Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic and Hillspeed’s Kanato Le and Freddie Slater were victorious at Spa-Francorchamps in the GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC.
Ninovic won the first race of the event this morning from pole, but had to withstand two safety car restarts in the process, while Le fought back from a slow start to win a curtailed second contest, for which the results remain provisional. Hillspeed’s Freddie Slater delivered the drive of a lifetime to surge from 23rd and last on the grid to victory in the final GB3 race of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.
Race One
Having set the fastest time in Qualifying One, Ninovic lined up on pole and made a good start to hold the lead on the first lap.
Immediately putting himself out of DRS range, the Australian led throughout but had to survive an early safety car restart, and had to do the same again late on, with an effective one lap shootout at the end of the race.
Each time he was able to create a gap to the opposition, and he claimed his second win of the year with a margin of over two seconds to VRD Racing’s Hugo Schwarze. The German driver survived an attack at Les Combes on the final lap to claim second place ahead of Le, who moved up from seventh on the grid to third, and gained three spots on the final lap alone.
JHR’s Noah Lisle was fourth ahead of Elite’s Will Macintyre and Rodin’s Gianmarco Pradel. From the back of the grid, Hillspeed’s Freddie Slater made sensational progress to finish ninth, while Hitech’s Deagen Fairclough was just as impressive from 22nd on the grid, though lost his top-10 result due to a post race penalty.
Race Two
Le made a slow start from pole position, secured in the second qualifying session, and fell as low as fifth at the first corner as Ninovic and Pradel moved into first and second. But while Ninovic was able to hold the lead for the first few laps, Le was set on making progress and picked off his rivals one by one, until he was up to second.
Ninovic was unable to break away this time and Le pounced on the Kemmel Straight on lap five and held the lead from there.
Nikita Johnson secured second for Hitech TGR, rising up from sixth on the grid with a superb series of passes of his own, while Ninovic extended his championship lead with the final podium spot.
Hitech’s Keanu Al Azhari was in the thick of the action and took fourth place ahead of Hillspeed’s Hiyu Yamakoshi, with Macintyre sixth this time around.
Slater’s comeback drive was even better this time around as he secured eighth from the same 23rd grid slot as in race one, while Fairclough’s rise from 22nd resulted in 11th place.
Race Three
Having started every race this weekend from the final spot after stopping on track during qualifying, Slater had already salvaged two top-10 results, but saved his best for last with an inspired tyre gamble in challenging conditions.
Having claimed the lead at the mid-race point, he drove into the distance to win by eight seconds, with Hillspeed’s day made even sweeter with Kanato Le finishing second to complete a 1-2, with a move on Reza Seewooruthun on the final lap. Argenti by Prema driver Seewooruthun claimed his maiden GB3 podium with third.
Morning rain had left the track damp ahead of the race, but the surface was gradually drying as the race drew closer. Slater was one of five drivers opting to start the race with slick Pirelli tyres, and with nothing to lose, he simply blasted through the field as the racing line quickly dried out.
With the track at its dampest on lap one, Slater still gained seven places to run 16th, and gained three more spots next time around. He broke into the top-10 to run eighth at the end of lap four, and gained another spot on lap five.
But it was lap six, with the leaders on wet tyres all converging at the front, that will live in the memory for some time. Slater started by picking off Hitech TGR’s Nikita Johnson on the run to La Source, and Rodin’s Alex Ninovic was dispatched approaching Eau Rouge.
Elite’s Will Macintyre was next exiting Raidillon, and Slater went third with a move up the inside of JHR’s Noah Lisle at Bruxelles. Lisle’s teammate Kai Daryanani soon followed, before a dive past Hitech’s Keanu Al Azhari propelled Slater to the lead entering Campus.
From there, he romped into the distance to win with an eight second margin to Le, who also opted for slicks pre-race and carved his way from 12th to second place, backing up his win and pole position from earlier in the weekend.
Seewooruthun was another to bank on slicks pre-race, and he also benefited as he went from 15th to third, having followed Slater for much of the contest.
Xcel Motorsport’s Patrick Heuzenroder and Hitech TGR’s Deagen Fairclough opted to pit for slicks after the reconnaissance lap to the grid and their own gambles paid off with fourth and fifth.
Slick tyre runners filled the top-nine finishers with Heuzenroeder’s teammate Jack Sherwood ahead of Argenti with Prema’s Lucas Fluxa, and VRD Racing’s pole sitter Hugo Schwarze. The German driver was ninth having led early on, but pitted from the lead for slicks, also picked up a 10 second penalty and still finished ninth. Macintyre in 10th was the lead runner on treaded Pirelli tyres.
