GB4 Silverstone Recap
- therookiereporters
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
The 23-26 April marked the official start of the 2026 GB4 Season with the season opener at Silverstone, the home of British Motorsport.
In 2026, the GB4 Championship saw a record-breaking 29 drivers confirmed for this weekend’s season opener at Silverstone. This could lead to a lot of racing action across the 5.891km circuit.
Practice Sessions
Day 1
The first day of practice sessions at Silverstone for the GB4 Championship took place Thursday 23rd April. The first of the three sessions of this day saw Thomas Ingram Hill #8 at the front of the pack, similar to his performance in pre-season testing, setting a time of 2:01:418. Behind Ingram Hill was Hallman #7 with a gap of +0.305s, followed by Hilton #42 (+0.367s) and O’Grady #3 (+0.397s). Jason Smyth #26 wrapped up the top five for this session with a gap of +0.423s to Ingram Hill. This session saw five different teams in the top 5.
The second session officially started at 12:38 but was red-flagged at 12:46. The session resumed at 12:53. At the end of the second session, we saw Luke Hilton #42 finish first with a 2:01.454. O’Grady #3 finished behind him with a very close gap (+0.084s), followed by Green #51 (+0.111s) and Ingram Hill #8 (+0.201s). Rounding up the top five was Enzo Hallman, finishing +0.267s behind Hilton. Like Session 1, there were five different teams that finished in the top 5, only difference being it was Elite Motorsport instead of Douglas Motorsport in this session.
The third session of this day saw Fred Green #51 in the lead, setting a time of 2:01:239. Behind Green was O’Grady #3 with a gap of +0.113s, followed by Hallman #7 (+0.147s) and Coulthard #28 (+0.259s). Charlie Smith #78 wrapped up the top five for this session with a gap of +0.361s to Ingram Hill. This session saw two of the Elite Motorsport cars in the top 5.
The combined classification for the practice sessions on Day 1 saw Fred Green #51 (Elite Motorsport), Alex O’Grady #3 (KMR Sport), Enzo Hallman #7 (Hillspeed), Thomas Ingram Hill #8 (Fortec Motorsports) and Luke Hilton #42 (Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing) in the top five.
Day 2
Friday 24th April saw another two practice sessions take place for the GB4 Championship, where the first of which saw Alex O’Grady #3 take the lead with a time of 2:00.549. Behind O’Grady was Smyth #26 (+0.024s), followed by Cegielski #11 (+0.074s) and Green #51 (+0.189s). Luke Hilton #42 rounded off the top five for this session with a gap of +0.208s to O’Grady. Like the first session on Thursday, this session saw five different teams in the top five.
The final practice session ahead of qualifying on Saturday saw Alex O’Grady #3 take the lead once again with a time of 2:00.627. Behind him was Green #51 (+0.082s), followed by Hilton #42 (+0.142s), Ingram Hill #8 (+0.238s) and Enzo Hallman #7 (0.391s). Most consistent performance throughout this session came from Elite Motorsport and Douglas Motorsport.
Qualifying
For this weekend, there are a record 29 drivers on the GB4 grid. Qualifying forms the grid for the first race. This qualifying session saw Fred Green #51 for Elite Motorsport take pole with a lap time of 2:00.638. Alex O’Grady #3 (+0.013s) and Enzo Hallman #7 (+0.199s) for KMR Sport and Hillspeed completed the top 3 for the qualifying session. Following this session, the cars of Franciszek Cegielski and Luke Hilton were disqualified due to failing to comply with yellow flag signals.
Jon Jackson and Piers Prior spoke to Hillspeed driver Connor Willis saying, “Welcome to GB4, great to have you on the grid, smiling faces in the paddock, talk to us about your experience today and why you’re in GB4 this year.”
Willis responded, “I moved to the UK just over a year ago and have been located here for a year. I did Formula 4 last year and now added some wings in GB4.”
They also spoke to pole sitter Fred Green, asking him to “Tell everyone about his racing history.”
Green responded, “I started off in karting and racing when I was 10, progressed through the ranks there at international and European level, then won the Ginetta Scholarship, which I was very grateful for. Then I had a very successful year in Ginetta Juniors with Elite and now I’ve progressed with them into single-seaters.”
