JHR Developments’ John Bennett converted pole position into his second GB3 Championship win of the year, in challenging race one conditions at Zandvoort. Kiwi driver Louis Sharp twice qualified third and finished Saturday’s race in fourth, holding a narrow four-point lead over Will Macintyre with one more race on Sunday.
“Overall, a double P3 is not the worst result,” said Sharp, of qualifying. “I think we lacked a little bit to the leaders today, but it’s my first time at Zandvoort and my first time driving here in the rain as well, so overall I’m pretty happy with how it’s gone.
“I think there’s a bit of time we need to find going into the races, especially to close the gap to the front, but we know now we can race from positions further back. I think to have a double P3 we can definitely be fighting for race wins and podiums. I can’t complain too much.”
Bennett survived a safety car restart to lead home Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Tymek Kucharczyk and Rodin Motorsport’s James Hedley.
Bennett led the field away despite a drama at the end of the formation lap, as he spun exiting the final corner, with drizzle falling and the whole field on slick tyres. After retaking his grid position, he made a good start to head the pack, building a lead of over two seconds at the end of the first lap, which saw plenty of drama with rain falling in the middle sector and drivers towards the back of the pack taking a chance with treaded Pirelli tyres.
But the rain appeared to be very localised, with the rest of the lap largely dry, and Bennett had extended his lead to three seconds by lap six, only for the safety car to be deployed after Patrick Heuzenroder went off into the gravel.
But despite seeing his margin wiped out, Bennett held onto his lead, made a solid restart and crossed the line with a second in hand over Kucharczyk, with Hedley a further 1.6 seconds in arrears to take his first podium of the year from fourth on the grid.
Rodin’s championship leader Louis Sharp took fourth despite falling to sixth at one stage, firmly embroiled in an entertaining scrap for the final podium position. The Kiwi finished half a second ahead of Hitech’s Will Macintyre, with Hugo Schwarze earning his best result of the season with sixth place for Elite Motorsport, having also started there.
Fortec’s Colin Queen capitalised on all the drama to rise from 14th on the grid to seventh, ahead of VRD Racing by Arden’s Shawn Rashid who made similar progress to claim eighth from 15th.
Rashid’s teammate Nikita Johnson and Elite’s Jarrod Waberski completed the top-10, with the latter having started 17th.
The second race of the weekend is due to commence tomorrow morning at 10.10 local time (09.10 UK).
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, driver’s standings after race 13 of 24
1/ Louis Sharp, Rodin Motorsport, 254pts
2/ Will Macintyre, Hitech Pulse-Eight, 250pts
3/ Tymek Kucharczyk, Hitech Pulse-Eight, 241pts
4/ John Bennett, JHR Developments, 236pts
5/ McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, 175pts
6/ Ugo Ugochukwu, Rodin Motorsport, 155pts
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Zandvoort race one provisional result:
1/ John Bennett, JHR Developments, 11 laps
2/ Tymek Kucharczyk, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +1.138s
3/ James Hedley, Rodin Motorsport, +2.721s
4/ Louis Sharp, Rodin Motorsport, +3.065s
5/ Will Macintyre, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +3.548s
6/ Hugo Schwarze, Elite Motorsport, +4.994s
7/ Colin Queen, Fortec Motorsport, +5.371s
8/ Shawn Rashid, VRD Racing by Arden, +6.122s
9/ Nikita Johnson, VRD Racing by Arden, +7.013s
10/ Jarrod Waberski, Fortec Motorsport, +8.884s
11/ Gerrard Xie, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +8.957s
12/ Flynn Jackes, Chris Dittmann Racing, +10.674s
13/ Arthur Rogeon, Rodin Motorsport, +12.254s
14/ Aditya Kulkarni, Hillspeed, +12.740s
15/ Josh Irfan, JHR Developments, +13.576s
16/ Noah Ping, VRD Racing by Arden, +16.217s
17/ McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, +1 lap
18/ Edward Pearson, Fortec Motorsport +1 lap
DNF Seb Murray, Chris Dittmann Racing, 9 laps
DNF Patrick Heuzenroeder, JHR Developments, 4 laps
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Zandvoort qualifying result:
1/ John Bennett, JHR Developments, 1m40.600s
2/ Tymek Kucharczyk, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.061s
3/ Louis Sharp, Rodin Motorsport, +0.542s
4/ James Hedley, Rodin Motorsport, +0.623s
5/ Will Macintyre, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.751s
6/ Hugo Schwarze, Elite Motorsport, +0.787s
7/ McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, +0.807s
8/ Gerrard Xie, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.988s
9/ Arthur Rogeon, Rodin Motorsport, +1.026s
10/ Patrick Heuzenroeder, JHR Developments, +1.029s
11/ Nikita Johnson, VRD Racing by Arden, +1.032s
12/ Josh Irfan, JHR Developments, +1.185s
13/ Noah Ping, VRD Racing by Arden, +1.197s
14/ Colin Queen, Fortec Motorsport, +1.214s
15/ Shawn Rashid, VRD Racing by Arden, +1.396s
16/ Seb Murray, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.617s
17/ Jarrod Waberski, Elite Motorsport, +1.718s
18/ Flynn Jackes, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.993s
19/ Edward Pearson, Fortec Motorsport, +2.198s
20/ Aditya Kulkarni, Hillspeed, +3.306s
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Zandvoort qualifying, second fastest times:
1/ John Bennett, JHR Developments, 1m40.715s
2/ Tymek Kucharczyk, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.014s
3/ Louis Sharp, Rodin Motorsport, +0.450s
4/ James Hedley, Rodin Motorsport, +0.840
5/ McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, +0.910s
6/ Patrick Heuzenroeder, JHR Developments, +0.940s
7/ Nikita Johnson, VRD Racing by Arden, +0.953s
8/ Gerrard Xie, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.954s
9/ Will Macintyre, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +1.095s
10/ Hugo Schwarze, Elite Motorsport, +1.099s
11/ Arthur Rogeon, Rodin Motorsport, +1.112s
12/ Colin Queen, Fortec Motorsport, +1.173s
13/ Josh Irfan, JHR Developments, +1.228s
14/ Noah Ping, VRD Racing by Arden, +1.483s
15/ Seb Murray, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.593s
16/ Shawn Rashid, VRD Racing by Arden, +1.699s
17/ Jarrod Waberski, Elite Motorsport, +1.808s
18/ Edward Pearson, Fortec Motorsport, +2.232s
19/ Flynn Jackes, Chris Dittmann Racing, +2.472s
20/ Aditya Kulkarni, Hillspeed, +3.245s
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