Brilliant Donington Drive From Nolan Secures Maiden GB4 Podium

June 29, 2026

Brilliant Donington Drive From Nolan Secures Maiden GB4 Podium

American racer Demitri Nolan concluded the very best outing of his maiden season in the GB4 Championship partnered by the BRDC with a fabulous second place finish at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday, 28th June – the Hillspeed driver’s maiden podium finish in the category.

Having already taken a season-best top four in round seven on Saturday, 27th June, and claiming his maiden pole position in car racing for round eight, the Texan performed brilliantly in round nine to actually lead for half the race before being edged back to second late on. As a result of his Donington exploits, Nolan has rocketed into the top 15 in the driver standings.

Enzo Hallman, who departs Donington third in the points, had a mixed weekend – as did many rivals after a series of track limits penalties were surprisingly applied in qualifying. Charging from 19th to eighth in race one, and setting fastest lap, he was 11th in race two before scything from the back in race three to take fifth and another fastest lap to earn the Sunoco Fastest Driver of the Weekend Award.

Of the Hillspeed trio, Connor Willis experienced the most misfortune which belied his speed. Storming from 24th to 13th place in round seven, after being edged into the gravel at the start, Willis was taken out with damage in round eight while challenging for fifth and then retired on lap one of round nine as he tried to avoid a multi-car accident at Goddards. He ends the event 13th in the championship.

Star weekend for Nolan as Hallman and Willis prove pace despite misfortune
Qualifying on Saturday morning was certainly the best combined team performance of the GB4 season, with Hallman lapping third fastest for the round seven grid, Willis a season best fifth quickest and Nolan also producing his most competitive qualifying of the year with 14th on the times. In a remarkable twist though, 25 of the 26 drivers taking part had several times disallowed for track limits infringements.

As a result, the grid for round seven looked radically different with those penalties applied. Nolan only lost a single lap time, and so lined-up fourth, with Willis and Hallman slipping to a very frustrating 16th and 19th respectively.

Nolan handled the pressure well, launching nicely and attacking for third around the outside at Redgate before an early Safety Car was needed. At the resumption he remained fourth and stayed right with the podium battle throughout the 11 laps to take, what was then, his best finish of the year.

Willis was put wide through the gravel at Redgate off the start, dropping him to the tail of the field and he also had to make a trip into pitlane while the Safety Car was on track. After racing resumed on lap six, Willis proved his mettle and speed with a superb charge through from 24th and last into 13th place.

Likewise, Hallman was impressive from 19th on the grid. Taking five positions on lap one alone, after the resumption he continued his march up the order. Into the top 10 by the start of lap eight, Hallman sliced through to eighth before the finish and set fastest lap with a time of 1m30.877 seconds.

The grid for round eight on Sunday morning was also shaken-up due to the penalties from qualifying, so Nolan started from his first ever GB4 pole position – his maiden pole in car racing at any level – Hallman lined-up 15th on the grid and Willis 16th.

Nolan’s start was decent but he did slip to second at Redgate, while Willis and Hallman each made great progress to climb into 11th and 12th respectively before an incident triggered the Safety Car. When the race resumed on lap five Nolan came under pressure into Redgate but defended well, although one rival hit the rear of the Hillspeed car which broke the rear wing assembly.

Continuing in position and able to cope with the lack of rear downforce impressively, after another Safety Car period in quick order Nolan was shown the mechanical warning flag due to the damage and had no choice but to pit and retire.

Following the second Safety Car, Willis was running in the top five after yet another outstanding climb through the order. Pressuring hard for fourth on lap nine at the Old Hairpin and McLeans, he was edged off-line into Coppice and slipped to sixth. Undeterred, he redoubled his efforts for a maiden podium but contact at the Fogarty Esses resulted in frustrating damage and retirement.

Hallman had progressed into the top eight before the second Safety Car, a great drive again, and took seventh due to Willis’ woes at the end of lap nine. With a good run out of the chicane on lap 10 Hallman went to the inside at Melbourne Hairpin for another overtake, but after locking the front brakes contact was inevitable. Losing the nose cone in the process, he ultimately took the flag in 11th.

Round nine was red-flagged following a multi-car shunt at Goddards on the opening tour. Nolan was ahead of the chaos and so unscathed and Hallman managed to avoid contact around the outside of the stranded cars. Willis attempted to avoid on the inside of the left hander but was tagged into retirement.

Original grid order applied for the re-start and Nolan launched superbly from sixth, leaping to third before Redgate and then successfully challenging for second on lap two. Hallman, from 24th, made the most of several cars not taking the re-start and scythed into 11th before the Safety Car appeared.

When the action resumed on lap five Nolan immediately went on the attack again, getting alongside the leader into Redgate and then running side-by-side through Hollywood and the Craner Curves. With maximum commitment, Nolan went for it on the brakes into the Old Hairpin and boldly took the lead.

Staying a good half second ahead at the front and setting fastest lap pace initially, Nolan looked well set for a stunning maiden win but with a couple of laps to go he was edged to second at the chicane – still an outstanding result. Hallman repeated his round seven brilliance with some quality overtaking and from just outside the top 10 at the re-start, he charged to fifth place and fastest lap again – 1m29.660s.

Demitri Nolan – Rd9 Podium:
“It was a really good race, a lot of fun. I was hoping I didn’t make that mistake [to lose the lead] but you live and learn – it’s my first time being this high up! Obviously, things can always be better but it was a great race. I had a bit of a bad first start to be honest, and it was really good to mentally reset and keep myself calm because my second start was really kind of crazy. I’m really proud of that.”

Richard Ollerenshaw – Hillspeed Team Principal:
“Demitri and Enzo are on top of the world after pulling out the results they both did, but we really feel for Connor – he encountered some dreadful luck. Demitri has done a stellar job all weekend, he’s made a huge amount of progress over the course of the season so far and to come away with a fourth and second is fantastic for him.

“Enzo produced some great racing and proved his speed with the fastest driver award, and closed the gap to the top two in the championship. Connor’s pace should’ve meant he was never out of the top five, so he needs to take that positive away with him as his pace was excellent. All three have done an exceptional job in the face of some challenges, and we leave Donington on top of the Team standings.”

Following a five-week summer break, the GB4 Championship will resume with the second visit of the year to Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend 1st/2nd August. Next weekend, 4th/5th July, Hillspeed’s GB3 Championship squad returns to action at the Hungaroring near Budapest.