Kucharczyk ends GB3’s Silverstone test on top, Mills leads GB4 again

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Tymek Kucharczyk set the fastest time of the week on the second day of GB3’s pre-event test on Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout.

The Douglas Motorsport driver knocked more than a second off Thursday’s benchmark, recording a 1m52.693s in the morning, while Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell topped the timesheets in the afternoon.

Kucharczyk posted an early effort of 1m54.403s to head JHR Developments’ Matthew Rees by 0.6 seconds initially in the opening session.

Thursday’s pacesetter Cresswell soon reduced the Polish driver’s advantage to 0.3s, but Kucharczyk then improved to 1m53.040s.

Having made a low-key start to the day, the championship’s top three leapt up the order in the closing stages. Points leader Alex Dunne was first to improve, climbing from 16th to second with a lap 0.2s shy of Kurcharczyk’s. Joseph Loake soon took second away from Dunne, while Callum Voisin moved up to fourth.

Kucharczyk was the only driver with a sub-1m53s lap, his late 1m52.693s effort putting him 0.396s clear of Loake, while Cresswell was pipped to fifth by Chris Dittmann Racing’s Zak Taylor.

Warmer conditions and oil at Brooklands led to a slower afternoon session, with nobody improving their pace. Cresswell led initially with a 1m54.355s ahead of Waberski, before David Morales moved to the top in the final 10 minutes once drivers fitted brand new tyres.

Kucharczyk soon edged Morales by 0.038s, but Dunne then posted a 1m54.000s to take over at the top. A 1m53.777s put Kucharczyk ahead once more, before Cresswell recorded a 1m53.690s to end the session quickest. Loake improved to be second again, 0.072s behind Cresswell.

“It’s been a good two days,” said Kucharczyk. “It’s good to be back in the car after the long break. The second session the balance of the car was not the best, but we’re getting there.”

“It’s been a bit up and down,” Cresswell said of his day. “We struggled in the morning, we missed the window, it was quite a bit colder in the morning session, but by the end of day we were really quick. We’ve got the setup for the hot conditions.”

Tom Mills continued his GB4 domination on Friday to be quickest overall across the two days. The Kevin Mills Racing driver improved his pace from Thursday by over 0.2s in session one, a 2m01.197s lap putting him 0.6s clear of Liam McNeilly and Colin Queen.

Mills then set the test’s fastest lap in session two with a 2m00.968s, and Queen was 0.368s behind. The Fortec Motorsports driver also improved in session two to end the day in second.

McNeilly, one of six drivers not to improve in the afternoon, was third ahead of KMR’s Jack Clifford, while Evans GP’s Cooper Webster was over a second off the pace in fifth.

Testing results

* laps recorded by transponder