Photo: Ida Wood

Jason Smyth, who dominated the United Kingdom’s contemporary Formula Ford scene this year, will step up to slicks-and-wings cars in 2026.

The Irish-Filipino racer will join Douglas Motorsport in GB4, after recently doing a testing programme with the team.

Smyth won the 2025 United Formula Ford championship, the FFord Festival and the Walter Hayes Trophy, but at the time of his stunning WHT victory in November he was without the funding to step up the single-seater ladder.

“I’m looking forward to the next step in my motorsport career and success in the coming year with Douglas Motorsport,” said the 19-year-old.

“I really can’t thank Douglas enough for this opportunity in my first season in slicks-and-wings, I’m really looking forward to translating my dominance in FFord into the GB4 series next year and just can’t wait to get going.”

Smyth emulated his father Neville by winning the FFord Festival, and his WHT win came despite starting 13th on the grid.

This year he also won in Northern Irish FF1600, which he was champion of in 2024 alongside winning the Martin Donnelly Trophy and making the final of the FFord Festival and WHT.

“We’re thrilled that we’ve been able to find a way for Jason to move up to GB4 with us in 2026,” said Douglas’s team manager Gemma Stevenson.

“There’s no denying the speed and talent he has in a FFord car, and he’s adapted well to slicks-and-wings in the limited testing he’s done so far with us. It’s going to be very exciting to how he gets on next year.”

Staying in Douglas’s line-up for a second year is Dayton Coulthard, the 17-year-old son of Scottish ex-Formula 1 driver David. He came 11th in his rookie season, taking a win and one other podium, and has high expectations for 2026.

“I’m determined to come back and win the GB4 championship,” he claimed. “It’s shaping up to be a massive series again in 2026, and if I can win it and be in the fight throughout, that’s going to be a huge benefit to my future career. With the team, we’re going to do everything we can before the season to make sure we’re in the best shape possible to make this a reality.”

Douglas has also signed Conor Grant, another Irishman, for next season. The 18-year-old was a national champion on X30 Senior karts, and has spent two weekends racing Formula 4 cars in the USA over the last two years.

“GB4 has been on my radar for a long time so following some very successful testing I am delighted to have secured my seat with Douglas for the 2026 season,” Grant said.

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Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Dayton Coulthard climbed from sixth on the grid to score his first car racing victory in a thrilling opening race of GB4’s Donington Park finale.

The Douglas Motorsport driver led home Elite Motorsport’s Ary Bansal, who strengthened his title hopes by charging from ninth to second, while Lucas Blakeley completed a double podium for Douglas on his GB4 return.

Chief title rivals Isaac Phelps (Elite) and Daniel Guinchard (Hillspeed) started alongside each other on the front row, with Phelps making a slightly slow getaway but fending off Guinchard into Redgate.

The pair ran nose-to-tail down the Craner Curves before Guinchard tagged the rear of Phelps’ car approaching Old Hairpin, sending them both off the road. The pair rejoined well down the order.

Arden’s Leon Wilson profited from the incident to lead from Coulthard, who had swept ahead of Blakeley before inheriting second.

The safety car was soon deployed due to a separate lap one collision, with KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady tagging Fortec Motorsports’ Jack Taylor into a race-ending spin at Redgate before retiring himself further around the lap.

Wilson initially edged half a second clear once racing resumed on lap four but he was soon reeled in by Coulthard, who was closely followed by Blakeley and Bansal.

After applying pressure for a couple of laps, Coulthard dived to the inside of Wilson into Old Hairpin to snatch the lead, and then resisted renewed challenges from his pursuer into Macleans, and again further around the lap at Melbourne hairpin

By now, Bansal had taken third away from Blakeley following a dice that lasted for three corners. He then set his sights on Wilson, lunging up the inside to grab second at Redgate on the penultimate lap, and the battle allowed Coulthard to build a one-second advantage

Bansal halved the deficit on the final lap but had to settle for second, as Coulthard became the 11th different winner of 2025.

Wilson faded further and lost out to Blakeley, who marked his first car racing start in more than a year with third. Fortec’s Thomas Ingram Hill finished fifth ahead of Leandro Juncos, Alex Kattoulas and Enzo Hallman.

Phelps recovered to pass Pace Performances’ Stefan Bostandjiev for ninth on the final lap while Guinchard came home one place behind Luca Magnussen in 12th.

Guinchard’s championship lead has been reduced to just five points heading into Sunday’s three races, with Bansal moving up one place to second ahead of Phelps, who is 13 points further behind.

Race results (11 laps)

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Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Dayton Coulthard will make his single-seater debut in this year’s GB4 championship with Douglas Motorsport.

Coulthard, son of 13-time Formula 1 race-winner and 1991 British Formula 3 runner-up David, has spent the last six years in karting and has so far competed in the British Kart Championship’s X30 Junior and X30 Senior classes.

The 16-year-old has already begun his testing programme in GB4, which this year is introducing a new halo-shod Tatuus MSV GB4-025 car, based on a detuned version of the outgoing machine used for the last three years in sister series GB3.

“I’m looking forward to working with Douglas Motorsport for the 2025 GB4 season,” said Coulthard. “Moving into cars means I’ll have plenty to learn and I believe that the team can definitely help with my development.”

He will partner fellow single-seater rookie Luke Hilton at Douglas, which is making its GB4 bow this year after winning multiple races in GB3.

“We’re extremely excited to be working with Dayton as he prepares for his first races in single-seaters.” said Douglas team principal Wayne Douglas. ”He’s shown lots of promise so far with good progression, and we look forward to working with him to develop that talent as the season progresses.

“The jump from karting to single-seaters is a big one, but one that Dayton is ready for, and we’re hopeful of ever stronger results as he gains further experience.”

Coulthard will be one of two sons of ex-F1 drivers on the grid at the Donington Park season opener in April, as Luca Magnussen has signed with Fortec Motorsports.

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