Dunne completes Zandvoort double as GB3 title race hots up

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Alex Dunne scored his second GB3 victory of the day at Zandvoort to close to within six points of the championship lead.

The Hitech GP driver beat polesitter McKenzy Cresswell off the line to lead before turn one, while JHR Developments’ Joseph Loake made a great launch from fifth to move in between Arden VRD duo Nico Christodoulou and James Hedley into third.

Christodoulou reclaimed the position on the exit of turn one, with Loake then also losing out to Hedley into turn three before facing a challenge from title rival Callum Voisin.

Points leader Voisin had made a strong start from ninth, moving around the outside of Tymek Kucharczyk and Souta Arao at turn one and up the inside of Jarrod Waberski at turn three. He then moved alongside title rival Loake on the exit before backing out at turn seven.

The safety car was deployed at the end of lap one after Chris Dittmann Racing’s Jack Sherwood stopped on the inside of the circuit with steering damage.

Racing resumed on lap four, with Dunne holding onto the lead despite a big lock-up, while Cresswell prevailed in a three-wide battle with Christodoulou and Hedley to maintain second into turn one.

Hedley ran wide on the exit and delayed Voisin, who had drawn alongside Loake. Voisin lunged up the inside of Loake again at turn three, getting slightly sideways and making contact with his rival, who was able to remain ahead.

As in the earlier contest, Dunne pulled clear at the front, eventually winning by 4.9 seconds in an encounter reduced to 12 laps due to the allocated time limit expiring.

Elite Motorsport’s Cresswell was second for the second time in the day to record his sixth podium from his last seven starts, while Christodoulou resisted an early challenge from Hedley to edge his team-mate to third.

Voisin made another bold challenge on Loake into turn three on lap 10, this time making the move stick to finish fifth. The move compromised Loake, who almost lost out to Matthew Rees on the exit, but held on to beat his team-mate to sixth. Elite’s Oliver Stewart came home close behind the pair in eighth, with Arao ninth ahead of Kucharczyk.

Rees was involved in early contact with Waberski, who was forced off the track. Waberski then had a further skirmish with Zak Taylor at turn three while trying to recover and subsequently retired in the pits with damage.

Dunne’s win moves him into second in the standings ahead of Loake, with just seven points separating the top three with four races of the season remaining.

Race result (12 laps)