Eleventh Hour Deal Brings GB3 Debut For Chi With Hillspeed

Italian F4 Championship race winner Zhenrui Chi makes his GB3 Championship partnered by the BRDC debut at Monza this weekend, having agreed an eleventh hour deal with Hillspeed to complete the team’s capacity three car line-up.

The 16-year-old from China, who also goes by the name Newman Chi, gets his first taste of GB3 machinery today, Thursday, 16th October, during the opening pair of test sessions at the world-famous Italian track before a further test day tomorrow and then qualifying and racing across the weekend.

Chi joins fellow GB3 debutant Maxim Rehm in Hillspeed’s exciting season concluding line-up, as well as Lucas Fluxa who made his maiden appearance with Hillspeed last time out at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit – where he claimed a superb victory in round 21.

This year is only Chi’s first full campaign in single-seater racing, having debuted in the Formula Trophy UAE in 2024 where he claimed two podiums. Going on to finish ninth overall in this season’s F4 Middle East Championship, his main 2025 campaign was in Italian F4.

Claiming his first outright race win in cars at Monza during the third event of the season, Chi took three other podiums en-route to an impressive fifth in the championship. In the Rookie class, he ended the season second in the standings with five wins and 11 other class podiums. Added to his Italian F4 racing, Chi has also been contesting the Euro 4 Championship.

Richard Ollerenshaw – Hillspeed Team Principal:
“It’s fantastic news to have Newman onboard for the GB3 season finale here at Monza, and we’re very much looking forward to working with him on his graduation from Formula 4. He has enjoyed an impressive year in Italian F4, with plenty of success. Obviously, GB3 is a big step-up from F4 but we’re relishing the chance to work with him and it’s great for Hillspeed to be back at our capacity three cars.”

Following the conclusion of pre-event testing today and tomorrow, qualifying will begin at 09.20 (UK time) on Saturday, 18th October, with the second session starting at 09.40 and race one of the weekend following at 13.05. On Sunday, 19th October, race two starts at 08.45 (UK time) with race three getting underway at 15.50. Watch all three races live at www.gb-3.net