Luke Hilton celebrated his second GB4 Championship victory of the season after capitalising on opening-lap drama during Race 1 at Silverstone in 2026.
The Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing driver moved from third into the lead after front-row starters Thomas Ingram Hill and Fred Green collided at Maggotts. Hilton then controlled the race to extend his podium streak to four consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Alex O’Grady strengthened his championship lead by finishing second, while Conor Grant claimed his maiden podium and the top rookie honours after a track-limits penalty dropped him from second to third.
Hilton credits team after second victory
Hilton arrived at Silverstone after claiming his maiden victory at Donington Park and carried that momentum into the opening race. Although he felt that he failed to maximise Qualifying, he avoided the first-lap trouble and immediately established a lead of more than two seconds.
Grant reduced the margin during the closing stages, but Hilton managed the gap and crossed the line first. The result gave him four podium finishes in succession and moved him into second place in the Drivers’ Championship.
“Yeah, it’s been alright. The team’s done a mega job, as I’ve said in all the interviews. We’re just consistently chipping away.
“We’ve had the pace, we’ve been there, in the window, all through practises. Qualifying from my side, I didn’t extract enough, so that’s my fault, but Carl was mega. Obviously, I’ve delivered something amazing for the team, and I’m so proud that I could go and win for them.
“It’s such a nice feeling, and it’s nice to have podiums in a row. It’s just rack up them championship points. I like the celebration when you get out of the car as well.”
Hilton’s latest success continued a rapid rise through the standings. More importantly, his consistent results have established him as one of championship leader O’Grady’s closest challengers.
Hilton enjoys another winning celebration
Hilton has also started to place his own stamp on the celebrations that follow each strong result. After four successive podium appearances, the British driver admitted that he had already gathered ideas for future poses.
He also thanked Global Protect and his other sponsors for supporting his campaign, with representatives attending Silverstone to witness his latest victory.
“Yeah, I got a few inspirations for my podium poses, or whatever they’re called. Massive thank you to the team again, and massive thank you to Global Protect for sponsoring me. Some of them are here this weekend, so I’m so glad they’re able to witness their logo cross and check a flag first.
“Massive thank you to all my other sponsors and all their support. I’m very pleased with everything that’s going on, and massive well done to everyone.”
The victory gave Hilton another opportunity to reward the partners who have supported his progression through the championship.
Nitrous continues rapid championship progress
Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing has made significant progress during its first full championship campaign. The team showed its potential by topping the times during pre-season testing and has since converted that speed into regular podium finishes.
Hilton believes the team has built momentum despite encountering its share of misfortune earlier in the year. Consequently, he hopes the Silverstone victory will provide the foundation for further success during the weekend’s remaining races.
“I know it’s the team’s proper first go championship this year, and we’ve come a long way. Even the first pre-season test at Snetterton, we topped the time sheets, and the balls kept rolling. We’ve had our bad luck, and hopefully now the luck keeps rolling about.
“Let’s see what we can go and do with it in the next two races.”
Hilton will now aim to maintain his podium run and reduce O’Grady’s advantage during Sunday’s two contests.
O’Grady survives eventful opening lap
O’Grady endured a challenging start after several cars converged during the opening sequence. The KMR Sport driver ran across the grass but avoided damage and returned to the circuit in fifth.
He then passed the damaged cars of Ingram Hill and Green to reach third. Grant initially finished ahead of him, but the Douglas Motorsport driver’s track-limits penalty elevated O’Grady to second.
“It was quite sketchy on lap one. I think everyone sort of came together, but I got lucky when I went across the grass that I didn’t get any damage. I managed to rejoin in P5, I think.
“Then it was a bit of a mess between Ingram Hill and Green. I think Ingram Hill got a puncture, and Green ended up getting damaged maybe, so I got around them, and I ended up in P3. We made a change to the car for that race, and it didn’t work how we’d expect the track to go.
“Definitely a lot less grip there, so it was quite sketchy, and we were graining up the rear a little bit towards the end. I couldn’t really catch the guys in front, just lacking a bit of pace this weekend. Still good, P2.
“We benefited from Grant’s penalty, and I’m very happy with the job done.”
Although O’Grady lacked the pace to challenge Hilton and Grant directly, he maximised the opportunity and increased his championship advantage to 32 points.
Consistency strengthens O’Grady’s title lead
O’Grady has built his championship campaign through consistent finishes and an ability to avoid incidents. That approach again served him well at Silverstone, particularly after Green failed to score following the opening-lap contact.
The championship leader now wants to maintain the same disciplined approach throughout the final two races of the weekend.
“Yeah, absolutely. It’s all about staying out of trouble. We qualified P4 and then just done a good job to stay out of trouble.
“Really, the last three weekends we’ve been doing that at Donington, I ended up starting further down than where I should have, and I kept it clean. Same thing here today, so hopefully tomorrow we can do more of the same and keep scoring points.”
O’Grady’s growing advantage gives him some protection in the standings, but Hilton and Enzo Hallman remain firmly within contention as the season reaches its halfway point.
Grant celebrates maiden GB4 podium
Grant produced one of the strongest starts of the race by climbing from fifth into the podium positions during the opening lap. He then emerged as Hilton’s closest challenger and reduced the leader’s advantage to less than one second at one stage.
However, a track-limits penalty dropped Grant behind O’Grady in the final classification. Despite losing second, the Irishman still celebrated his maiden podium and finished as the highest-placed rookie.
“Yeah, it’s been a struggle this year, to be honest. We haven’t had the cleanest of years, but I’m happy now. Just finally we got the podium.
“I think this is where we should have been all year. We had the speed, it’s just a little bit disappointing. But I just want to say thank you to the team, all the sponsors, everyone who’s here for me for the weekend.
“It’s just a fairy tale, but it’s fun to get the first podium.”
The result rewarded Grant and Douglas Motorsport after several setbacks prevented them from demonstrating their full potential during the opening rounds.
Silverstone marks breakthrough for Grant
Grant showed competitive pace throughout the Silverstone test sessions before securing fifth in Qualifying, his strongest starting position of the season. He then translated that performance into a podium during Race 1.
The result provided an immediate response to a difficult Donington weekend, where Grant retired from two of the three races.
“I think this whole weekend’s been a bit of a breakthrough. We’ve been at the front in all the practises as well. We’ve worked really hard to get back to this point.
“We had a really tough Donington, we had a double DNF in race one and three. So yeah, we just kind of recouped, had a little bit of a break, and then we came back, we came back swinging, and first podium.”
Douglas Motorsport used the break between events to analyse its existing package rather than make sweeping changes. Grant also recognised improvements in his own driving as a crucial factor behind the stronger performance.
“Look, I think we just knuckled down on what we had. We knew what we had in the car, we knew what we had with the data and the setups. So we just knuckled down.
“I drove a little bit better, I’ll say that as well. So yeah, I just want to say thank you to everyone again, and I think there’s more to come.”
Hilton, O’Grady and Grant will now carry confidence into Sunday as each driver targets another strong result during the remaining Silverstone races.
