Red Bull’s Tarnvanichkul takes maiden GB3 win at Brands Hatch

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Red Bull junior Enzo Tarnvanichkul scored his first single-seater victory in a dramatic final GB3 race of the weekend at Brands Hatch.

The Velocity Racing Development driver made the better start from the outside of the front row to beat reversed-grid polesitter Jack Sherwood to Paddock Hill bend, and he soon pulled three seconds clear of the Xcel Motorsport driver.

Elite Motorsport’s Will Macintyre initially ran third ahead of JHR Development’s Kai Daryanani, while Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough rocketed up five places to fifth on the opening lap, and Rodin’s Abbi Pulling made a slow start from the second row and slipped to sixth.

The race was neutralised when Macintyre spun into retirement at Hawthorns bend – his car becoming airborne as it skated backwards through the gravel before coming to rest against the barriers.

There was five minutes of allotted time remaining when the safety car peeled into the pitlane, and Tarnvanichkul continued to lead Sherwood while chaos soon ensued behind.

Daryanani ran wide into Surtees as he faced pressure from Fairclough, and the pair were joined on the following straight by Pulling who made it three-wide on the inside.

Despite backing out into Hawthorns, Pulling inherited third as Daryanani and Fairclough both slid off the road. Daryanani rejoined in fifth behind Hillspeed’s Hiyu Yamakoshi, but Fairclough spun and tumbled to the rear of the field.

There was a further incident further around the lap, with Rodin’s Gianmarco Pradel rear-ending fellow title contender Patrick Heuzenroeder at Stirling’s, sending the Xcel driver into the gravel and out of the race.

Tarnvanichkul therefore took the chequered flag under safety car conditions ahead of Sherwood and Pulling – the trio all taking their first GB3 podiums.

Yamakoshi was fourth ahead of Daryanani, while his team-mates Freddie Slater and Kanato Le profited from the late chaos to finish in sixth and seventh respectively.

Argenti with Prema’s Reza Seewoorthun and Lucas Fluxa were eighth and ninth, and Hitech’s Nikita Johnson recovered from the back of the grid to 10th ahead of team-mate Keanu Al Azhari.

Rodin’s Alex Ninovic started and finished 12th despite losing ground early on, and he extended his championship lead to 71 points with Heuzenroeder and Pradel both failing to score.

Race results (16 laps)