Sharp boosts title hopes with victory in GB3’s Donington Park opener

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Louis Sharp extended his GB3 points lead by taking his third victory of the season at Donington Park.

The Rodin Motorsport driver triumphed by 4.6 seconds in the weekend’s opening contest, while a final lap excursion cost his title rival Tymek Kucharczyk the runner-up spot. Hitech GP’s Gerrard Xie benefitted from his team-mate’s error to finish second, with JHR Developments’ title contender John Bennett completing the podium.

With the circuit having mostly dried out following the earlier damp conditions, all drivers fitted slick tyres for the start, and Sharp made a good launch from pole to lead Kucharczyk and Xie.

Behind them, Bennett was slow away and initially was edged into fourth by Velocity Racing Development by Arden’s Noah Ping before regaining the position with a switchback move exiting Redgate.

JHR’s Patrick Heuzenroeder spun at turn one in the slippery conditions, while Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell and Rodin’s Arthur Rogeon banged wheels on the exit of the corner but were both able to continue.

Rodin’s debutant Freddie Slater had a look up the inside of Ping into Old Hairpin for the first time but, having backed out, then had to fend off a challenge from Elite’s Hugo Schwarze.

Sharp built a 1.6-second lead over the first five laps, but Kucharczyk soon responded to halve the gap. The New Zealander edged away once more only for his pursuer to close back to within 0.7s by the start of the final lap. As he pushed to try and edge closer, Kucharczyk got sideways into Old Hairpin and slid through the gravel before rejoining in fourth.

Ping then tried to pass the Polish racer into the Fogarty esses but went deep and missed the corner. Following close behind, Slater challenged Kucharczyk into the Melbourne hairpin, but a lairy exit dropped him to sixth behind Ping before the finish.

An error into Redgate cost Schwarze seventh to Hitech’s Will Macintyre, but he still led home his Elite team-mates Jarrod Waberski and Cresswell, while Max Taylor finished 11th ahead of Rogeon on his GB3 debut for Arden.

Fortec Motorsports’ Colin Queen ran eighth ahead of Macintyre early on but also went off the road at Old Hairpin and tumbled out of contention. VRD’s Shawn Rashid retired on the final lap after colliding with Chris Dittmann Racing’s Sebastian Murray at Macleans.

Sharp holds a small lead over Bennett heading into Sunday’s two contests, with Kucharczyk third in the title race.

Race results (14 laps)