Kucharczyk leads GB3’s pre-event Donington test, Blakeley on top in GB4

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Tymek Kucharczyk was quickest in GB3’s two-day pre-event test ahead of the penultimate round of the season at Donington Park.

The Hitech GP driver set his best lap in session four on Friday morning to deny title rival Louis Sharp by 0.112 seconds.

Kucharczyk’s team-mate Gerrard Xie was the driver to beat on Thursday by topping two out of three sessions. Freddie Slater, who is making his GB3 debut with Rodin Motorsport this weekend, set the early session once pace on a drying circuit before team-mate Sharp went 0.2s quicker.

Sharp continued to lower the pace, but he was edged after the chequered flag fell by Xie who posted a 1m23.203s to be quickest by just 0.002s, while Fortec Motorsports’ Colin Queen was only 0.034s further behind in third.

Session two was disrupted by a red flag period due to Rodin’s Arthur Rogeon becoming beached in the gravel. Xie missed out on top spot to Elite Motorsport’s Jarrod Waberski by 0.013s, though his session one time was not beaten.

The Chinese racer led the final session of the day throughout, setting a new best of 1m23.370s which was 0.2s faster than Elite’s McKenzy Cresswell.

Sharp set a new quickest time of 1m23.055s inside the final 10 minutes of Friday’s opening session before Kucharczyk posted two faster laps, his final effort of 1m22.943s good enough to end the session – and the test – at the top.

Despite being unable to beat Kucharczyk’s benchmark, Sharp displaced the Pole from first place in session six with a 1m23.320s. JHR Developments’ John Bennett was behind his two title rivals in third with a new personal best which only put him ninth in the test’s overall classification.

The majority of drivers set their best times in session four, including Arden’s debuting Max Taylor who impressed by being third fastest overall. Hitech’s Will Macintyre was fourth ahead of Velocity Racing Development’s Noah Ping, while day one pacesetter Xie was shuffled back to sixth despite also setting his personal best in session four.

Harry Burgyone Jr led most of GB4’s opening session, a 1m30.243s putting him 0.367s clear of title rival Alisha Palmowski, while Fortec’s points leader Linus Granfors was one place behind Palmowski’s Elite team-mate Finn Harrison in fourth.

Palmowski and KMR Sport duo Lucas Blakeley and Burgyone took it in turns to lower the pace in session two before Palmowski reclaimed top spot with a 1m28.926s with four minutes remaining . Blakeley set a new best of 1m28.844s to finish 0.3s clear of Granfors in session three, and the Scot improved to a 1m28.599s to lead again in Friday’s session four.

Having been second behind Granfors in a slower session five, Blakeley set the best time of the test – a 1m28.547s – in session six to end up 0.24s clear of Granfors. He also improved, and pipped ahead of Palmowski by 0.005s.

Test results