Accomplished tin top racer Dylan Hotchin will step up to the GB4 Championship in 2023, after confirming plans to enter as a privateer. Hotchin will become the first fully-blown private entry in GB4, with the 18-year-old switching from Ford Fiesta racing to single-seaters, and competing under the Dylan Hotchin Racing banner. The Lincolnshire resident has been racing since the age of eight, having gone wheel-to-wheel in karting against drivers now competing in FIA F3, British Touring Cars and W Series.
Hotchin's karting career ended in style in 2019, finishing as runner-up in the British Super One Junior ROK Championship, and qualifying for the GB Team at the World Finals in Italy, which he considers his career highlight thus far. He moved up to car racing in 2020, competing as a privateer in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship before moving up to the Senior Fiesta 240 ST Championship in 2021, where he continued in 2022.
When Hotchin isn’t racing, the single-seater newcomer is an Apprentice Control and Instrument Technician, and together with his father Richard, plans to invite fellow Mechanical and Electrical/Control trainees from workplace apprenticeships and colleges to be part of the team at race weekends, with additional guidance from British Steel senior engineers.
Dylan Hotchin said: “I’m really excited to be moving up to GB4, for my first season in single-seaters. To do this as a private entry will bring challenges, but GB4 is the only category that will allow me to break into single-seaters in the way we want to do it.
"Thankfully I know most of the tracks due to my Fiesta racing, and while we’re going up against some of the biggest teams in the country, I can’t wait to get started in the new year.”
Richard Hotchin will head up the operation, and said: “We’re very excited to be moving Dylan into the world of single-seaters. We’re in no doubt that we’re throwing ourselves in at the deep end, but we’re keen to prove that privateers can give the established teams a run for their money.
“While this is a pivotal moment in Dylan’s career, we’re keen to also give a unique chance to young engineers looking to also break into the sport. Our concept will give them experience of setting the car up to compete with the best, and will teach them new work and life skills that cannot be taught in any workshop. Hopefully, this will develop them to become some of the best engineers of the future.
“We’re hoping that with Dylan’s driving and talented up and coming engineers, we can achieve success as the year goes on, which will hopefully open the way for more privateers to mount a credible challenge in the future.”
For more championship information, visit www.gb-4.net