The F1 hopefuls of the GB3 Championship head to the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with three races beckoning at the legendary home of the Belgian Grand Prix, and three new drivers set to join the series.
Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp heads the 22-car field to the Ardennes, with a win and a podium already to his name after the first five races of the year at Oulton Park and Silverstone. The Kiwi’s nearest challenger is teammate Ugo Ugochukwu, who has three podiums of his own, but is eyeing a first win. The American driver heads to the venue with recent experience of the track, having competed in Formula Regional last weekend.
Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Will Macintyre is next up in third, he has two wins to his name already courtesy of outstanding performances in the third race at Oulton Park and the second Silverstone encounter, and is just 10 points off the championship summit.
McKenzy Cresswell will hope for wins as a minimum this weekend, having completed six GB3 races at Spa Francorchamps since 2022, the Elite driver is nine points clear of Macintyre’s teammate Tymek Kucharczyk, who finally broke his GB3 win duck in the first race at Silverstone.
JHR’s John Bennett is another to have claimed a first win this year, with a stunning triumph in the wet at Oulton Park, while Hitech’s Gerrard Xie is another to have raced at Spa already this year, with an outing in EuroFormula last weekend.
Cresswell’s Elite teammate Jarrod Waberski sits eighth in the standings, just a point behind Xie and was a podium finisher at Spa last year, while Arthur Rogeon is Rodin’s third driver and should have joined the winner’s circle at Oulton Park, only to suffer late heartbreak.
JHR Developments’ Aussie Patrick Heuzenroeder continues to edge closer to the front in his first full GB3 campaign, and is a point clear of Elite’s German ace Hugo Schwarze.
Fortec’s GB4 graduate Colin Queen is three points ahead of VRD Racing’s Noah Ping, a double race winner last year, with Josh Irfan just two points behind for JHR.
Chris Dittmann Racing’s charge is led by Scotsman Seb Murray, while Fortec’s Edward Pearson is targeting his first top-10 finishes of the season.
Shawn Rashid has shown vastly improved form this year with VRD Racing, while Flynn Jackes is ever-improving for Chris Dittmann Racing.
Hillspeed’s Adi Kulkarni has shown top-10 promise as he steps up from GB4, and the British-Indian youngster has a teammate for the first time this season, as GB4 privateer Marcus Luzio steps up to GB3 from this weekend onwards, having closed ever closer to the front of the pack in GB3’s sister category.
Another newcomer this weekend is VRD Racing by Arden’s Nikita Johnson. The American finally turned 16 earlier this month, and is therefore now eligible for GB3 competition. Having shown front-running pace in his GB3 testing outings, the USF Pro 2000 dominator will hope to continue his race winning ways in his first European racing venture.
The trio of newcomers this weekend is completed by Formula Regional contender Kanato Le. The Japanese driver is the third driver to occupy Chris Dittmann Racing’s third seat this year, and finished seventh in British F4 last year, before graduating to Formula Regional for 2024.
As ever, GB3 will race three times this weekend, with qualifying settling the race one and two grid order, but taking place on Friday evening instead of Saturday morning. The first two races will take place on Sunday, before the top-12 reverse grid battle on Sunday afternoon.
All races will be shown live and in full on the GB3 Championship live timing page, with live timing available for all on track sessions too, with activity starting with testing on Thursday.
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