Bennett gets win in eventful Silverstone GB3 race two after Rees penalty

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

John Bennett bounced back from a penalty in race one to take GB3 victory in an incident-filled second contest at Silverstone, but could face investigation again.

The Rodin Carlin driver finished the race second on the road behind JHR Developments driver Matthew Rees, who was carrying a 10-second penalty for a jump start and was demoted to seventh.

But Bennett, who had victory taken away from in Saturday’s contest for passing Joseph Loake off the track, may be subject to another stewards’ inquest after an early collision with Hitech GP’s Alex Dunne.

Bennett and Dunne shared the front row, but the pair were beaten into Copse by Rees, who jumped the start from fifth on the grid and gained a huge three-second lead immediately. Carlin’s Costa Toparis was slow away from third and lost out to team-mate Callum Voisin and Fortec Motorsports’ Jarrod Waberski.

Rees was soon handed his time penalty, and his chances of building an enough of advantage to negate it were helped when Bennett and Dunne collided at Brooklands. Dunne tried to sweep around the outside in the battle for second, but the contact left him spinning into retirement.

Loake meanwhile made swift progress from tenth on the grid, pouncing on a battle between Toparis and Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell to spectacularly sweep around the outside of the pair at Stowe into fifth and then pinched another position from Waberski a few corners later.

The safety car was deployed after a collision on the exit of Stowe between Hitech’s Souta Arao and JHR’s David Morales, while contesting 10th, while Arden VRD’s James Hedley pulled into the pitlane with damage.

The race resumed on lap seven of the scheduled 10, with Rees pulling away once more. Loake was on the move again, passing Voisin on the outside at Village for third, then maintaining the position despite running wide at Brooklands.

The race ended one lap early due to the time limit expiring, with Rees taking the chequered flag 3s clear and Bennett holding off Loake by 0.5s in the effective battle for victory.

Cresswell swept past Voisin through Maggotts and Becketts late on to snatch the final podium spot, with Waberski fifth ahead of Toparis.

Max Esterson was eighth ahead of Nico Christodoulou, while Tymek Kucharczyk fought back from 24th to edge Arthur Rogeon to 10th on the final lap.

Zak Taylor was another to retire after suffering left-rear suspension damage in incident shortly after the restart.

Race result (9 laps)