Photo: FRECA

Hitech GP has announced Toyota junior Jin Nakamura as one of its drivers in Formula Regional Oceania for 2026.

The British team will join the Toyota-powered series next year with three cars, and Nakamura will drive one of them before he then steps up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship with the same outfit.

He heads to FRegional Oceania after coming 10th in FRegional’s Middle East and European championships and 19th in the Macau Grand Prix this year.

“I’m excited to announce that I’ll be competing in 2026 New Zealand championship with Hitech,” said the 19-year-old Japanese racer.

“I’m grateful to TGR and everyone supporting me. 2026 is my second season driving outside of Japan, and I believe I can use what I’ve learned this year. I will push myself as much as possible, and do my best together with the team.”

Nakamura made a step down to FRegional as his career moved outside of Japan after he came fourth in the third-tier Super Formula Lights championship with one win in 2024.

Also announced as racing in FRegional Oceania, which switches from championship to trophy status next season, are Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Yuanpu Cui (MTEC Motorsport) and Jack Taylor (Giles Motorsport).

It should be Cui’s first full season in a series using FRegional-based cars. He was a Britsh F4 and Chinese F4 race-winner in 2024, and at the start of 2025 did two FRME rounds, taking a best finish of 15th. He then did two rounds late in FREC’s season, with a best result of 13th.

Between the two he raced in GB3, first in Argenti with Prema’s line-up and then with Hillspeed, and did five of the season’s eight rounds. Cui came 18th in the standings, his campaign peaking at Zandvoort where he finished sixth twice.

“I am focused on just performing to the best of my ability and trying to achieve some good results,” the 17-year-old Chinese said of racing in FRegional Oceania. “Of course I am very excited to be racing in New Zealand with MTEC, it will be very challenging and it is a high level competition.”

Taylor steps up after two years in GB4. He came ninth with one podium in 2024, when GB4 used F4 cars, then was 10th this year with two victories as the paddock switched to using GB3’s old chassis.

“This will be my first time in New Zealand and my closest campaign to home yet so I’m obviously really looking forward to it,” said the 17-year-old Australian. “FRegional Oceania has a strong reputation and it was a much better option for me than doing winter testing in Europe. I’m looking forward to the challenge and to see what I can do and I also have to thank my sponsors for making it possible. It’s going to be an awesome experience racing in NZ and working with Giles Motorsport.”

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Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Fortec Motorsports’ Jack Taylor scored his second straight GB4 win as changeable weather mixed up the order in race two at Silverstone.

Despite qualifying on pole, Taylor was one of many to begin the race from the pitlane as conditions changed moments before the start.

Light rain fell as drivers headed to the grid but, with the circuit still dry, everyone opted for slick tyres. But the rain intensified on the formation lap, leaving the circuit partially wet.

While most of the field dived into the pits to fit wet tyres, Arden’s Ava Dobson and Graham Brunton Racing’s Mayer Deonarine stayed on slicks and lined up on the grid.

Dobson remained ahead of Deonarine at the start, but the latter fought his way past into Stowe on lap one for the lead.

Elite Motorsport’s Alex Kattoulas beat Taylor out of the pitlane initially, with the pair well clear of the rest of the wet-shod runners, but Taylor swept around the outside at Stowe to grab third.

Taylor ovecame a 13-second deficit in the space of one lap to pick off Dobson for second, and it took him just a few more corners to reel in Deonarine before taking the lead at Club.

Kattoulas soon passed Dobson as well, but then lost control on a kerb at Stowe and slammed backwards into the tyre barriers.

That resulted in the safety car being deployed and, while Dobson dived into the pits to switch to wets, Deonarine stayed out.

There was time for one more lap once racing action resumed. With his tyres having lost temperature, Deonarine was immediately swamped and he was then involved in a collision which caused him to stop with damage yards after the finish.

Taylor controlled the final lap to finish three seconds clear, while his team-mate Thomas Ingram Hill was shuffled back to fourth two corners from home by Hillspeed’s Leandro Juncos and Douglas Motorsport’s Arjen Kraling – the latter taking his first car racing podium.

KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady was just 0.092s behind Ingram Hill in fifth, with Isaac Phelps sixth ahead of Fortec’s Luca Magnussen and his Elite team-mate Ary Bansal.

Douglas duo Enzo Hallmann and Dayton Coulthard completed the top 10, while Hillspeed’s points leader matched his race one with result in 11th.

