Cresswell leads GB3 pre-event Silverstone test, Granfors fastest in GB4

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell was quickest in GB3’s two-day pre-event test on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.

Cresswell set his best lap in the first of two sessions on Friday to edge Velocity Racing Development’s day one pacesetter Noah Ping by 0.066 seconds.

Fortec Motorsport’s Edward Pearson led 10 minutes into Thursday’s opening session with a 1m54.884s before Colin Queen pipped his team-mate by 0.1s and Hitech GP’s points leader Tymek Kucharczyk lowered the pace by 0.3s.

Nikita Johnson went fastest by 0.5s with seven minutes remaining but Ping then beat his team-mate by 0.6s with a 1m53.340s. Johnson improved to within 0.063s late on, while Elite’s Jarrod Waberski and Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp moved up to third and fourth respectively on their final efforts.

Ping’s benchmark remained unbeaten for the remainder of day, with Sharp’s 1m53.596s lap good enough to be quickest by 0.061s from Hitech’s Gerrard Xie in session two and Waberski leading Xie by 0.098s with a 1m53.445s in session three.

Waberski led for half of session four on Friday before Cresswell set a test-topping 1m53.274s to finish ahead of Xie, Sharp and Hugo Schwarze, the latter also setting a personal best.

Xie recorded his best lap in session five, his 1m53.501s leaving him 0.3s clear of Cresswell and also fifth in the two-day classification. Despite not bettering their session one times, Ping and Johnson ended testing in second and third behind Cresswell, with Waberski’s session three effort putting him fourth.

Sharp was sixth ahead of Formula Regional European Championship racer James Wharton who tested for Fortec, and the team also ran a fourth car for karting graduate Alex Kattoulas. JHR Developments John Bennett and Kucharczyk were ninth and 13th respectively having set personal bests in session five.

Jacob Douglas tested for Chris Dittmann Racing after confirming he will make GB3 debut this weekend and also contest the following round at Donington Park. The 18-year-old New Zealander won the YACademy Winter Series in 2022 and was sixth in USF Pro 2000 last year with two wins.

Fortec’s Linus Granfors was fastest in all five GB4 sessions. The Swede eclipsed Lucas Blakeley’s early benchmark by setting a 2m01.795s and then a 2m01.655s to finish 0.8s clear, and he again led the KMR Sport driver in the afternoon’s two sessions with improved efforts of 2m01.547s and 2m01.238s.

He set an even faster 2m00.884s in Friday’s session four to finish over 1s clear of Elite Motorsport’s Alisha Palmowski, and a slower 2m01.583s to lead session five by 0.2s from Blakeley and Palmowski, who also finished testing in second and third overall having set their best laps in session three.

USF Juniors racer Ava Dobson tested for VRD, and after finishing 13th fastest the 15-year-old confirmed that she will continue in the car this weekend for her GB4 debut, which will also be her first racing appearance since her huge crash at Barber Motorsports Park in April.

GB4’s 2025 car, the Tatuus MSV GB4-025 , made its first public appearance in Friday’s two sessions in the hands of ex-GB4 racer Max Marzorati, using a modified Douglas Motorsport GB3 tub. Laptimes were undisclosed but it ran trouble free.

Testing results