In the final race weekend of the 2021 GB3 championship at Donington Park, all eyes were on Zak O’Sullivan and Carlin to win the 2021 championship. All O’Sullivan had to do was win the first race and he would take the championship crown. Going into the weekend he was also one pole position away from winning the Jack Cavill Pole Position Cup.
With some new drivers taking to the grid for the first time, it was also a taste of what the 2022 championship would look like.
Qualifying
It was the start of a stellar weekend for Zak O’Sullivan at Donington Park as he took pole in the first race and won the Jack Cavill Pole Position cup for the 2021 season. It was also a high start to the weekend for Bart Hosten who took P2 in both races 1 and 2. Reece Ushijima took pole in race 2 with O’Sullivan in third.
Race one Grid
- Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin, 1m24.176s
- Bart Horsten, Hitech GP, +0.033s
- Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, +0.054s
- Sebastian Alvarez, Hitech GP, +0.157s
- Roman Bilinski, Arden Motorsport, +0.204s
- Christian Mansell, Carlin, +0.272s
- Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +0.317s
- Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.320s
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +0.399s
- Branden Oxley, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.508s
- James Hedley, Elite Motorsport, +0.666s
- Bryce Aron, Carlin, +0.669s
- Jonathan Browne, Hillspeed, +0.683s
- Javier Sagrera, Elite Motorsport, +0.711s
- Frederick Lubin, Arden Motorsport, +0.809s
- Flynn Jackes, Hillspeed, +1.044s
- Eduardo Coseteng, Fortec Motorsports, +1.080s
- Alex Fores, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.096s
- Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport, +1.151s
- Reema Juffali, Douglas Motorsport, +1.395s
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsports, +1.793s
Race two Grid
- Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, 1m24.239s
- Bart Horsten, Hitech GP, +0.075s
- Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin, +0.088s
- Sebastian Alvarez, Hitech GP, +0.173s
- Roman Bilinski, Arden Motorsport, +0.181s
- Christian Mansell, Carlin, +0.260s
- Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.284s
- Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +0.381s
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +0.389s
- Branden Oxley, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.570s
- James Hedley, Elite Motorsport, +0.645s
- Javier Sagrera, Elite Motorsport, +0.681s
- Bryce Aron, Carlin, +0.734s
- Jonathan Browne, Hillspeed, +0.849s
- Frederick Lubin, Arden Motorsport, +0.855s
- Alex Fores, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.067s
- Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport, +1.153s
- Flynn Jackes, Hillspeed, +1.170s
- Eduardo Coseteng, Fortec Motorsports, +1.180s
- Reema Juffali, Douglas Motorsport, +1.335s
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsports, +1.897s
Race three grid:
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsports
- Reema Juffali, Douglas Motorsport
- Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport
- Alex Fores, Chris Dittmann Racing
- Eduardo Coseteng, Fortec Motorsports
- Flynn Jackes, Hillspeed
- Frederick Lubin, Arden
- Javier Sagrera, Elite Motorsport
- Jonathan Browne, Hillspeed
- Bryce Aron, Carlin
- James Hedley, Elite Motorsport
- Branden Oxley, Chris Dittmann Racing
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport
- Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing
- Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports
- Christian Mansell, Carlin
- Roman Bilinski, Arden
- Sebastian Alvarez, Hitech GP
- Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP
- Bart Horsten, Hitech GP
- Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin
Race 1 – Round 22
With the Championship in his sights, O’Sullivan started on pole at Donington Park and had to transform this into a win to be crowned the champion. Lap 1 saw three cars of Smith, Alvarez and Juffali off on the first corner bringing the yellow flags out. After all of the cars had been cleared and the green flag shown, the fight was back on. Horsten fell to the back of the grid which saw Roman Balinski in P3 just ahead of Branden Oxley.
By lap 7 O’Sullivan had stretched his gap to 0.936s over Ushijima. Balinski and Oxley were two seconds behind with Oxley within a second in P3. However, by lap 8 Ushijima was closing in on O’Sullivan and by lap 9 the Hitech GP driver was 0.371s off the Carlin driver. Even after setting the fastest lap, Ushijima wasn’t able to get close enough with O’Sullivan now creating a larger gap between the two.
Crossing the finish line at Donington Park, Zak O’Sullivan won the 2021 GB3 Championship in association with the BRDC almost a second clear of Ushijima in P2. Balinski finished off the podium places with Oxley in P4, taking his best finish yet.
Race winner and GB3 Champion Zak O’Sullivan said: “It’s awesome, there’s been four or five weeks of waiting since the last round! It’s been an awesome year. My engineer and myself have improved on what we did wrong last year in F4 where I missed out on the championship. So it’s great to get my first championship with the boys and girls in blue, and it all kind of went swimmingly! In the early phase of the championship we were able to build a bit of a lead. In the second phase I’ve been a bit unlucky with a few DNFs and its been championship management mode since then.
