This weekend, GB3 took to Snetterton Circuit in Norfork for rounds 10, 11 and 12 of the Championship. After two days of testing, the grid was ready for a weekend of racing.
Qualifying:
After a frantic qualifying session, with multiple drivers in contention for provisional pole position, Callum Voisin took first place on the grid at the very last second. His perfect lap gave him a time of 1m41.442s which was nearly 3.5 seconds faster than laps in 2021. He was joined by Joel Granfors and Hitech GP’s Luke Browning at the front of the grid for Race 1.
Championship contender, Luke Browning took pole with his second fastest time, with Joel Granfors remaining on P2 for the second race and Matthew Rees completed the top 3 for Race 2.
Race 1 Grid:
- Callum Voisin, Carlin, 1m41.442s
- Joel Granfors, Fortec Motorsport, +0.094s
- Luke Browning, Hitech GP, +0.103s
- Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, +0.186s
- Roberto Faria, Carlin, +0.188s
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +0.296s
- Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, +0.309s
- John Bennett, Elite Motorsport, +0.413s
- Javier Sagrera, Carlin, +0.451s
- Nico Christodoulou, Arden Motorsport. +0.474s
- Max Esterson, Douglas Motorsport, +0.500s
- Branden Oxley, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.669s
- Nick Gilkes, Hillspeed, +0.725s
- McKenzy Cresswell, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.754s
- Bryce Aron, Hitech GP, +1.051s
- David Morales, Arden Motorsport, +1.082s
- Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport, +1.098s
- James Hedley, Elite Motorsport, +1.114s
- Marcos Flack, Douglas Motorsport, +1.240s
- Zak Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, +1.306s
- Cian Shields, Hitech GP, +1.464s
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsport, +2.108s
Race 2 Grid
- Browning, 1m41.639s
- Granfors, +0.083s
- Rees, +0.155s
- Lebbon, +0.255s
- Voisin, +0.279s
- Sagrera, +0.315s
- Christodoulou, +0.337s
- Connor, +0.347s
- Esterson, +0.374s
- Faria, +0.480s
- Gilkes, +0.556s
- Bennett, +0.586s
- Oxley, +0.738s
- Cresswell, +0.784s
- Aron, +0.999s
- Hedley, +1.062s
- Flack, +1.211s
- Morales, +1.267s
- Shields, +1.285s
- Taylor, +1.297s
- Smith, +1.313s
- Grundtvig, +1.972s
Race 3 Grid:
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsport
- Cian Shields, Hitech GP
- Zak Taylor, Fortec Motorsport
- Marcos Flack, Douglas Motorsport
- James Hedley, Elite Motorsport
- Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport
- David Morales, Arden Motorsport
- Bryce Aron, Hitech GP
- McKenzy Cresswell, Chris Dittmann Racing
- Nick Gilkes, Hillspeed
- Branden Oxley, Chris Dittmann Racing
- Max Esterson, Douglas Motorsport
- Nico Christodoulou, Arden Motorsport
- Javier Sagrera, Carlin
- John Bennett, Elite Motorsport
- Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport
- Roberto Faria, Carlin
- Matthew Rees, JHR Developments
- Luke Browning, Hitech GP
- Joel Granfors, Fortec Motorsport
- Callum Voisin, Carlin
Race 1
There was a slight delay to the start of the first race at Snetterton as Gilkes car was missing from the grid and Hedley’s had a lot of activity around it, resulting in the Elite Motorsport car being pushed back into the pits. With 2 cars now missing from the grid and the formation lap completed, the checkered flag was out and the race began. Voisin headed the pack on lap one with Browning trailing behind after the Hitech overtook Granfors to take P2. Further back, Faria and Lebbon overtook Rees and Smith and Taylor entered the pit on lap 2.
Lap 5 saw an incident at Murray’s, forcing Rees to drop down the order and into the pits. The battle at the front of the pack was heating up between Browning and Voisin with the gap down to just half a second at the end of the race. Lap 10 also saw Granfors trying to take the top step of the podium as he was less than a second away from the lead.
Crossing the checkered flag Voisin took his second win of the season at Snetterton with Browning and Granfors completing the podium.
On his second win of the year, Voisin said:
“It was quite tricky actually, I know I led the whole race but Luke behind was extremely quick. I was having to look in my mirrors quite a bit because he was so fast. It was all about maintaining that gap, thankfully I did and managed to bring it home.
“It’s always nice to beat your opponents, especially Luke who I think is leading the championship now. It’s definitely a confidence booster. A bigger gap would have been nice, but you can’t have everything!”
Image credit: @JakobEbrey
Race 2
On a sunny Sunday morning at Snetterton, the drivers got into position on the grid for the second race of the weekend. With Browning now back leading the championship, he had the opportunity to extend his lead by transforming his pole position into a race win.
When the flag was waved to start the race, Browning managed to hold onto P1 after challenges from Granfors and Rees behind. As the laps progressed, Rees dropped back leaving Granfors and Browning to battle for the race win. Lap 4 saw Granfors trying to overtake at Riches and Montreal, with the gap down to just 0.173s. However, this battle saw Sagrera in P3 and Rees in P4 catch up to the leading duo.
As the race approached half distance, everyone was on the edge of their seats with Granfors all over the rear of Browning with the gap down to just 0.3s in Lap 9 at Snetterton. The first mistake came from the Championship leader at Brundle, with Browning having a big slide but managing to keep a hold of his lead.
As they crossed the checkered flag, Browning won a tense race with Granfors so close behind and Javier Sagrera taking his third podium of the year at Snetterton.
On his race win, Luke Browning said:
“It was a good race, Joel was really quick, as expected coming into the weekend. Obviously it’s difficult to overtake around here and I was just keeping my head down and looking forward. It might not have been the cleanest race, but it’s a win.
“He was maybe quicker at the start but we went for longevity and my tyres didn’t clean as quickly as we’d thought. But either way the pace is something we need to look at back in the awning later on to see if we can find a couple of tenths here or there, but I’m sure between my driving and the guys back there we can find it.
“I want to go as far forward as possible in race three, don’t crash. It’s a full reverse grid so it’s something to look forward to later on. There could be some carnage, or maybe not, but it’ll be good fun regardless and I’ll try and get past as many people as possible.”
Image credit: @JakobEbrey
Race 3
The final race of the weekend is a reverse grid race with Mikkel Grundtvig on pole position, Cian Shields in P2 and Zak Taylor in P3 at Snetterton. As the lights went out, racing took place for a short time before the Saftey Car made an appearance on the track after Oxley was stranded at the hairpin.
With the Saftey car returning to the pits, Grundtvig lead the pack back into racing at the start of lap 4. Unfortunately, Taylor had an off at Hamilton, resulting in the Fortec car dropping down the order, with Headley inheriting P3 and setting the fastest lap.
With the top 3 being covered by less than 8-tenths of a second, Grundtvig was still holding off the pressure with the two drivers behind waiting for the Fortec driver to make a mistake. However, that mistake never came as he took the top step of the podium in the final race of the weekend. Flack took P2 and Headley rounded off the podium at Snetterton Circuit.
Image credit: @JakobEbrey
Read all about the 2022 GB3 partnered by the BRDC season here.
