Arden Motorsport’s Lewis Gilbert will be hoping to continue his impressive start to the season when the GB3 Championship visits Budapest next month.
The Scotsman secured two top-10 finishes during the second round of the season at Spa-Francorchamps, despite making the big step from karting to GB3.
The highly decorated karting champion is the first driver to join GB3 straight from karting since Cian Shields in 2022.
After a best finish of 16th at the Silverstone season-opener, Gilbert was “over the moon” with his quick progress in Belgium.
“It is a massive step forward,” he said. “I’m getting the confidence in the car now.”
Gilbert finished both races in 10th but believed that he could have placed higher with a stronger showing in qualifying, having lined up 16th and 13th for the two races respectively.
“We had the pace to be top six or top seven,” he said. “[I] just need to try and get qualifying going our way a bit better.”
“It’s a massive learning curve for me, almost starting from fresh again. I’m now the rookie and I’m 21. It’s a little bit surreal being able to race these cars and I’m just trying to learn as much as I can.”
At the quarter distance of the season, Gilbert has been pleased with his progress and being able to prove himself in the championship.
“I think Spa showed that if you just buckle down and work hard, you can get decent results,” he said. “I’ve done better than what I thought I would at the start of the year. Making this step is difficult but it is not impossible.”
The GB3 Championship travels to the Hungaroring in July for the third round of the season, and Gilbert is excited for his next challenge after the “dream to drive” experience in Belgium.
“We’re aiming to go even further than we [at Spa],” he said. “Hopefully, we can carry the momentum forward and work even harder going into round three.”