Newcomers join Donington Park GB3 test, Sharp sets the pace

Photo: GB3

A GB3 test was held on Thursday at Donington Park ahead of next month’s round at the venue, and Rodin Motorsport’s points leader Louis Sharp was fastest.

Sharp ended the day 0.275 seconds clear of Hitech GP’s Will Macintyre, and there were a couple of new faces joining the series regulars on track.

Velocity Racing Development ran its protege Max Taylor, who clinched the USF Juniors crown last weekend in Portland. The 16-year-old, who also finished third in the USF2000 standings this year with four victories, finished the day 0.001s shy of Macintyre in third.

Fellow American Ryan Shehan, who came second and 10th respectively in Formula Regional’s Oceania and Americas championships last year, tested for Hillspeed. The 19-year-old was 21st quickest, having been one of only four drivers not to set their best lap time in the fourth and final session.

Formula 4 United Arab Emirates champion and Italian F4 dominator Freddie Slater was 11th fastest on his GB3 testing return with Rodin. Slater, who is now eligible to race in GB3 having turned 16 – the series’ minimum age limit – earlier this month, took part in the pre-season media days at Donington Park and a further test at Brands Hatch earlier in the year.

Karting graduate Alex Kattoulas was 20th in his second appearance for Fortec Motorsports, having also taken part in pre-event testing prior to last month’s Silverstone round.

Sharp’s closest title rivals Tymek Kucharcyzk (Hitech) and John Bennett (JHR Developments) topped a session each in the morning, but the New Zealander responded by leading the third and fourth sessions, setting a best lap of 1m22.194s in the latter.

Macintyre and Taylor also set their personal bests in session four, with Bennett and Hitech’s Gerrard Xie doing the same to end the test in fourth and fifth. Kucharczyk meanwhile didn’t improve on his session one time but was less than 0.5s off the pace in sixth.

Elite Motorsport’s Finn Harrison led three out of GB4’s fourt sessions to end the day 0.345s clear of Arden’s Leon Wilson, who was quickest in session three. Fortec’s points leader Linus Granfors was not present, while his two main championship rivals Harry Burgoyne Jr (KMR Sport) and Alisha Palmowski (Elite) were third and fourth, the duo joining Harrison by setting their fastest laps in session four.

Also on track was GB4’s 2025 test car, with two-time race winner Lucas Blakeley putting more mileage on the Douglas Motorsport-run machine.

Test results