SIMMONS STARS IN GB3 CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDS AT SILVERSTONE

Simmons stars in GB3 Championship rounds at Silverstone

BRDC Rising Star Ayrton Simmons was dominant in the latest GB3 Championship, in association with the BRDC, rounds at Silverstone last weekend (14-15 August).

Simmons qualified second for the first race on Saturday, behind another young British star Oliver Bearman, who has been in supreme form in European F4 competition in recent months. But at the start, Simmons passed Bearman and built a big lead of over two seconds at the end of the first lap.

That advantage was wiped out when Bearman retired from the race on the second lap, and the safety car was deployed. But when racing resumed, Simmons immediately re-established his 2.3 second lead, though Brazilian Fortec driver Roberto Faria was closing in the final laps.

But the Chris Dittmann Racing driver was still comfortable and claimed his third win of the season and his second of the year at Silverstone by over a second from Faria, while Irish debutant Jonathan Browne claimed a podium in his first ever slicks and wings contest for the Hillspeed team.

Simmons then claimed another victory in the second race of the meeting. This time he started from pole position, and he again led every single lap. Bearman started second and shadowed him throughout the race, getting within half a second on occasion, but was unable to make a decisive move past him.

Simmons’ second successive victory was secured by just six tenths of a second, with Faria on the podium again in third and championship leader Zak O’Sullivan fourth, the top four covered by less than two seconds.

Carlin’s O’Sullivan then kept clear of drama in the final race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon. He started from sixth place on the reverse grid, but was up to fourth by the mid-race point.

On the fifth lap, a collision between leader Roman Bilinski, Faria and Branden Lee Oxley allowed O’Sullivan to slip through into the lead of the race, and he dominated from there on, taking a crushing victory over eight seconds clear of the rest of the field. Australian Bart Horsten took second for Silverstone-based Hitech GP, with his Mexican team mate Sebastian Alvarez third.

O’Sullivan now holds a massive 108 point lead in the championship standings. He has four wins and seven other podiums to his name so far, significantly more than his opposition, and heads to the next rounds at Oulton Park on 11/12 September with a chance of sealing the title one weekend early.

Click here for full Silverstone race results