Rowan Campbell-Pilling is one of the most promising young talents in single-seater racing. He ended a difficult 2025 F4 season on a high. Securing three podium finishes in the F4 UAE Trophy Series. Included a race win and a pole position. He finished third overall in the series.
Building on that momentum, Rowan now begins his next chapter as he steps up to the GB3 Championship with Xcel Motorsport.
Sam Clark catches up with Rowan to hear about his move to GB3, a special new car and, of course after our first meeting, we talk about driving very fast around corners!
Your new team, Xcel Motorsport, have given you a lovely new toy to race around in. Is it a big upgrade to the F4 car you raced last year?
RCP: The obvious difference is it’s a lot bigger. You’ve got a lot more downforce, the tyres are a lot bigger so there is more mechanical grip and therefore the brakes are bigger. We’ve got a lovely, flappy rear wing which is the DRS, which is really cool. It’s going to be a big learning curve, but it’s going to be great!
Do you have an idea yet of how much faster it is?
RCP: I know the difference around Silverstone, compared to F4, is about 10 seconds. So it’s a lot quicker.
And, to say, it was only about 15 to 20 kph faster in a straight line, which isn’t a lot. The big jump is in the corners, especially the high speed stuff, you absolutely fly through there. It sticks like it’s on rails. There is some movement in the rear, which is good, a poised car is a fast car. A bit of rear movement and positive rotation, is never a bad thing.
What was the biggest surprise with the car, what put a smile on your face?
RCP: The sound! It sounds so good. It sounds like a real race car. We’ve got a massive air intake on this side, which means the mirrors are slightly skewed to see around it, which is something to get used to. But, the sound it makes is so loud, it’s crazy, I love it.
The GB3 Championship races on tracks in the UK that will be familiar to you from F4 but it also takes you onto tracks and into Europe. Which tracks are you most excited about racing?
RCP: Spa is very cool, I’m really looking forward to Eau Rouge. I’m really looking forward to different parts of different tracks. Hungaroring final sector with two double hairpins. The chicane as well, with the big curves. Red Bull Ring is obviously a an infamous track, on the side of a mountain in Austria. To be racing on tracks I’ve been watching on TV growing up is absolutely incredible.
Are you going to miss any from the F4 season?
RCP: A favourite track that I’ve driven on? Knockhill is up there, for sure. Knockhill is a really cool track up in Scotland, and we won there. So that’s always going to have a pretty special place in my heart. My favourite corner is probably turn one at Knockhill. That is a proper corner. I think it’s already been taken off the calendar for the new generation of F4 cars. But, it’s such a great corner. The kerb is flat. You come over a blind crest, brake, shift down to fifth gear, use all the kerb. All four wheels come up off the deck. You land again. You go down the hill. It’s like a sort of reverse Eau Rouge, with more elevation, just for a shorter time. It’s very undulating, like a roller coaster. It’s a bumpy ride, but great fun when you get it right. It just feels so nice when you get the compression down the hill and get it right.
Your driving style is obviously ‘fast’, but will you have to change the way you drive this new GB3 car?
RCP: Everyone has their own driving style and, particularly in the junior ranks, it’s a case of trying to adapt yourself for the car you’re in. There are other factors and variations, like different tyre compounds require different driving styles. At the Yas Marina Circuit, for example, you have to be very smooth and gentle with the tyre. Because the surfaces are really abrasive out there. The tarmac has little bits of sand in the gaps which, under load, are very sharp, and just strip the tyre completely. Whereas, on a British track you can sort of hack a car in a different way. You can be a bit messy with it, and it will take it because the track surface and tyre construction will allow that to happen,
Tyre construction, how thick the side walls are, how much squish you’re getting around corners, the compound are all factors to the grip circle. There’s only so much load a tyre can take before it will slide. It’s about keeping as close to the edge of the grip circle as possible without going over it. Sometimes you can break traction and it’s actually faster, but it’s a case of driving to the limit of what the car can take.
Follow Rowan on his website here
Watch Rowan and all the GB3 races live here
Images courtesy: Altitude
Read our first interview with Rowan, as he shares his experience as a young driver fighting up the ranks and gives some top tips for better cornering here
