Arden Motorsport’s latest trio of recruits rate their chances of victory as preparation for the new F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost season continues.

The defending Teams’ Champions continued their testing programme – which began in Spain – back on domestic shores this week, with Alex Connor, Bart Horsten and Tommy Foster all getting behind the wheel at Snetterton and Donington Park.

Foster and Horsten graduate into the EcoBoost-powered F4 machinery from stints in the British and Australian National FF1600 Championships respectively, whilst Connor is making the step into single-seaters for the first time in 2019 after a successful stint in karting.

All three were quick to praise Arden for helping them bridge that step in their development, with a firm belief that all three Red Arrows can challenge at the sharp end of the grid from the start at Brands Hatch in April.

“Testing has gone really well, and I’ve learnt so much in the last couple of weeks. The Arden team have been very supportive,” explained Connor.

“I think that we are in a very strong position and that we have a good chance at the Teams’ Championship. We’re all looking very competitive.

“It has been quite easy to settle in as I’ve been on the YRDA programme for a couple of years now. I’ve made some good relationships with the people at Arden and seen first-hand how the team works.”

“Testing with the team has been a blast and I’ve been learning so much these past few weeks. I couldn’t ask for a better group of people around me,” added Horsten.

“From assessing the data I believe we’re in a very strong spot right now, with no doubts that we’ll be competitive throughout the season,” confirmed Foster.

“Settling in has been easy as I’ve been brought up through the YRDA too, so I already knew everyone and how the team runs the cars. I’m really looking forward to a competitive season.”

The trio were also quick to echo the praise that British F4’s race-proven, instructive and reliable car regularly receives on an international scale, bridging an important gap between karting and club motorsport to the national and continental stage.

“The car has amazing grip and it really makes you focus that little bit more on each corner. The engine and turbo of the car makes a very big difference on entry and exit,” said Connor.

“The car is very well engineered for its level – it has many similarities to karting, but also offers a great challenge for rookies to learn the dynamics of a car,” continued Foster.

“It has ridiculous amounts of mechanical grip,” agreed Horsten.

“It really requires you to focus on pushing, but not over-driving. The turbo also means that you need to prioritise getting on the throttle early.”

Connor, Horsten and Foster will all be present at Brands Hatch in just over a fortnight’s time [13th March] for the official championship Media Day, before another ten-event, thirty-race season gets underway at the Kent-based venue over the first weekend of April.