Fairclough leads GB3’s snow-affected Silverstone test

Photo; Jakob Ebrey Photography

Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough was fastest in GB3’s two-day pre-season test held in changeable conditions on Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout. 

Fairclough set a best lap of 1m49.198s, which was 3.4 seconds quicker than GB3’s official lap record, during Tuesday’s more favourable conditions – with snow showers disrupting Wednesday’s running

Two more drivers confirmed their places on the 2026 grid prior to the test getting underway. Lucas Fluxa has switched the Xcel Motorsport for his sophomore season, while Lewis Gilbert will make his single-seater debut with Arden. Fluxa came eighth in the standings last year, having contested the first six rounds with Argenti with Prema and then scored a maiden win following a move to Hillspeed. A product of Arden’s recently-rebranded academy, Gilbert won multiple karting titles before turning his hand to rallying.

Rodin Motorsport filled three of the top four positions in session one. Martin Molnar set the pace with a 1m50.282s lap to be 0.077s quicker than team-mate Abbi Pulling, while Maxim Rehm was edged to third by Fairclough.

Molnar knocked almost 0.1s off his benchmark almost 20 minutes into session two, and he soon improved further to a 1m50.009s. Velocity Racing Development’s Nikita Bedrin took over at the top after the half-hour mark with a 1m49.582s, Rehm beat that effort by 0.2s six minutes later, but Fairclough swiftly with a time which would not be beaten.

Fairclough also topped session three with a slower 1m50.455s, and he was almost 0.5s quicker than Xcel’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling who was the only driver to improve on his best time.

Fluxa led Wednesday’s session four in coid and blustery conditions with a 1m51.146 to be 0.6s clear of Molnar, with Rehm a further 0.3s adrift.

A brief snow shower resulted in all drivers returning to the pitlane halfway through session two, but conditions improved enough for Fairclough to subsequently post a late 1m49.749s lap to be fastest again by 0.071s ahead of Rehm. Molnar, Elite Motorsport’s Flynn Jackes and Bedrin were also close behind.

More snow left the track fully wet for the final session, which was headed by Rehm with a 2m01.776s. Fairclough was only 0.02s behind, while Jackes claimed third despite being 1.8s off Rehm’s pace.

Rehm ended the test 0.194s behind Fairclough, with Bedrin third and Molnar fourth – all four posting their best times in session two. Jackes and Pulling both improved on day two to be fifth and 10th quickest overall respectively.

Former Mercedes junior Daniel Guinchard, was third in GB4 last year, tested for Nirtous Competitions ADM Racing as was two places ahead of team-mate Jason Pribyl in 22nd.

Testing results