Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Kanato Le was quickest ahead of Hillspeed team-mate Freddie Slater in GB3 practice at Spa-Francorchamps.
Slater topped both of Thursday’s pre-event test sessions as well as Friday’s final two free practice sessions, but it was fellow part-timer Le who delivered the best time of the two days in FP1.
It didn’t take long for Slater to set the pace on his GB3 return, as he posted an early benchmark of 2m14.567s in the opening test session. He remained ahead until the conclusion, improving to a 2m14.414s to be 0.242 seconds quicker than Le.
Elite Motorsport’s Will Macintyre was a further 0.6s behind, and Hiyu Yamakoshi ensured Hillspeed’s three drivers were all in the top four.
Every driver improved in session two, and again it was Slater who was fastest. He set a 2m14.030s to edge out Rodin Motorsport’s Gianmarco Pradel by 0.106s.
Argenti Motorsport with Prema’s Reza Seewooruthun was a further 0.1s adrift, and Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough was 0.3s shy of the pace in fourth. Le was fifth ahead of Macintye, while Xcel Motorsport’s points leader Patrick Heuzenroeder was 12th. One second covered the top 13 drivers.
The action continued with three practice sessions on Friday. Slater initially led FP1 with a 2m14.144s when red flags were shown due to Elite’s Flynn Jackes becoming beached in a gravel trap.
Le lowered the pace once the track returned to green, his late 2m13.150s effort putting him 0.019s ahead of Slater. Macintye and Fairclough were separated by 0.025s in third and fourth, with JHR Development’s Kai Daryanani 0.027s behind.
A 2m13.236s lap was good enough for Slater to top FP2 by 0.467s ahead of Le. Hitech’s Nikita Johnson was third, and Daryanani was the final driver within a second of Slater in fourth.
Slater again led from Le in session three, his 2m13.654s putting him 0.183s clear. Alex Ninovic set a new personal best to beat Rodin team-mate Pradel to third, and Johnson was fifth ahead of Hitech team-mate Keanu Al Azhari, who was the final driver within a second of the pace.
Le was quickest in the combined results, with the top nine drivers all setting their best laps in FP1. Johnson’s FP2 best put the American 10th overall ahead of Velocity Racing Development’s Hugo Schwarze and Ninovic.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kanato Le | Hillspeed | 2m13.150s | 28 | |
| 2 | Freddie Slater | Hillspeed | 2m13.169s | +0.019s | 29 |
| 3 | Will Macintyre | Elite Motorsport | 2m13.505s | +0.355s | 29 |
| 4 | Deagen Fairclough | Hitech GP | 2m13.530s | +0.380s | 33 |
| 5 | Kai Daryanani | JHR Developments | 2m13.557s | +0.407s | 29 |
| 6 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | Hillspeed | 2m13.747s | +0.597s | 29 |
| 7 | Patrick Heuzenroeder | Xcel Motorsport | 2m13.864s | +0.714s | 30 |
| 8 | Yuanpu Cui | Argenti w/ Prema | 2m13.933s | +0.783s | 28 |
| 9 | Dion Gowda | Xcel Motorsport | 2m13.980s | +0.830s | 29 |
| 10 | Nikita Johnson | Hitech GP | 2m13.984s | +0.834s | 33 |
| 11 | Hugo Schwarze | Velocity Racing Development | 2m14.005s | +0.855s | 30 |
| 12 | Alex Ninovic | Rodin Motorsport | 2m14.068s | +0.918s | 30 |
| 13 | Keanu Al Azhari | Hitech GP | 2m14.164s | +1.014s | 32 |
| 14 | Reza Seewooruthun | Argenti w/ Prema | 2m14.281s | +1.131s | 28 |
| 15 | Gianmarco Pradel | Rodin Motorsport | 2m14.291s | +1.141s | 30 |
| 16 | Noah Lisle | JHR Developments | 2m14.614s | +1.464s | 31 |
| 17 | Lucas Fluxa | Argenti w/ Prema | 2m14.880s | +1.730s | 28 |
| 18 | Jack Sherwood | Xcel Motorsport | 2m14.900s | +1.750s | 30 |
| 19 | Abbi Pulling | Rodin Motorsport | 2m15.157s | +2.007s | 27 |
| 20 | Bianca Bustamante | Elite Motorsport | 2m16.342s | +3.192s | 25 |
| 21 | Divy Nandan | JHR Developments | 2m16.350s | +3.200s | 32 |
| 22 | Flynn Jackes | Elite Motorsport | 2m16.445s | +3.295s | 26 |
| 23 | Stefan Bostandjiev | Fortec Motorsports | 2m16.722s | +3.572s | 16 |