Mavlyutov takes fourth reversed-grid win behind safety car at Zandvoort

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Hillspeed’s Daniel Mavlyutov won a heavily disrupted final GB3 race at Zandvoort, while Callum Voisin climbed from 15th to fifth to extend his points lead.

A number of incidents resulted in all-but two laps of the rain-affected contest taking place behind the safety car, with Mavlyutov leading home Noah Ping, Arthur Rogeon and David Morales.

There was a further twist in the title race overnight, with Voisin penalised for his overtake on Joseph Loake in race two for having all four wheels off-track, reducing the gap between the top three in the championship to four points heading into race three.

Following a slight delay, Elite Motorsport’s Partick Heuzenroeder led away from reversed-grid pole at the start from Mavlyutov, while Chris Dittmann Racing’s Jack Sherwood bogged down from third on the grid and lost several places.

Voisin gained seven places to eighth after threading his way in between Rodin Carlin team-mate John Bennett and Fortec Motorsports’ Max Esterson at turn one.

Gerrard Xie and James Hedley slid into the wall at turn three, causing a lengthy safety car period. Edward Pearson also retired, while Costa Toparis slid through the gravel but continued.

The race resumed with just under 10 minutes remaining, but green flag running lasted for just three corners. Mavlyutov immediately snatched the lead into turn one from Heuzenroeder, who then crashed at turn three, with Sherwood also sliding off the circuit into retirement. Voisin passed Shawn Rashid before the safety car was deployed once more to climb to fifth.

With further damage to the turn three barriers, the remainder of the race was run at the safety car’s pace.

Rashid finished sixh ahead of Bennett, Jarrod Waberski and Esterson, with Zak Taylor 10th. McKenzy Cresswell gained 12 places to 11th ahead of Elite team-mate Oliver Stewart.

Hitech GP’s Alex Dunne had a scare during the first safety car period with a slight trip off the road, but finished in 16th, three places behind title rival Loake. Voisin leads Loake by 13 points heading into next weekend’s deciding round at Donington Park, with a Dunne a further four points behind.

Race result (9 laps)