Championship organiser, MotorSport Vision (MSV) has confirmed the leading female contender in this year’s GB4 season will receive a €30,000 prize contribution towards a drive in the 2025 F1 Academy series.
Strong interest from female racers has been reported by many of the GB4 teams, with at least 10 having tested Tatuus F4-T-014 cars or expressed a serious interest in joining the series ahead of the new season. Alisha Palmowski, who was fastest of all during the recent Oulton Park test, and Megan Bruce have already joined the grid, with further announcements expected ahead of the 2024 campaign. The highest-classified female driver in the final points standings will receive the prize contribution towards an F1 Academy seat.
GB4 already has a strong track record in providing opportunities for female racers, with five having raced in the series across the past two years. Megan Gilkes and Logan Hannah were race winners during the inaugural 2022 campaign, notably at Donington Park where both were victorious on the same day, believed to be the first such occurrence in contemporary open-competition junior single-seater racing. Jessica Edgar also claimed a podium finish during the season, while Lexie Belk joined GB4 as a privateer in 2023.
Gilkes, Edgar and Chloe Grant all graduated from GB4 into F1 Academy last year, with Edgar winning the final race of the season at the Circuit of the Americas. Drivers entering F1 Academy are currently required to provide a budget of €100,000 to their chosen team, so the €30,000 contribution from GB4 amounts to a significant portion of a future budget.
The F1 Academy link adds another substantial prize to GB4’s class-leading offering, which again includes a £50,000 contribution for the series champion towards a 2025 drive in either GB3 or the British F4 Championship. Drivers can also win cash prizes in the George Russell Pole Position Cup, with a £4,000 prize pot available, whilst there’s the new addition of the Omologato “One to Watch Award”, with prize timepieces on offer from the UK’s leading motorsport timepiece manufacturer during each race weekend.
MSV will also provide specialist advice to the 2024 GB4 champion and leading female racer on generating further sponsorship and funds to develop their careers.
MSV Chief Executive Jonathan Palmer said: “It is really exciting to have so many more females taking part in motor racing and particularly in single seaters. There is real momentum gathering now, as witnessed by the commitment F1 has made with F1 Academy and the support Motorsport UK is giving to generate female participation. Our GB4 Championship has proved a great value series in which to learn, gain experience and showcase talent, and we are proud to be attracting more females than most junior single seater championships. Of course career progression for the most successful is vital, and what is key to that is funding, so that’s what we are now boosting. I would love the top placed female racer in GB4 this year to not only be in F1 Academy next year but winning it, and MSV will give her all the support we can to achieve that.”
For more championship information, visit www.gb-4.net