Home Formula RegionalGB3 Nikita Johnson wins GB3’s reversed-grid race at Zandvoort

Nikita Johnson wins GB3’s reversed-grid race at Zandvoort

by Steve Whitfield

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Nikita Johnson scored a maiden GB3 victory in the final race of the weekend at Zandvoort.

The Velocity Racing Development by Arden driver was beaten by JHR Developments’ Patrick Heuzenroeder into turn one, while Heuzenroeder’s team-mate Josh Irfan was slow away from reversed-grid pole and lost several places.

Heuzenroeders’s lead only lasted for two corners before Johnson competed a move up the inside, with Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell also passing the Australian for second.

Johnson built a four-second advantage in the first eight laps before the safety car was deployed due to Chris Dittmann Racing’s Seb Murray pulling off the circuit with an issue. The race resumed two laps later, with Johnson edging clear of Cresswell and Heuzenroeder to win by 1.644s. 

Elite’s Hugo Schwarze and Hitech GP’s Will Macintyre both passed Rodin Motorsport’s Arthur Rogeon in the early stages before finishing fourth and fifth.

A frenetic scrap ensued behind the top five following the safety car period, with Louis Sharp trying to pass team-mate Rogeon before losing out to VRD’s Noah Ping, and the New Zealander was then shuffled back to ninth by title rival Tymek Kucharczyk and Gerrard Xie.

Sharp soon regained one place when Xie slid off the road at turn one. He then gained another when Kucharczyk went off while trying to drive around the outside of Rogeon, who by now had lost sixth to Ping. Sharp came home behind Ping in seventh while Irfan recovered to eighth, having slipped out of the top 10 at one stage.

Rogeon slowed late on and became embroiled in a four-wide battle down the pit straight with Kucharczyk, JHR’s John Bennett and Fortec Motorsports’ Colin Queen, the latter coming out on top to finish ninth. Kucharzyk held onto 10th ahead of Bennett, who had started from 17th having been handed a grid penalty for the incident with Sharp in race two. Rodin’s James Hedley was 12th after losing ground in an early collision.

Elite’s Jarrod Waberski was also hampered by a late collision with Rogeon, the pair finishing 16th and 17th.

Race results (16 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Nikita Johnson VRD by Arden 26m19.590s
2 McKenzy Cresswell Elite Motorsport +1.644s
3 Patrick Heuzenroeder JHR Developments +2.176s
4 Hugo Schwarze Elite Motorsport +2.579s
5 Will Macintyre Hitech GP +3.052s
6 Noah Ping VRD by Arden +3.412s
7 Louis Sharp Rodin Motorsport +7.822s
8 Josh Irfan JHR Developments +8.276s
9 Colin Queen Fortec Motorsports +9.800s
10 Tymek Kucharczyk Hitech GP +10.171s
11 John Bennett JHR Developments +10.604s
12 James Hedley Rodin Motorsport +11.208s
13 Edward Pearson Fortec Motorsports +11.786s
14 Gerrard Xie Hitech GP +12.253s
15 Flynn Jackes Chris Dittmann Racing +13.905s
16 Jarrod Waberski Elite Motorsport +14.110s
17 Arthur Rogeon Rodin Motorsport +15.581s
18 Aditya Kulkarni Hillspeed +16.559s
19 Shawn Rashid VRD by Arden +1m12.363s
Ret Seb Murray Chris Dittmann Racing
Fastest lap: Johnson, 1m32.623s

Championship standings
1 Kucharczyk 283   2 Sharp 265  3 Macintyre 263   4 Bennett 253   5 Cresswell 219   6 Waberski 164   7 Ugo Ugochukwu 155   8 Xie 149   9 Hedley 142  10 Heuzenroeder 136