Race results (7 laps)

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Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Jack Taylor converted pole into a maiden victory ahead of his Fortec Motorsports team-mate Thomas Ingram Hill in GB4 race one at Silverstone.

There was a delay to the start after KMR Sport’s Lily Watkins stopped on the grass with an issue on the formation lap, and it took several minutes for her stricken car to be recovered.

The rest of the field eventually set off for a second formation lap, and the race’s duration was reduced slightly to 16 minutes.

Taylor gained a clear lead into Copse once the action got underway, while Arden’s Leon Wilson swept around the outside of Douglas Motorsport’s debutant Arjen Kraling for second.

Ingram Hill climbed from sixth to snatch third from Kraling, who lost further ground to Elite Motorsport’s Alex Kattoulas on the run to Maggotts.

Dayton Coulthard went side by side with his team-mate Kraling but ran wide at Becketts and slipped to ninth, as Hillspeed’s Leandro Juncos fought hard to hold off Elite duo Isaac Phelps and Ary Bansal for sixth on the opening lap.

Taylor led by a second after one lap, and he edged away by a further 0.2s on lap three. He then pulled further clear as Wilson came under pressure from Ingram Hill for second, and by race-end had a 2.96s gap.

Ingram Hill prevailed in his lap four battle with Wilson, moving up the inside at Abbey before completing the move into Village. Wilson fought back into Brooklands, but Ingram Hill used the inside line into Luffield to remain ahead. He then pulled over three seconds clear of his rival over the remaining laps.

The pair’s battle initially brought Kattoulas into contention, but he could not find a way past Wilson and missed out on a podium finish at the chequered flag by 0.4s.

Kraling was less than a second further behind in fifth, and just ahead of Juncos, Phelps and Bansal. Coulthard remained in ninth until the finish, and ADM’s Jason Pribyl completed the top 10.

Having suffered a broken gear linkage in qualifying, Hillspeed’s championship leader Daniel Guinchard made up six places to 11th early on, but was unable to make further progress.

Race results (8 laps)

The post Jack Taylor leads Fortec 1-2 in GB4’s opening Silverstone race appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Fortec Motorsports’ Jack Taylor scored a double pole by topping GB4 qualifying on Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout.

The Australian was 0.1 seconds faster than impressive debutant Arjen Kraling, who matched his pre-event testing result with the second quickest time for Douglas Motorsport.

Elite Motorsport’s Isaac Phelps led the field out of the pitlane at the start of the 15-minute session, and he used a clear track in front of him to set the early pace with a 2m02.681s.

Taylor and Arden’s Leon Wilson both shaved time off that benchmark before Phelps reclaimed the advantage with his next effort.

Fortec’s Thomas Ingram Hill was next to take over top spot, pipping Phelps by 0.024 seconds, while Taylor and Wilson improved into third and fourth.

Alex Kattoulas lowered the pace to a 2m01.408s, and Elite team-mate Ary Bansal climbed six places to fourth with his next effort.

Taylor set his pole-winning lap of 2m02.221s in the closing stages, as Wilson moved up to second and Douglas Motorsport’s Dayton Coulthard improved to fourth.

When the chequered flag fell, Kraling surged up to second to snatch a front row starting spot for his first GB4 race and only his second weekend in single-seaters.

Wilson ended up third ahead of Kattoulas and Coulthard, while Ingram Hill was sixth despite having a late effort deleted for exceeding track limits.

Having tumbled out of the top 10, Phelps made a late improvement to seventh, two places ahead of fellow title contender Bansal.

Hillspeed’s points leader Daniel Guinchard pitted with an issue in the closing stages and ended up 17th, while his team-mate Leandro Juncos wias eighth.

Taylor also took pole for race two based on second-best laptimes, with Kattoulas second ahead of Wilson, Ingram Hill, Phelps and Kraling. Guinchard will start that contest from 21st.

Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Jack Taylor Fortec 2m02.221s
2 Arjen Kraling Douglas Motorsport +0.100s
3 Leon Wilson Arden +0.103s
4 Alex Kattoulas Elite Motorsport +0.107s
5 Dayton Coulthard Douglas Motorsport + 0.343s
6 Thomas Ingram Hill Fortec +0.371s
7 Isaac Phelps Elite Motorsport + 0.388s
8 Leandro Juncos Hillspeed +0.471s
9 Ary Bansal Elite Motorsport +05.18s
10 Stefan Bostandjiev Pace Performance +0.574s

Race 2 grid
1 Taylor 2m01.284s
2 Kattoulas +0.124s
3 Wilson +0.182s
4 Ingram Hill +0.409s
5 Phelps +0.448s
6 Kraling +0.452s
7 Coulthard + 0.548s
8 Jason Pribyl ADM +0.606s
9 Josh McLean Pace Performance +0.665s
10 Bansal +0.710s

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Photo: Jack Taylor

Australian youngster Jack Taylor will remain at Fortec Motorsports for his second season racing in GB4.

The teenaged Tasmanian came eighth in the inaugural Indian Formula 4 season last year with a best finish of fourth from the four-round campaign.

Prior to that he had picked up single-seater experience with tests in Formula Ford and F4 cars in his home country and was nominated by Motorsport Australia to participate in the Ferrari Driver Academy’s Asia-Pacific scouting camp.

His first campaign in Europe, driving GB4’s first-generation F4 cars, resulted in a podium finish at Silverstone and ninth place in the standings. GB4 will introduce a new car next season, which features various upgrades including the halo cockpit protection device.

“I’m incredibly happy to be returning to the GB4 championship with Fortec Motorsports. 2024 was a fantastic year; it was one of our best seasons in terms of both learning and gaining invaluable experience, and I genuinely enjoyed every step of it thanks to the amazing support from the team,” said Taylor.

“The new car looks really exciting, and I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel and start testing for 2025. I’m looking forward to building on everything we achieved last season and aiming even higher.”

Fortec’s team principal Ollie Dutton added: “We’re really looking forward to working with Jack again this year in the GB4 championship. He’s a young driver with good potential, and it’s been impressive to watch his progress so far. Moving all the way from Australia was a big step, and it demonstrated just how dedicated he is and how hard he’s willing to work to reach his goals.”

The post Jack Taylor remains at Fortec for second GB4 season appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jack Taylor

Fortec Motorsports has announced it has signed Jack Taylor for the 2024 GB4 season, while Harry Burgoyne Jr has switched to KMR Sport.

Taylor, a teenaged Tasmanian, came eighth in the inaugural Indian Formula 4 season last year with a best finish of fourth from the four-round campaign.

Prior to that he had picked up single-seater experience with tests in Formula Ford and F4 cars in his home country and was nominated by Motorsport Australia to participate in the Ferrari Driver Academy’s Asia-Pacific scouting camp.

“I’m excited to be competing in the 2024 GB4 championship with Fortec Motorsports,” said Taylor.

“They’re a good team with a strong history and I know racing with them will really help develop my driving skills for the future. It will be my first time competing in the United Kingdom and I can’t wait to get started.”

Fortec’s team principal Oliver Dutton added: “We’re looking forwards to working with Jack this year in the GB4 championship. He’s a young driver with lots of potential and it will be good to see him develop throughout the season. It’s a big move, coming from Australia, but that just shows how hard he is willing to work to follow his dreams.”

Burgoyne raced in the F4-spec GB4 series last year with Graham Brunton Racing, and came sixth in the standings with two fourth places being his best results.

Prior to that he had been a mainstay in junior karting. He finished third in the CIK-FIA World championship for OK Junior karts in 2020, then in 2021 was 26th in the WSK Champions Cup before concentrating on competitions for X30 Junior karts.

He came fourth in the IAME I-Games in 2020 and ‘21, then was sixth in the IAME Warriors Final. At home, the Scot was seventh in the British Karting Championship in 2021 and third in ’22 as well as winning the Little Green Man series.

“I’m super excited to be joining the GB4 grid for another season and seeing what I can achieve with KMR Sport,” said the 16-year-old. “I have had a positive start in testing, and making improvements all the time.

“With KMR’s knowledge, I believe they can develop me further as a driver and I can make the next step to be a real contender in the championship. I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Kevin Mills’ eponymous outfit won the GB4 teams’ title last year and his son Tom was the series champion.

“We’re really pleased to confirm Harry as our first driver signing for the new season,” said Mills.

“We saw last year that Harry had a lot of potential, and from the testing he’s completed with us so far, it’s pretty clear that not only will he be taking his first podiums, but should also be a firm contender for victories. We’re looking forward to getting him back in the car as we look to defend our titles again in 2024.”

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