Home Formula 3GB3 Faria fastest as F4 drivers Flack and Taylor join GB3’s Oulton Park test

Faria fastest as F4 drivers Flack and Taylor join GB3’s Oulton Park test

by Steve Whitfield

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Roberto Faria was fastest on the first day of pre-event testing for the latest GB3 round at Oulton Park.

Reigning British Formula 4 champion Luke Browning shone ahead of his series debut with the second-quickest lap, having been denied top spot by his Fortec team-mate at the end of the final session.

Following his double victory last month at Silverstone, Ayrton Simmons dominated the morning session for Chris Dittmann Racing, recording a time of 1m32.469s

Faria, who currently is third in the standings and just seven points ahead of Simmons, was within a tenth of a second of his rival.

Zak O’Sullivan, who could seal the title this weekend, was third ahead of Carlin team-mate Christian Mansell, while Browning marked his first session with the fifth fastest time.

Simmons marginally bettered his own time at the end of session two, but he was pipped by Faria who set a new benchmark of 1m32.327s.

An early rain shower in session three prevented anyone from improving. Hitech GP’s Reece Ushijima was fastest with a lap almost a second slower than Faria’s session two topper.

Most drivers recorded their best laps in the fourth and final session, which was led for the most part by Browning. The debutant set the best time of the day with a few minutes remaining before Faria went 0.083s quicker on his penultimate lap.

Simmons also improved to end the day in third, just over 0.1s behind Faria. Elite Motorsport’s Tom Lebbon was fourth ahead of Carlin duo O’Sullivan and Mansell, all recording their best laps at the end.

Reece Ushijima was seventh overall, having set his best lap in the second session, ahead of Hitech team-mate Bart Horsten.

Jonathan Browne 15th overall for Hillspeed ahead of his second GB3 appearance, his best effort coming in the fourth session, just over a second adrift of Faria.

Douglas Motorsport and CDR ran cars for Marcos Flack and Zak Taylor respectively at the test, with Flack edging his British F4 rival to the 17th fastest time overall, both lapping within 1.4s of the pace on their first GB3 outings. 

Reema Juffali returned to GB3 action after missing the Silverstone round due a family bereavement. The Douglas Motorsport driver finished in 19th, having her set best time in the opening session.

Test results

Pos Name Team Time Gap Laps
1 Roberto Faria Fortec Motorsports 1m32.259s 67
2 Luke Browning Fortec Motorsports 1m32.342s +0.083s 67
3 Ayrton Simmons Chris Dittmann Racing 1m32.371s +0.112s 69
4 Tom Lebbon Elite Motorsport 1m32.521s +0.262s 65
5 Zak O’Sullivan Carlin 1m32.683s +0.424s 68
6 Christian Mansell Carlin 1m32.911s +0.652s 68
7 Reece Ushijima Hitech GP 1m32.939s +0.680s 61
8 Bart Horsten Hitech GP 1m32.965s +0.706s 50
9 Javier Sagrera Elite Motorsport 1m33.087s +0.828s 55
10 Branden Lee Oxley Chris Dittmann Racing 1m33.087s +0.828s 64
11 Frederick Lubin Arden 1m33.124s +0.865s 65
12 Bryce Aron Carlin 1m33.222s +0.963s 66
13 Sebastian Alvarez Hitech GP 1m33.244s +0.985s 49
14 Roman Bilinski Arden 1m33.288s +1.029s 64
15 Jonathan Browne Hillspeed 1m33.342s +1.083s 54
16 Mikkel Grundtvig Fortec Motorsports 1m33.387s +1.128s 65
17 Marcos Flack Douglas Motorsport 1m33.560s +1.301s 60
18 Zak Taylor Chris Dittmann Racing 1m33.601s +1.342s 59
19 Reema Juffali Douglas Motorsport 1m33.804s +1.545s 47