Bennett blasts title fight wide open with double pole and race one win at Zandvoort
JHR Developments’ John Bennett enjoyed his best day in the GB3 Championship, with a double pole position in qualifying, and his second race win of the year in the opening contest this afternoon. In doing so, Bennett massively strengthened his title bid, with just 18 points now covering the top-four drivers in the current standings.
Qualifying
In challenging wet conditions, Bennett claimed his second and third pole positions of the year, to put himself at the head of the grid for races one and two. Leaving it late to usurp Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Tymek Kucharczyk, who had led much of the session, Bennett’s best time of 1m40.600s was just 0.061s clear of the Polish driver, with the top two enjoying a comfortable margin to the rest of the pack, headed by Rodin’s Louis Sharp.
Sharp’s teammate James Hedley was just a fraction behind in fourth, ahead of Hitech’s Will Macintyre and Elite’s Hugo Schwarze, who posted his best qualifying result of the year. The top four maintained their positions on the second fastest time sheet for the race two grid, with Bennett and Kucharczyk separated by just 0.014s this time, with McKenzy Cresswell (Elite) and Patrick Heuzenroeder (JHR) completing the top-six.
Race one
The first race of the weekend was perhaps the most challenging of the season so far, with rain affecting some parts of the track and not others, and wet patches seemingly changing on every lap, with the field all starting the race on slick tyres.
Bennett mastered the conditions though, making a good start to lead the pack to turn one, and building a commanding lead of two seconds at the end of the first tour. But his advantage, which had stretched as far as three seconds by lap six, was wiped out to recover Patrick Heuzenroeder’s car, which had skidded into the gravel.
Bennett made a strong restart though and claimed his second win of the year, just over a second ahead of Kucharczyk, with Hedley climbing into third. Sharp recovered to fourth having dropped to sixth at one point, with Macintyre and Schwarze completing the top-six.
The result means Sharp now holds a four-point championship lead over Macintyre, with Kucharczyk and Bennett well within striking range with two more contests tomorrow (Sunday).
Race one winner Bennett said: "I had a dream start, but it was one of the hardest races I've ever done. Every lap on some corners it was raining and some was drying, the rain kept coming at different corners! Gong first through it is never fun, but I'm really happy with the result, and the car was mega. It feels like our most dominant win, I was never really under pressure, we opened up a three second lead before the safety car, and it's really great to start the weekend like this.
"Because it was slightly damp the corner speeds were a bit less, the most tiring thing was actually just weaving behind the safety car! But I handled it well, and it's a great result. The plan is to repeat this, we're doing it in every condition, it was a wet quali, the race was dry, but not really, but whatever tomorrow brings I know we'll be strong. I want to repeat this and close that gap."
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Zandvoort qualifying top-six 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
Click here for full results
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Zandvoort race one top-six 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
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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
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, team's standings after race 13 of 24
1. Hitech Pulse-Eight, 537pts
2. Rodin Motorsport, 501pts
3. Elite Motorsport, 366pts
4. JHR Developments, 357pts
5. VRD Racing by Arden, 229pts
6. Fortec Motorsports, 177pts
Click here for full standings