Elite Motorsport’s Oliver Stewart converted pole position to victory in the final GB3 Championship race of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.
With the qualifying order reversed to form the grid for the final encounter, the Scotsman fought his way back past a fast starting Daniel Mavlyutov on the first lap, and then controlled a safety car restart to claim his maiden GB3 triumph by 2.5 seconds.
With plenty of drama behind him, especially on the first lap after a multi-car collision exiting Les Combes, there was plenty of opportunity for progress throughout the field, and JHR’s Joseph Loake climbed from 12th to second on the first lap, and stayed there to regain the championship lead from Rodin Carlin’s Callum Voisin. Fortec’s Jarrod Waberski earned his first podium, taking third after starting ninth.
Arden VRD’s James Hedley went from 10th to fourth, ahead of Douglas Motorsport’s Lucas Staico, with this weekend’s double winner Alex Dunne completing the top-six after blasting from 24th on the grid to sixth and earning the maximum 15 points for positions gained in the process.
Douglas Motorsport’s Tymek Kucharczyk was another to make huge progress as he took seventh from 22nd on the grid, with Elite’s Ayato Iwasaki finishing eighth having also started there. Rodin Carlin’s John Bennett went from 14th to ninth, ahead of Rodin Carlin’s Callum Voisin, who completed the top-10 from 25th and last on the grid. Loake’s big points haul means he regains the championship lead from Voisin, who banked two podiums yesterday. Loake holds a two point gap to the British-Swiss contender, heading to Snetterton in two weeks’ time.
Race three winner Stewart said: “It was an amazing race, honestly. I got a decent start and managed to re-pass Daniel (Mavlyutov) down into Les Combes. So that was good, but after the safety car came out I had to try and maintain the pace and get going at the right point. I managed to catch them off guard and get a good gap to start with, but I could see them coming back at me through Eau Rouge, and I had to make sure I stayed defensive and maintain the corner, which I managed to do successfully. Then I tried to stay consistent, keep lapping away at a decent pace and edge the gap to 2.5 seconds, and I’m really happy with that.
“Spa is an amazing track, probably the best in the world and it’s special to win my first race in GB3. We’ve not had the best of luck so far this season, there’s been a few things not on our side, so to get across the line finally with a win is special, especially at a track like this.”
Championship leader Loake said: “I came into this weekend with a big lead, obviously I wasn’t expecting to be so slow this weekend really, but as a team we’ve struggled a lot and we’ve done a lot of work to try and get ourselves back at the front. I think our pace was improving throughout the weekend, I had an issue in qualifying which didn’t help and that put me out of position as well. In the races, the balance just hasn’t been there we’ve just been struggling, so this weekend has been very difficult overall, but I’m still happy to be back leading the championship. We’re going to some strong rounds for me now, especially for the team as well, we look strong everywhere else so I think this will be our weak round and hopefully we can be back at the front for the next weekend.”
The results of race three at Spa will remain provisional until Snetterton, where any outstanding incidents and resulting judicial action will be carried out.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Spa-Francorchamps race three provisional results:
1. Oliver Stewart, Elite Motorsport, 10 laps
2. Joseph Loake, JHR Developments, +2.524s
3. Jarrod Waberski, Fortec Motorsport, +3.257s
4. James Hedley, Arden VRD, +4.276s
5. Lucas Staico, Douglas Motorsport, +4.932s
6. Alex Dunne, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +7.068s
GB3 Championship, driver’s championship standings after race nine of 24:
1. Joseph Loake, JHR Developments, 196pts
2. Callum Voisin, Rodin Carlin, 194pts
3. Alex Dunne, Hitech Pulse-Eight, 178pts
4. Tymek Kucharczyk, Douglas Motorsport, 151pts
5. James Hedley, Arden VRD, 143pts
6. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, 127pts
GB3 Championship, team’s championship standings after race nine of 24:
1. JHR Developments, 328pts
2. Rodin Carlin, 324pts
3. Hitech Pulse-Eight, 263pts
4. Arden VRD, 258pts
5. Elite Motorsport, 220pts
6. Fortec Motorsport, 217pts