I definitely believe that [we are ready to continue fighting at the front], but we need to keep improving. At every event this year I feel like we’ve improved and we need to keep looking at ourselves and how we can make things better.

“This is competition and everyone is fighting for the win and they’re going to be improving as well, so we’ve just got to improve more. I believe in the people we’ve got and I’m sure we can do it,” he explained.

“Until you’re winning every race and getting pole position at every event, then you’re not ever 100 percent happy.”

Header photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography