Hillspeed’s Demitri Nolan secures maiden GB4 podium finish at Donington Park

The American driver concluded his best outing yet during his maiden season, finishing second at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday.

Having already taken a season-best top four in round seven on Saturday, and claiming his maiden pole position in car racing for round eight, the Nolan 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.

Hillspeed teammate Enzo Hallman leaves Donington sitting third in the points, with 168 on the board so far. The Swede 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, Hallman 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.

“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,” Nolan said, reflecting on his maiden podium performance.

“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.”

Hillspeed currently lead the way in the team standings, with 282 points tallied across the first nine rounds. After the Donington results, the Derbyshire team are 36 points ahead of closest rivals Douglas Motorsport. Hillspeed finished second in the Team’s Championship standings last year, behind winners Elite Motorsport.

“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,” Hillspeed Team Principal Richard Ollerenshaw said.

“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.”