Australian racers took pole positions and two of the three GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, victories at Zandvoort, where the second meeting of the 2025 season took place.
Race One
Patrick Heuzenroeder claimed a first GB3 Championship victory both for himself and the Xcel Motorsport team in the first race of the weekend at Zandvoort.
The Australian rebuffed a challenge off the line from Hitech TGR’s Deagen Fairclough, and then put himself out of DRS reach across the opening couple of laps.
Stretching a small initial lead of over a second, Fairclough was able to get within a second during the middle part of the race, but after that his challenge fell away, and Heuzenroeder was able to build a big lead, stretching it as far as six seconds by the end of the 15th lap of racing.
While Heuzenroeder disappeared into the distance, Fairclough had to fend off the battling Rodin duo of Gianmarco Pradel and Alex Ninovic, who closed up rapidly.
Pradel was within DRS range for the final lap, but Fairclough somehow held on to claim second place, a quarter of a second clear of Pradel, with Ninovic settling for fourth.
Argenti with Prema duo Reza Seewooruthun and Yuanpu Cui claimed fifth and sixth places in the train that formed behind Fairclough, with JHR’s Noah Lisle, Hitech TGR’s Keanu Al Azhari, Kai Daryanani (JHR) and Elite’s Will Macintyre all closing in too, with Macintyre completing the top-10.
Behind, the biggest mover of the race was Heuzenroeder’s teammate Jack Sherwood. The Brit had crashed in the first part of qualifying and had his times erased as a result. He fought up from 19th to 12th at the chequered flag, behind VRD’s Hugo Schwarze. However Sherwood was handed a three place penalty post-race for contact with Stefan Bostandjiev, and was reclassified 15th in the final standings.
Race Two
Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic claimed his first GB3 Championship win in race two at Zandvoort, holding off big pressure from Xcel Motorsport’s race one winner and fellow Australian Patrick Heuzenroeder.
Ninovic made a good start from pole position, while Hitech TGR’s front row starter Deagen Fairclough again looked to have made a good initial start only to bog down in the second phase, allowing Heuzenroeder to slice by into second. Argenti with Prema’s Reza Seewooruthun was also able to move past Fairclough on lap one, but the Hitech contender dispatched his former British F4 rival before the end of the lap to reclaim third.
The top three of Ninovic, Heuzenroeder and Fairclough then broke away from the pack, and lapped almost as one, with Fairclough attempting a move on Heuzenroeder at the start of lap five.
But after that point, Fairclough’s challenge began to fade slightly, allowing Ninovic and Heuzenroeder to engage in an Antipodean battle at the front for the remainder of the contest.
Ninovic’s gap never extended beyond a second, but he had enough in hand to keep Heuzenroeder at bay, winning by half a second. Fairclough finished three seconds further back to secure his second podium of the event.
Seewooruthun secured his best result yet in fourth, ahead of Hitech TGR’s Nikita Johnson, who made amends for his tough opener yesterday to finish fifth ahead of the second Argenti with Prema machine of Yuanpu Cui.
Rodin’s race one podium finisher Gianmarco Pradel was seventh this time around ahead of JHR’s Noah Lisle, while the third Argenti with Prema entry of Lucas Fluxa emerged on top of an entertaining battle with Elite’s Will Macintyre, the pair using the DRS system to go wheel to wheel for a couple of laps in the final stages.
Macintyre completed the top-10, but had to get his elbows out to defend from Hitech TGR’s Keanu Al Azhari, who had top-10 aspirations of his own.
Post-race, Fluxa was handed a three place position penalty for crowding another car off the track, dropping him to 12th in the final results.
Race Three
VRD Racing’s Hugo Schwarze steered clear of chaos in the final GB3 Championship race at Zandvoort, passing Elite Motorsport’s Will Macintyre early on and then surviving two safety car restarts to claim his first single-seater victory.
In his second GB3 campaign, the German driver started fourth on the top-12 reverse grid, but moved past Hitech TGR’s Keanu Al Azhari and JHR’s pole sitter Kai Daryanani on the first lap to run second behind front row starter Macintyre.
But Schwarze found his way past and into the lead early on the second lap, and immediately pulled out a small margin of over a second.
His attempt to streak clear was halted though when Elite’s Flynn Jackes became stranded in the gravel at turn one, bringing out the first safety car.
The race resumed at the end of lap five, but almost immediately it was neutralised again. Rodin’s Gianmarco Pradel attempted a move on Daryanani at turn three, but made the slightest of contacts, spinning around the Indian driver and sending both to the top of the banking where Hitech’s Nikita Johnson just avoided joining the melee, but Argenti with Prema’s Yuanpu Cui wasn’t as lucky, and slid into the stranded cars. With three cars parked at the top of the banking against the barriers, the second safety car was much longer while the Tatuus MSV GB3-025 cars were cleared.
There was time for just two more racing laps when the safety car pitted, and Schwarze made another good restart to again move clear of Macintyre. The British driver, with four wins to his name already in GB3, was able to keep the German in his sights, but Schwarze had done enough to clinch victory by 0.343 seconds.
Al Azhari took third, making amends for his Silverstone penalty and claim a GB3 podium at the second event of asking, finishing just ahead of charging teammate Deagen Fairclough, who again demonstrated his mastery of the reverse grid contest to storm from 11th on the grid to fourth.
JHR’s Noah Lisle was fifth, ahead of Johnson who rose from eighth to sixth despite his near miss at turn three. Race one winner and championship leader Patrick Heuzenroeder took seventh from 10th on the grid, ahead of Argenti with Prema’s Reza Seewooruthun.
Rodin’s race two winner Alex Ninovic and Xcel Motorsport’s Jack Sherwood completed the top-10, the latter climbing up from 19th on the grid.
