British-Malaysian driver Nikolas Taylor will race for Fortec Motorsport in the inaugural GB4 Championship season, which commences this weekend at Snetterton (2/3 April).
The 16-year-old from Kuala Lumpur first competed in rental karting in Malaysia, before embarking on a karting career in 2017. He raced in the Kart Racing Development series at the Shah Alam Kart Circuit near his hometown, racing 80cc machinery in big grids, and claimed multiple wins and podiums across two seasons of competition.
He then moved with his family to the UK in 2018, and joined the Young Racing Driver Academy to further his skills, undergoing regular F4 and F3 simulator training.
His first real world on-track experience came in 2020 with an F4 testing programme that he continued into 2021, before switching his attentions to GB4 with Fortec. In recent weeks he’s tested the Tatuus F4-T014 GB4 car at Snetterton, Silverstone and Donington Park, and showed excellent pace during official testing at the East Midlands circuit in both wet and dry conditions.
The GB4 season opener will mark his first ever car race, and Nikolas is looking forward to the challenge.
Taylor said: "I’m extremely happy to be joining Fortec for the new GB4 Championship! The pace in pre-season testing has been looking good and I am comfortable with the car in the wet and dry. I can’t thank Fortec and Richard and Oliver Dutton enough for this opportunity, I couldn’t have done this without their support. I would also like to thank Cleantech Renewable Energy for their support through the last few months, they have really allowed me to make my way onto this stage. I can’t wait to get the season started at Snetterton next week!"
Fortec Team Manager Oliver Dutton said: "We’re really pleased to complete our GB4 entry with Nikolas, he’s really impressed us in testing so far and his pace is excellent considering his lack of race experience. We’re confident he will start the season strongly at Snetterton and further improve from there as he builds up more track time. We’re excited to get racing now with Nikolas joining Jessica Edgar and Elias Adestam in our three-car GB4 entry, which should develop drivers with a view to them moving up to our GB3 team in the future."