Bedrin comes from behind to win GB3 season-opener at Silverstone

Photo: Mat Acton

Velocity Racing Development’s Nikita Bedrin recovered from a slow start to clinch a commanding win-on-debut as the new GB3 season got underway at Silverstone.

Having lined up from pole, Bedrin bogged down when the lights went out, leaving Rodin Motorsport duo Martin Molnar and Maxim Rehm to fight it out for the lead into Copse. The pair continued to run wheel-to-wheel into Maggotts, where Molnar used his slight advantage to sweep ahead.

Bedrin slipped to fourth behind Fairclough, and he ended up off the road at Chapel as he tried to reclaim the place before the Hangar Straight.

A failed overtaking attempt by Fairclough on Rehm into Stowe gave Bedrin the opportunity to drive around the outside of the Briton, and the trio’s continued squabble through the next few corners allowed Molnar to build a 3-second advantage on completion on lap one.

Xcel Motorsport’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling made the battle for second a four-way affair, and after sneaking past Fairclough, the British F4 graduate almost passed Bedrin as well.

Fairclough wrested back fourth from Campbell-Pilling on lap two, while further back another Hitech versus Xcel Motorsport battle ended in tears when Jin Nakamura sent Lucas Fluxa spinning off the road at Brooklands.

Bedrin finally found a way past Rehm before the end of lap three, and was faced with a 2s gap to make up to Molnar. It took him little more than one lap to eradicate the deficit, and he wasted no time in taking the lead: forcing Molnar to defend into Stowe and then using a better exit to pounce into Vale.

He then pulled over 3s before the safety car was deployed in the closing stages due to Hillspeed’s Dante Vince slowing to a halt on the Hamilton Straight. There was enough allotted time remaining for two more green-flag laps once the safety car peeled into the pitlane, and Bedrin controlled the restart before taking the chequered flag with a 2.5s winning margin.

Rodin secured a double-podium, with Molnar holding off Rehm for second, while their team-mate Abbi Pulling ran sixth early on but later retired with a technical issue.

Fairclough had to settle for fourth, but will start from second in Sunday’s second contest, and Campbell-Pilling led home VRD Racing’s Patricio Gonzalez and Elite Motorsport’s Kyoho Lee. Nakamura was eighth ahead of GB4 graduates Alex Kattoulas (Fortec Motorsports) and Leon Wilson (Arden).

“We didn’t get many practice starts,” Bedrin revealed afterwards. “We having been working with the clutch but struggling to fix the problems that we have. Overall I’m happy with how things worked out, it was quite easy for me to make moves but I also had some ridiculous pace.”

Despite second being a “really good result” on stepping up from F4, Molnar revealed there is work to do ahead of race two. “I got a really good start,” he said. “The pace wasn’t the best after that, maybe I was pushing a little bit too much in the beginning. We will look at it tonight what we can do for tomorrow.”

Race results (13 laps)