Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
2021 British Formula 4 champion Matthew Rees will continue in GB3 this season with JHR Developments.
The 17-year-old has raced for the team for the past two years, winning four times en-route to his British F4 crown before finishing sixth in GB3 last year, taking a maiden pole and victory at the penultimate round at Brands Hatch.
Rees was included on the BRDC Superstars programme for British young drivers last year and is also coached by the School of Send stable run by former BRDC British Formula 3 (now GB3) racer Callan O’Keeffe.
He is the sixth GB3 sophomore confirmed for this year’s grid, joining Max Esterson (Fortec Motorsports), McKenzy Cresswell (Elite Motorsport), Nico Christodoulou (Arden VRD) and Rodin Carlin duo Callum Voisin and John Bennett.
“My aspiration for 2023 is to be consistently in the top three and challenge for the title,” said Rees.
“We had a great start to last year with a podium straight off the bat at Oulton Park, so I’m hoping to repeat that and continue the good form we had at the end of last season, as we had a win at Brands Hatch.
“We will have a lot more expectation than last year, so we need to live up to that. However, we have the experience of knowing the car and how it handles in a race and working with the engineers to develop the things that we like, so we should have a strong start to the year. I know the team really well and the team knows me really well, so we know how to get on with each other. I have to give [JHR team boss] Steven Hunter a lot of credit as he does know how to make a car go fast.
JHR completed its first full season in GB3 last year, with the team initially running one car for Rees before expanding to a two-car line-up in the second half of the season.
“We’re very happy to have Matthew back with the team for the third-straight season,” said Steven Hunter, JHR’s team principal.
“We’ve known about his skill and talent from as far back as 2020, when he started testing with us in F4 machinery, and of course we had that incredible season in the British F4 championship, winning the drivers’, rookie, and teams’ championship titles with him.
“Last year in the GB3 championship he showed his ability again, claiming an opening weekend podium and adding double pole position and our maiden series victory at Brands Hatch. With three drivers in the team this year we’ll have triple the data to work with and that means we’re feeling confident about how we will do, though of course we’ll keep working hard every weekend to achieve our goals together.”