Dante Vinci jumped from karting to Italian F4 in 2024, and after a successful 2025, he now makes the move up the ladder to Hillspeed for the 2026 GB3 season. The 17-year-old Sydneysider sat down with Feeder Series to discuss his racing background and his insights on the faster machinery he’s now driving.

By Julien Thoinet

GB3’s pre-season tests for 2026 are now complete, with drivers getting to grips with the car across seven test days in five weeks at four different circuits. This season marks the second season with the Tatuus MSV GB3-025, which features more downforce, higher top speeds and wider Pirelli tyres compared with its predecessor.

For this year, the car has been updated with an upgraded engine and aero package, and rookies and veterans alike need to gather enough data to understand the car and adapt their driving style to perform all season long. 

At last month’s Donington Park test, Feeder Series spoke with 17-year-old Dante Vinci, one member of the Hillspeed team’s all-rookie line-up. After competing in Italian F4, E4 and Formula Winter Series last year, the Australian driver participated in 2025 post-season tests with the Derbyshire-based team in which he gathered promising results.

“It’s very nice, very fast compared to last year. That was my initial thought,” Vinci said. “Obviously now I’ve kind of gotten used to it after four days in the car. But last year, comparing that car, it was like the torque increase was insane! And also the increased top speed down the straights – with more speed comes more downforce.”

GB3 entered an uncertain period with its car upgrade last year, and its rival championships face a similar predicament this year. After seven years with the F3-T318, FRegional Europe is moving to the second-generation Tatuus T-326 chassis, which shares a design philosophy with the MSV GB3-025. Eurocup-3, meanwhile, is changing chassis manufacturers entirely and adopting the Dallara 326, an evolution of the Dallara 324 car used in Euroformula Open.

The Sydneysider was inclined towards the stability of GB3 for 2026 as he sought a step up to a fiercer challenge.

“GB3, for us, with uncertainty in other categories, was the best choice,” he said. “There was still an engine change, but it’s less uncertain than a few other ones where they had complete chassis changes. I think being in a more open championship and fun one was our goal for this season.”

Vinci had a few outings on European F1 tracks thanks to his Italian F4 and Euro 4 campaigns, in which he finished 21st and 11th in the overall standings respectively as well as sixth and fourth among the rookies. Vinci said he was eager to race on European tracks such as Barcelona, on which he drove last year in Italian F4, as well as Donington Park, Spa-Francorchamps and the Hungaroring.

“Barcelona, I have to say, will be a bit of a pain, bit of a challenge, but I’m also looking to that with the tyre management. That track is very hard on the tyres. It’ll be very interesting to see how that can change the way we race,” he told Feeder Series.

Vinci started his motorsport career in Australian karting during the early 2020s.

“I was introduced to go-karting from a birthday party … in the very end of 2019,” Vinci said. “In 2020, I did my first year of karting in Australia. It was honestly very challenging. 2021 was slightly better, and then we realised that Europe is the place to be.”

Vinci has been competing in Europe since 2022. He competed in WSK, Champions of the Future and FIA Karting events that year, stepping up from the OKJ class to the OK class in June. In 2023, the Australian driver continued competing in the FIA Karting World Championship’s OK class and the WSK Super Master Series, among others. He stayed in the OK class for the first half of 2024 before moving to single-seaters.

“Generally, it wasn’t until I made the move to single-seaters that I started to see some really good performance, and that was in F4 last year,” Vinci said. “That season was very strong, Formula Winter Series, Italian F4 and Euro 4. I started to improve a lot towards the end of the season. Then we moved to GB3, did some late-season testing, and the performance was good there too.”

Vinci’s performance during 2026 pre-season testing has been promising. He has led the Hillspeed trio on six of the seven test days and finished in the top 10 in four, with a second-place finish in the Wednesday test session at Donington Park, the highlight.

It’s the kind of form that he’ll need to maintain to match what his fellow Australian drivers achieved in GB3 in 2025. Alex Ninovic won last year’s championship in dominant fashion, followed by Patrick Heuzenroeder in second, Gianmarco Pradel in fourth and Noah Lisle in seventh. For Vinci, part of this process of reaching the next level comes from having moved from Australia to Italy to spend less time travelling back and forth.

“I’m definitely not going back to Australia because that’s like 24-hour travels,” Vinci admitted. “We can’t do that, and on top of that you’d have to change time zones every two weeks. I’ve been based in Desenzano del Garda [in northern Italy] since 2022. This year, I’m still living there. We’re going to have to fly a bit for the UK races, but overall I think it’s quite okay. For this pre-season testing, we have stayed here [in the UK] for the entire month.”

Even with these results and rising confidence, Vinci downplays his expectations, but there is still a subtle feeling of optimism around him. He feels attuned to the car, for which he praises the work of his Hillspeed mechanics and engineers.

“It’s been good working with them since last year,” he added. “We’ve built a great rapport so far.” 

The 17-year-old is now looking to confirm his recent form by achieving good results during race day and coming out on top in a crowded rookie class. The first races of 2026 will take place from 24 to 26 April on the Silverstone GP circuit, where the drivers will have their first true showdown of the year.

Interview by George Sanderson

Header photo credit: Van Amersfoort Racing