Kucharcyzk flies to fastest GB3 time in Snetterton test, Mills tops GB4 

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Douglas Motorsport’s Tymek Kucharczyk was quickest in GB3’s two-day pre-event Snetterton test, pipping Alex Dunne in Friday’s final session.

Arden VRD’s Nico Christodoulou led initially in Thursday’s opening session before JHR Developments’ Matthew Rees recorded a 1m41.346s to move ahead, his lap eclipsing Callum Voisin’s 2022 pole time.

Voisin responded a couple of minutes later with a 1m41.335s lap before Rees swiftly reclaimed the advantage with a 1m41.062s, leaving him 0.044 seconds ahead of Voisin at the end of the session.

Session two was disrupted by a lengthy red flag stoppage – a heavy crash for Douglas’s Lucas Staico necessitating barrier repairs.

The action resumed with a few minutes remaining, and Kucharczyk set a 1m41.001s to be quickest by 0.267s, with Dunne 0.017s ahead of Rees in second.

Dunne set the best lap so far in session three with a 1m40.946s, but Kucharczyk soon responded with a 1m40.946s before Oliver Stewart and Joseph Loake enjoyed brief spells at the top. Noah Ping then went quickest by 0.3s, and the Arden driver remained at the top of the timesheets until the last five minutes.

Dunne reclaimed the advantage then improved to 1m40.277s to end the day fastest by almost a quarter of a second from Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell, who improved late on, with Christodoulou and Kucharcyzk also moving ahead of Ping.

Only three drivers did not improve from the first two sessions, with Rees and Voisin hampered by issues, while Staico did not go out following his crash.

Dunne was quickest again on Friday morning, but not improving on his Thursday benchmark, with Kucharczyk and Cresswell close behind. He then set a new benchmark of 1m40.020s with two minutes remaining of the afternoon session. But Kucharczyk posted a 1m39.984s as the chequered flag waved to end testing on top by 0.036s.

Cresswell was third ahead of Voisin, Max Esterson and Rees, the quartet having all improved in the last session. Christodoulou and Ping did not go quicker on Friday but finished seventh and eighth overall. Chris Dittmann Racing tested an undisclosed third driver on Thursday.

Evans GP’s Cooper Webster topped both of GB4’s Thursday sessions. The Australian posted a 1m47.827s in the morning before improving to a 1m47.222s in the afternoon, with Fortec Motorsports’ Colin Queen second in both sessions and points leader Tom Mills ending the day a close third.

Queen topped a slower opening session on Friday ahead of Webster. Mills was unable to take part due to taking an exam, but he returned to set the best GB4 time of the week in the afternoon, his 1m46.966s edging Webster by 0.027s, with Queen again third.

F1 Esports champion Lucas Blakeley tested for Kevin Mills Racing, making steady improvements to end his first two days in a slicks-and-wings car within 1.5s of the pace in eighth, and he confirmed afterwards he will race in GB4.

Reigning GB4 champion Nikolas Taylor made a surprise appearance on Friday morning for Fortec, substituting for Aditya Kulkarni who was also sitting an exam.

Test results