Hillspeed’s Freddie Slater was the driver to beat as the GB3 Championship’s new era began in style at Silverstone.
Race One
Hillspeed’s Freddie Slater marched to a convincing victory in the first race of GB3’s new era at Silverstone with a supreme lights-to-flag victory in the first GB3 Championship race of the weekend.
The British driver, already a podium finisher in FIA F3 this year, made a strong start from pole, and built a lead of over 1.8 seconds at the end of the first lap of racing for the new Tatuus MSV GB3-025 cars, despite an early challenge from the fast starting Noah Lisle from third on the grid.
After getting away from any potential DRS attack, Slater regularly built his lead, and took the flag 6.982s clear of Lisle, with Rodin’s Gianmarco Pradel taking third from the front row.
There was drama before the flag fell on lap one after Hitech’s Deagen Fairclough stalled at the start of the formation lap and had to start the race from the pitlane.
Heading into turn one, Slater defended strongly as Noah Lisle beat Pradel off the line to move up into second. Although Lisle initially challenged Slater heading into Maggotts and Becketts on lap one, the Hillspeed driver soon settled and demonstrated his impressive pace to pull clear of the chasing pack.
Pradel pressured Lisle throughout the race, but the JHR driver held on to finish second ahead of the lead Rodin car. Pradel’s Rodin teammates Alex Ninovic and Abbi Pulling finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Hitech’s Nikita Johnson crossed the line in sixth after benefiting from a time penalty for JHR Development’s Kai Daryanani.
Keanu Al Azhari was the big mover early on, making up five places on lap one after making strong moves through the infield complex and the Hitech driver finished seventh as a result. Will Macintyre finished as the lead Elite Motorsport car in eighth, while Daryanani was demoted to ninth after his penalty. Xcel Motorsport’s Dion Gowda rounded out the top-10.
Despite his pit lane start, Fairclough made his way up through the field with a series of well executed moves and made effective use of GB3’s new DRS system by climbing from 24th to 17th.
Race Two
Freddie Slater made it two wins from the first two GB3 Championship races of the season, after another storming drive in race two at Silverstone.
After an early safety car for two cars stranded on the grid, Slater made a strong restart and pulled away from the pack again, finishing clear of JHR’s Noah Lisle and Hitech’s Nikita Johnson.
Slater, who demonstrated impressive pace already in race one, used his experience to nail the safety car restart and he extended his lead to 1.4 seconds at the end of lap three.
The British driver, already a podium finisher in FIA F3 this year, didn’t put a foot wrong as he stretched clear of Lisle in second, with his lead in the race extending to 10 seconds before a late safety car for an incident between Hitech’s Keanu Al Azhari and Xcel Motorsport’s Dion Gowda neutralised the race.
Slater therefore took a comfortable victory, while Lisle survived a late-race battle to finish second, with Johnson completing the podium positions after defending from the Rodin Motorsport pair of Gianmarco Pradel in fourth and Alex Ninovic in fifth.
The Rodin drivers delivered a good battle throughout the race, with Pradel making effective use of the new DRS system to pass his teammate heading into Stowe corner.
JHR Development’s Kai Daryanani fended off a tough challenge from Abbi Pulling to finish sixth, as Pulling crossed the line in seventh. Xcel Motorsport’s Patrick Heuzenroeder came home in eighth, followed by Argenti’s Lucas Fluxa.
Kanato Le benefited from the late tangle between Al Azhari and Gowda to round out the top-10 for Hillspeed.
Hitech’s Deagan Fairclough, despite starting from last place after changing his survival cell overnight, worked his way up the field to finish fifteenth.
Race Three
Elite Motorsport’s Will Macintyre moved clear of moments of chaos to win the third race of the weekend at Silverstone.
Macintyre benefited from a poor start by Hitech’s pole sitter Keanu Al Azhari who initially dropped down to fourth. Patrick Heuzenroeder slotted into third for JHR Developments after Al Azhari muscled his way back up to second on the first lap.
Drama was unfolding elsewhere when Noah Lisle was sent off and into the barrier on the exit of Copse as the midfield attempted to go four-wide off the start, before the Rodin of Abbi Pulling and the Xcel Motorsport car of Dion Gowda made contact on the Hamilton straight, hitting the barrier and bringing out the safety car.
At the restart, Macintyre timed his getaway well to lead away from Al Azhari, who was pressured by Heuzenroeder throughout the race but who ultimately could not find a way past the Hitech driver. Al Azhari defended staunchly early on before pulling out a small gap in the later stages.
Kai Daryanani crossed the line in fourth for JHR Developments, while Hiyu Yamakoshi finished in fifth for Hillspeed.
Star of the weekend Freddie Slater had worked his way up from eleventh on the grid to seventh before he made contact with the Hitech of Nikita Johnson on the exit of Brooklands, dropping the pair down the order and collecting the Rodin of Gianmarco Pradel as well, ending the latter’s race.
That allowed Lucas Fluxa to finish sixth for Argenti with Prema, while Deagen Fairclough made an incredible recovery drive to come from the back of the grid to take a fantastic seventh place for Hitech.
The Hillspeed of Kanato Le was eighth followed by the Xcel Motorsport of Jack Sherwood. The Argenti with Prema of Yuanpu Cui rounded out the top-10.
Freddie Slater recovered to finish in 13th place and leaves Silverstone as the early championship leader following his victories in race one and two.