“I can have some fun now, it could be wet, and then we’ll have the last race live on Sky Sports as well which should be good fun trying to carve through the field!”
Image credit: @JakobEbrey
Race 2 – Round 23
The second race of the weekend at Donington Park started in good old British weather in the rain, very fitting for the last day of the GB3 Championship. Ushijima and Horsten headed the grid with this being an important race for Carlin as depending on where their three drivers placed, it would see them winning the team championship.
With the rain pouring down and the spray taking up the track, it was a rolling start. Ushijima kept the lead but O’Sullivan was looking to move further up the grid and had a battle with Horsten to get there. It was another battle lost for Alvarez further down the grid, who was out of the race prematurely for the second time that weekend. The third lap saw Championship winner O’Sullivan get past Ushijima and take the race lead, with nothing to lose the Carlin driver was taking all the risks for the taste of victory. Faria and Lebbon were the next to go wheel to wheel with Lebbon losing his front wing and consequently making a trip to the pits.
By lap 7 O’Sullivan was 6 seconds in the lead of Ushijima in P2 and Horsten in P3. Simmonds took on Balinski this lap which saw him go round the outside of the Arden breaking through into the top 5.
The final lap saw a battle between Mansell and Horsten. After the Hitech driver went wide, with half a lap left the Carlin driver made it onto the final place of the podium with his teammate O’Sullivan winning the race and Ushijima in P2 at Donington Park.
On taking P2, Reece Ushijima said: “It’s been really good so far. I would have liked the win but I know my championship fight isn’t with Zak, so it was still a good amount of points, and I’m still fighting for second in the championship.
“I struggled to get a bit of temperature in the tyres at the start and Zak managed to start really well, so he got past. From then on it was just about management, trying to stay in the position and luckily I managed to finish in P2.
“I think race three will be really fun, I think it will be good for the fans on Sky F1 as well. If it stays like this it will be really exciting.”
Image credit: @JakobEbrey
Race 3 – Round 24
The third and final race of the weekend at Donington Park was also the last race of the 2021 championship. It would also be the last race for the current chassis in this generation. Mikkel Grundtvig started on the front row with Reema Juffali accompanying him. As the lights went out Grundtvig got off the line well but both Douglas cars struggled with their starts. Lap 2 saw Ushijima in the pit lane, after gaining a puncture in the first lap.
Lap 3 saw the grid still close together with all positions up to play for. However, for Mansell, it saw him in the grass and nearly taking out Horsten as he rejoined the track. By lap 4 Frederick Lubin was the fastest car on the track in P3 with Alex Fores and Grundtvig in front.
It was a premature end of the season for Sagrera after coming into contact with Mansell and the Elite Motorsport’s car ended in the barrier, breaking the rear suspension immediately at McLean’s corner. By Lap 7 both Roberto Faria and Sebastian Alvarez had made up 10 places since the start of the race, both being in the top 10.
As the checkered flag was waved for the final time of the season at Donington Park Grundtvig took the top step of the podium with Fores in P2 and Lubin in P3. The result also decided that Ayrton Simmons would take P2 in the driver’s championship, with Christian Mansell in P3 and Reece Ushijima in P4.
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsports, 12 laps
- Alex Fores, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.958s
- Frederick Lubin, Arden Motorsport, +2.265s
- Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +6.571s
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +9.299s
- Jonathan Browne, Hillspeed, +9.576s
- Sebastian Alvarez, Hitech GP, +9.931s
- Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin, +10.974s
- Roman Bilinski, Arden Motorsport, +11.840s
- Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing, +16.352s
- Bart Horsten, Hitech GP, +17.030s
- Eduardo Coseteng, Fortec Motorsports, +17.401s
- James Hedley, Elite Motorsport, +19.553s
- Bryce Aron, Carlin, +20.002s
- Reema Juffali, Douglas Motorsport, +20.445s
- Christian Mansell, Carlin, +20.589s
- Flynn Jackes, Hillspeed, +21.613s
- Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport, +23.615s
- Branden Oxley, Chris Dittmann Racing, +25.191s
- Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, +26.389s
DNF. Javier Sagrera, Elite Motorsport, five laps completed
Image credit: @JakobEbrey
As the weekend at Donington Park came to a close, Zac O’Sullivan took the 2021 GB3 in association with the BRDC Championship with his prize of a 2 day FIA Formula 3 Test. Ayrton Simmonds took P2 and Christian Mansell took P3. Carlin also won the team championship for the 2021 season.
Catch up on the 2021 season here.
