Hilton tops both days of GB4 testing at Donington Park

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

ADM’s Luke Hilton set the GB4 pace during two days of pre-season testing at Donington Park.

Hilton led the first five sessions and set a best lap of 1m28.546s in session seven to be quickest overall by 0.057 seconds from Fortec Motorsports’ Thomas Ingram Hill.

After setting a 1m28.763s lap to lead Douglas Motorsport duo Jason Smyth and Dayton Coulthard by 0.2s in session one, Hilton did not improve on his benchmark despite also topping each of Wednesday’s subsequent three sessions.

His 1m29.088s effort was over 0.5s quicker than KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady in session two, he posted a 1m29.199 to be 0.6s clear of Ingram Hill in session three, and he was 0.7s faster than Hillspeed’s Connor Willis by posting a 1m29.269s in session four.

Hilton’s stranglehold over the opposition continued into Thursday, with a 1m28.745s lap putting him 0.430s ahead of Coulthard and Ingram Hill in session five.

He was only fourth quickest in session six, which was topped by Fortec’s Franciszek Cegielski, who edged O’Grady and Ingram Hill by less than 0.1s with a 1m29.595s.

Hilton regained the ascendancy in session seven by posting his test-topping time, with Ingram Hill and Alex O’Grady also posting personal bests to claim second and third overall. Elite Motorsport’s Fred Green denied O’Grady third by leading the eighth and final session with a 1m28.870s, with Ingram Hill 0.087s behind him.

Smyth and Coulthard were sixth and seventh respectively despite not improving on their times from session one, with Cegielski’s penultimate session best putting him seventh. Willis set his quickest lap in session five to be eighth ahead of Elite Motorsport’s Matan Achituv and Enzo Hallman – the latter another to set his best time in Wednesday’s opening session.

Hallman confirmed prior to tesing getting underway that he will return to GB4 for a second season with a switch to Hillspeed. The Swede came ninth last season with Douglas, scoring one victory in a rain-affected contest at Oulton Park as well as two other podiums.

“I am thrilled to be back in GB4 for a second season and to team-up with Hillspeed for our first campaign together,” he said. “It was clear from our very first conversations that we share the same mentality about racing, and the same objective – to fight for the championship.

“The team has made me feel immediately at home, and testing has been encouraging so far. I look forward to working closely with the team over the coming weeks to get ourselves properly up to speed for the start of the season.”