Christodoulou tops opening practice at soaking Zandvoort

Nico Christodoulou topped an Arden VRD 1-2 in the first free practice session of the weekend at Zandvoort this morning.

In a rain-affected 45-minute practice, the first official GB3 session ever held at the home of the Dutch Grand Prix, the Canadian topped the times with an effort of 1m41.270s on his sixteenth lap, putting him just under two tenths of a second clear of championship contender teammate James Hedley.

Douglas Motorsport’s Tymek Kucharczyk was third quickest, just 0.063s further back and a quarter of a second clear of the lead Hitech runner of Alex Dunne. David Morales in fifth was the lead JHR Developments runner, 0.057s ahead of the second Hitech machine of Souta Arao, with Noah Ping ensuring all three Arden VRD cars were inside the top seven. Championship leader Callum Voisin was eighth for Rodin Carlin, 0.006s away from Ping and a couple of tenths clear of the fastest Hillspeed entry of Gerrard Xie.

Voisin’s nearest challenger Joseph Loake completed the top-10 for JHR Developments, which was covered by just over a second. The session was twice interrupted by red flags, the first coming just before the midway point after a spin at Tarzan for Michael Shin, and the second with a couple of minutes remaining, with Edward Pearson in the gravel in sector two.

Series newcomers Jack Sherwood (Chris Dittmann Racing) and Patrick Heuzenroeder (Elite) were 16th and 21st quickest of the 25 drivers, in their first official taste of the GB3 Championship.

GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Zandvoort Free Practice One result:
1. Nico Christodoulou, Arden VRD, 1m41.270s
2. James Hedley, Arden VRD, +0.190s
3. Tymek Kucharczyk, Douglas Motorsport, +0.253s
4. Alex Dunne, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.529s
5. David Morales, JHR Developments, +0.592s
6. Souta Arao, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.649s
7. Noah Ping, Arden VRD, +0.731s
8. Callum Voisin, Rodin Carlin, +0.737s
9. Gerrard Xie, Hillspeed, +0.917s
10. Joseph Loake, JHR Developments, +1.110s
11. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, +1.207s
12. John Bennett, Rodin Carlin, +1.234s
13. Costa Toparis, Rodin Carlin, +1.335s
14. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, 1.394s
15. Jarrod Waberski, Fortec Motorsport, +1.699s
16. Jack Sherwood, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.791s
17. Zak Taylor, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.850s
18. Michael Shin, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +2.034s
19. Edward Pearson, Fortec Motorsport, +2.117s
20. Max Esterson, Fortec Motorsport, +2.288s
21. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Elite Motorsport, +2.402s
22. Arthur Rogeon, Chris Dittmann Racing, +2.468s
23. Oliver Stewart, Elite Motorsport, +2.760s
24. Daniel Mavlyutov, Hillspeed, +3.377s
25. Shawn Rashid, Douglas Motorsport, +3.536s