Race 1
The race saw a perfect start from Fred Green with Del Grosso moving up into P2. With 12 minutes left, the #22 car of Charlie Myers went off the road and became stuck in the gravel trap. This led to a safety car being deployed, and racing fully resumed with 6 minutes to go. With two minutes remaining, there was a collision between the #6 car of Nolan and the #88 car of Martin, as a result of this, Demitri Nolan didn’t finish the race. The first race finished with a podium of Fred Green #51 for Elite Motorsport, Emillio Valentino Del Grosso #5 for Elite Motorsport and Alex O’Grady #3 for KMR Sport.
Following this race, Jackson spoke to the podium finishers, saying to Fred Green, “First race win, first race, how does that feel out there?”
Green responded, “Yeah, it was good, the track was a bit tricky compared to qualifying, a bit trickier than expected, hence the mistake on early doors”.
Race 2
During the formation lap, Del Grosso was unable to start his car so he will be starting the race from the pit lane rather than from third. Fred Green had a good start to the race, keeping that first place but during the first lap 3 cars went wide into Maggots and Becketts and it was the #18 car of Torrin Bryne that went into the gravel and had to retire from the race. The #87 car of Archie Davies went wide at Turn 1, leading to another retirement in this race. With 19 minutes to go, the safety car was deployed. So far, this race saw Luke Hilton gain 14 positions in 9 minutes.
The race was green-flagged with 10 minutes left. Luke Hilton had a good restart, not long after this, though we saw the #48 car of Archie Bullard spin off track. The #23 car of Holy Miall also went into the gravel and was therefore out of the race, the same with #36 of Enzo Rujugiro, both of whom went off at Luffield. The session was red-flagged with 3 minutes left, meaning the race didn’t continue.
The second race saw a podium of #51 Fred Green for Elite Motorsport, #7 Enzo Hallman for Hillspeed and #26 Jason Smyth for Douglas Motorsport.
Jackson spoke to Enzo Hallman, who finished in second, saying, “A race that was slightly by the safety cars, but you still had to get that position on the grid in qualifying and had to keep that position on the track. How was it for you?”
Hallman responded, “I mean it was mostly safety cars which ruined my race a little bit, we were on scrubbed tyres. I thought that I was on it the first lap and could have passed him, but the safety car came out. I’m still happy though, it’s P2 and a great weekend so far, yesterday we had a bit of an unlucky start.”
Race 3
Bocquet had a good start, staying in pole and Achituv moved up to second by Maggots and Becketts. Fred Green had contact with Thomas Ingram Hill, which led to a punctured tyre. Holly Miall went into the gravel, making her the first retirement of the race and her second retirement this weekend. This brought out the safety car. Lily-May Watkins went into the pits and got out of her car, making her the second retirement. Two of the KMR Sport cars are out of the race. It seems that Fred Green also had more damage to his car however, he did manage to get his car back on track. Another safety car got deployed and the session got red-flagged.
The session continued for another 10 minutes and followed a standing start. Not long after the restart, another safety got deployed after the #8 car of Thomas Ingram Hill was stranded and part of his rear wing detached near the club chicane. Bocquet, at the end of the race, was given a 10-second time penalty for jumping the start. Demitri Nolan was one of the other retirees from this race.
The third race saw a podium of #28 Dayton Coulthard for Douglas Motorsport, #77 Matan Achituv, and #87 Archie Davies for Scorpio Racing.
Jackson spoke to race winner Dayton Coulthard after the race saying, “An all-important move then got you the race win, I don’t think you knew it at the time, talk me through it.”
Coulthard responded, “Yeah, I saw the jump start from #9 and I knew it was going to be all or nothing for first place so I saw a chance and just took it.”
After this race weekend, the standings were as follows:
1 | 51 | Fred Green - Elite Motorsport | 79 |
2 | 26 | Jason Smyth - Douglas Motorsport | 58 |
3 | 7 | Enzo Hallman - Hillspeed | 58 |
4 | 3 | Alex O’Grady - KMR Sport | 55 |
5 | 5 | Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso - Elite Motorsport | 43 |
1 | Elite Motorsport | 147 |
2 | Douglas Motorsport | 108 |
3 | Hillspeed | 91 |
Article written by Ria Wiktor ©️ Ria Wiktor 2026
