Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
GB4 points leader Tom Mills made an ominous start to preparations for the latest round at Silverstone by topping all three pre-event test sessions on Thursday.
The Kevin Mills Racing driver led the opening session by 0.481 seconds from Evans GP’s Cooper Webster, having recorded a best lap of 2m02.092s before a spin for Fortec Motorsports’ Aditya Kulkarni brought an early end to proceedings.
Mills lowered the pace in the early stages of session two, a 2m01.919s keeping him at the top until the chequered flag. Webster improved on his session one time to end in second once more, 0.380s behind Mills. Fortec’s Colin Queen and Fox Motorsport’s Liam McNeilly were separated by 0.023s in third and fourth, the pair over half a second off the pace.
Having lowered his benchmark to 2m01.858s in session three, Mills then improved by a further 0.4s to end testing with a best lap of 2m01.455s. Webster was again second and ended the day 0.018s shy of Mills, with McNeilly third ahead of Queen – the fastest eight drivers all setting their best laps in the final session.
Velocity Racing Development joined testing, having announced at the start of the day that they would be entering GB4. The American outfit, which also has a partnership with Arden’s GB3 team, will make its series debut this weekend with two recently acquired two first-generation Tatuus Formula 4 cars.
Zack Ping – brother of GB3 race-winner Noah – will make his European racing debut at Silverstone with the team which he has raced for in USF2000 this year, his first in single-seaters. Joining him is current British GT racer Erik Evans, who also knows the team from his race-winning US F4 campaign in 2020 and USF2000 the following year. Ping was eigth fastest in testing, one place ahead of Evans.
Lucas Blakeley continued with KMR following his debut last time out at Snetterton. He ended the day in 11th though has not confirmed if he will be racing this weekend.
Rowan Campbell-Pilling tested for Elite Motorsport, while Fortec ran Dan Hickey, but the pair are not expected to race.
Testing results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Mills | Kevin Mills Racing | 2m01.455s | 29 | |
| 2 | Cooper Webster | Evans GP | 2m01.473s | +0.018s | 32 |
| 3 | Liam McNeilly | Fox Motorsport | 2m01.930s | +0.475s | 29 |
| 4 | Colin Queen | Fortec Motorsports | 2m02.365s | +0.910s | 31 |
| 5 | Ruhaan Alva | Fortec Motorsports | 2m02.653s | +1.198s | 32 |
| 6 | Aditya Kulkarni | Fortec Motorsports | 2m02.683s | +1.228s | 31 |
| 7 | Jack Clifford | Kevin Mills Racing | 2m02.895s | +1.440s | 34 |
| 8 | Zack Ping | VRD | 2m03.152s | +1.697s | 31 |
| 9 | Erik Evans | VRD | 2m03.217s | +1.762s | 28 |
| 10 | Sid Smith | Fox Motorsport | 2m03.357s | +1.902s | 29 |
| 11 | Lucas Blakeley | Kevin Mills Racing | 2m03.553s | +2.098s | 31 |
| 12 | Harry Burgoyne Jr | Graham Brunton Racing | 2m03.705s | +2.250s | 28 |
| 13 | Rowan Campbell-Pilling | Elite Motorsport | 2m03.906s | +2.451s | 31 |
| 14 | Dan Hickey | Fortec Motorsports | 2m05.121s | +3.666s | 32 |
| 15 | Thomas Lee | Evans GP | 2m07.283s | +5.828s | 33 |