Dunne dominates at Zandvoort for third GB3 win

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Alex Dunne scored a crushing victory in GB3’s first ever race at Zandvoort ahead of McKenzy Cresswell and Joseph Loake.

The Hitech GP driver finished over six seconds clear of Elite Motorsport’s Cresswell to boost his title hopes, while Callum Voisin had his championship lead over Loake cut to five points despite gaining three places from 10th on the grid.

Dunne gained a clear lead from pole position into turn one, while Cresswell made a slow start from the inside of the front row but held off Nico Christodoulou and Loake for second. There was an incident behind them off the line which resulted in the safety car being deployed. 

Starting from sixth, Matthew Rees jinked to the left of Souta Aroa into the path of James Hedley, who swerved in avoidance and made contact with the fast-starting Tymek Kucharczyk. Hedley retired almost immediately with rear-left suspension damage, while Kurcharczyk ended up on the grass and rejoined in 12th. 

Racing resumed at the start of lap three. Dunne maintained the lead, while Christodoulou tried to move around the outside of Cresswell into turn one but then ended up having to defend third from Loake on the exit.

Dunne quickly pulled clear and dominated the remainder of the 13-lap contest ahead of Cresswell. Loake snatched third on the final lap from Christodoulou with a lunge into turn one to gain a crucial additional three points towards his title challenge.

Red Bull junior Arao maintained fifth throughout ahead of Rees. Voisin was just behind in seventh, the Rodin Carlin driver having benefited from Hedley and Kucharczyk’s lap-one collision to make up ground.

Fortec Motorsports’ Jarrod Waberski finished eighth ahead of Voisin’s team-mate John Bennett, who gained four places to ninth. Oliver Stewart rounded out the top-10 for Elite, with Chris Dittmann Racing’s Zak Taylor 11th and Kucharczyk remaining in 12th.

Hitech’s Michael Shin was excluded from qualifying for an incident with Voisin and, lining up from the back of the grid, he immediately pulled into the pitlane at the start and did not rejoin. Edward Pearson was also a late retirement for Fortec, while Douglas duo Lucas Staico and Shawn Rashid did not start the race.

Race result (13 laps)