Isle of Man-born Nickolas Ellis will make his GB4 Championship debut with Elite Motorsport at Donington Park next month (7-8 September). The 17-year-old Cambridge-based driver made his car-racing debut with the Norfolk squad at Brands Hatch last September and now has 22 Ginetta Junior Championship races under his belt, gaining valuable racing experience with Elite.
Ellis, sponsored by Mooch Creative and Thornton Chartered Financial Planners, has tested an Elite GB4 car at the French Val de Vienne circuit and then at Snetterton this month (14 Aug) prompting the teenager to switch to GB4 in what is currently a one-off outing.
Nickolas, who won his fleet at the RS Tera World Championship in sailing, only began karting seriously in 2021 and raced in the British Kart Championship Junior Rotax while conducting Ginetta Junior testing with Elite, having missed the first half of the season due to his GCSEs.
Elite’s regular GB4 line-up, Alisha Palmowski and Finn Harrison, lie third and sixth in the Driver’s title race respectively. Alisha has scored seven podiums, including three wins, so far this season while Finn claimed his maiden GB4 win in the last race at Silverstone.
Nickolas Ellis said: “It’s always been my dream to drive a single-seater, let alone race one, so I’m super excited to be making my GB4 Championship debut at Donington next month.”
“Coming from Ginetta Juniors I obviously need to adapt, quickly, to aero and slick tyres, which is a steep learning curve, but I have shown good pace in testing. My times at Snetterton were competitive with the existing midfield runners so I’m hoping that I’ll be in the mix in the three races at Donington.”
Team Owner and Manager Eddie Ives said: “I’m delighted that Nick will be making his GB4 debut with Elite. It’ll obviously be a steep learning curve but everyone at Elite will be supporting him with the aim of getting him up to speed as quickly as we can during the event.
“We ran him in Ginetta Junior testing prior to his race debut late last year so have worked with him for a while. He’s tested well in France and at Snetterton in our GB4 car so I’m very hopeful he’ll have a good event at Donington alongside Alisha and Finn.”
For more championship information, visit www.gb-4.net