Bennett beats Sharp to win wet GB3 race two at Oulton Park

Photo: Mat Acton

JHR Developments’ John Bennett passed Louis Sharp for his maiden GB3 win in a rain-soaked second race of the season at Oulton Park.

The conditions resulted in the race starting behind the safety car. Rodin Motorsport’s race one victor Sharp maintained the lead from Bennett once the green flags were shown, and Hitech GP’s Tymek Kucharczyk went on a charge from sixth.

The Pole dived inside Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell into Old Hall bend, outbraked Rodin’s Ugo Ugochukwu into Shell Oils hairpin and then swept past team-mate Gerrard Xie for third place before Hislops.

Sharp held a 1.3-second lead at the opening lap, but an off for Chris Dittmann Racing’s Rishab Jain at Old Hall resulted in the reappearance of the safety car.

There was chaos approaching the restart, with Fortec Motorsports’ Colin Queen, Rodin’s Josh Irfan and CDR’s Flynn Jackes all caught up in an incident at Lodge corner as the field bunched up, the latter two forced to pit with front wing damage.

A great restart enabled Sharp to build a small advantage into Old Hall as Bennett faced pressure from Kucharczyk behind  but the lead gap was eradicated two corners later.

Bennett made the better exit from Cascades to draw alongside Sharp before sweeping around the outside of the New Zealander at Island Bend and then securing the lead on the inside at Shell Oils.

Sharp dropped away from Bennett and soon was challenged by Kurcharczyk, who tried a late move up the inside into Lodge but hit the back of his rival and then pulled off the circuit after his front wing became dislodged under his front wheels.

Bennett controlled the remainder of the shortened 10-lap encounter to win by 2.898s, and Cresswell passed Ugochuwku and Xie to finish third.

Hitech’s Will Macintyre came home sixth ahead of Elite duo Jarrod Waberski and Hugo Schwarze, the latter climbing from 15th to eighth in his second GB3 race. JHR’s Patrick Heuzenroeder was close behind in ninth, with Rodin’s Arthur Rogeon taking a lonely 10th.

VRD by Arden’s Noah Ping made up three places early on to 10th but then spun and eventually retired, as did his team-mate James Hedley who climbed from the back of the grid to 11th before losing his front wing in an incident at Hislops.

Irfan and Fortec duo Edward Pearson and Queen were also non-finishers.

Race results (10 laps)