After racing at the iconic track of Spa-Francoshpams the weekend before, the GB3 Championship headed to Silverstone, the home of the BRDC. Hitech GP’s Luke Browning left Spa in the lead and all eyes were on him to extend his championship. But Fortec Motorsports Joel Granfors would be the driver to put pressure on the Brit with the rest of the grid behind.
Qualifying:
Carlin’s, Callum Voisin took pole position for the first two races at the outfit’s home race this weekend, with Granfors taking P2 and P3. Tom Lebbon secured P2 in race two but was just outside the top 3 in the weekend’s first race. Javier Sagrera also had a great qualifying placing on the second row for both races.
It was a painful qualifying for Luke Browning and his teammates Cian Shields and Bryce Aron at Silverstone after the clerk of the course found that cars 4, 5 and 6 did not comply with the championship regulation. Therefore all 3 cars were dropped to the back of the grid for technical infringements.
Race 1 Grid:
- Callum Voisin, Carlin, +0.041s
- Joel Granfors, Fortec Motorsport, +0.086s
- Javier Sagrera, Carlin, +0.091s
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +0.102s
- John Bennett, Elite Motorsport, +0.123s
- Nico Christodoulou, Arden Motorsport, +0.176s
- Roberto Faria, Carlin, +0.330s
- Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, +0.392s
- Max Esterson, Douglas Motorsport, +0.550s
- James Hedley, JHR Developments, +0.570s
- Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, +0.625s
- McKenzy Cresswell, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.767s
- David Morales, Arden Motorsport, +0.831s
- Nick Gilkes, Hillspeed, +0.945s
- Marcos Flack, Douglas Motorsport, 1.038s
- Branden Oxley, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.052s
- Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport, +1.116s
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsport, +1.311s
- Zak Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, +1.439s
- Ayrton Ori, Chris Dittmann Racing, +2.153s
- Luke Browning, Hitech GP,
- Cian Shields, Hitech GP, +0.577s
- Bryce Aron, Hitech GP, +0.619s
Race 2 Grid:
- Callum Voisin, Carlin, 1m53.280s
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +0.017s
- Joel Granfors, Fortec Motorsport, +0.043s
- Javier Sagrera, Carlin, +0.094s
- John Bennett, Elite Motorsport, +0.155s
- Nico Christodoulou, Arden Motorsport, +0.172s
- Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, +0.385s
- Roberto Faria, Carlin, +0.535s
- Max Esterson, Douglas Motorsport, +0.558s
- Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, +0.568s
- McKenzy Cresswell, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.685s
- James Hedley, JHR Developments, +0.809s
- Nick Gilkes, Hillspeed, +0.932s
- David Morales, Arden Motorsport, +0.942s
- Marcos Flack, Douglas Motorsport, +1.018s
- Branden Oxley, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.025s
- Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport, +1.118s
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsport, +1.368s
- Zak Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, +1.522s
- Ayrton Ori, Chris Dittmann Racing, +2.530s
- Luke Browning, Hitech GP, +0.136s
- Cian Shields, Hitech GP, +0.744s
- Bryce Aron, Hitech GP, +0.565s
Race 1
With grey crowds covering the Northampton-based racetrack, Voisin started at the front of the grid, with Granfors beside him and Sagrera behind him. As the green lights appeared, the first race of the weekend at Silverstone started, the first challenge for Voisin came at Maggots and Beckets with Granfors taking the lead and the race leader falling down to P3. Behind them, championship leader Browning had made up places to finish lap 1 in P11 after starting at the back of the grid.
Lap 6 saw Voisin retake P2 from Sagrera and Roberto Faria overtake John Bennett. The rest of the grid followed behind with overtakes from Glikes and Brandon Oxley taking place on lap 8. The checkered flag was shown for the first time at Silverstone this weekend giving Joel Granfors his second win of the year. Callum Voisin had to settle for P2 and Roberto Faria took P3 at Silverstone.
On his second race win, Joel Granfors said:
“It was a good race, the balance felt amazing. I got a good start off the line and managed to get Voisin down to turn one. Then he came back into Maggotts and Becketts and we went side by side, and I saw Sagrera was close behind him, so I went to the left because I knew Voisin was going to need to take the inside. From there I just pulled the gap and I saw Voisin had passed Sagrera but by then I already had a comfortable lead and wasn’t too worried. At the end I was just saving the tyres for the last race.
“It started to rain, or at least it felt like it at the beginning, and mid-race, but towards the end it stopped. I was a bit worried for a second but we’ll take the win!
“I hope I can do as good a start in the next race and have a great race in race two as well.”
Image credit: @JakobEbrey
Race 2
As soon as the lights went out Tom Lebbon dived into P1 around Copse Corner, taking the lead from Voisin who had fallen back to P4. However, the British driver fought back and took P2 on the 5th lap of the race. Cresswell was the first river to retire from any race this weekend at Silverstone with Taylor soon following him.
After a dramatic start to the race, laps 7 and 8 only saw two overtakes from Ori and Oxley who were in a battle for P20 at the back of the grid. On the last lap at Silverstone, Voisin was close enough to make a move on Lebbon to take the lead but ended up losing his front wing on Lebbons rear tyre and Voisin still managed to retain P2 with Granfors behind in P3.
Callum Voisin on taking second at Silverstone:
“It was kind of self-inflicted really, I had a bad start, so I shouldn’t have been in that position anyway. The restart was extremely good, I got into second and then on the last lap I caught up with Tom. We’ll see what happens, but it felt like I was pushed off a little bit. It’s not going to be my decision, so we’ll see what happens.
“To be honest with the reverse grid race, we’ll just try and bag more points, which is what we’ve been doing. I want to have a clean race and then we’ll move on to Brands.”
Image credit: @JakobEbrey
Race 3
The final race of the weekend at Silverstone brought enough overtakes for the whole race weekend. Race leader Ori immediately dropped to P9 off the line with Flack taking the lead and Granfors jumping from the back of the pack to P8 on lap 2. British driver, Headley, was the first to retire on lap 3 of the race.
By lap 4 Flack had a 4.8s lead, with Granfors continuing to climb up the grid order to P4 from P18. Back in P13, Bennet raised some eyebrows with an impressive move around three cars on one corner. Lap 6 finally saw Granfors take the final podium place after passing his Fortec teammate. Browning is another driver to climb the pack, passing his competitors to gain P5 by the end of the race. On the last lap of the final race of the weekend at Silverstone, Flack had a 5.928s lead.
As the flag was waved for the final time this weekend, Flack took the race win with Faria and Granfors behind. A huge well done to Granfors to take a podium after starting in P18 which has given him the lead in the championship over Browning.
Read all about the 2022 GB3 partnered by the BRDC season here.
