Sharp leads Kucharczyk in GB3 practice at Zandvoort

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Rodin Motorsport’s points leader Louis Sharp was quickest in GB3 free practice at Zandvoort.

Sharp lapped 0.136 seconds faster than title rival and Hitech GP driver Tymek Kucharczyk, with Velocity Racing Development by Arden’s Noah Ping and JHR Developments’ John Bennett 0.3s further behind.

Drivers had four pre-event test sessions to acclimatise to the track on Thursday. Bennett headed session one, his best lap of 1m31.817s leaving him 0.017s ahead of Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell. It was even closer at the top in session two, with Jarrod Waberski lowering the pace to 1m31.295s to pip Kucharczyk by 0.014s. Waberski lapped within 0.004s of his own benchmark to lead again in session three by 0.177s from Ping.

Sharp set a 1m31.211s in the final session to end testing fastest by 0.09s, with Waberski second ahead of Kucharczyk and Gerrard Xie, the trio’s best laps coming in session two. VRD’s Nikita Johnson briefly led session four with a new personal best to move into fifth ahead of Ping, who did not improve on his session three time.

Sharp continued his form into FP1 on Friday. Ping set the pace early on with a 1m31.962s before Waberski lapped 0.1s faster, but the American responded to lead once more with a 1m31.637s, while Kucharczyk climbed to second and Rodin’s James Hedley to fourth.

Ping remained at the top for over 10 minutes before Kucharczyk went quickest by almost 0.3s, but he was edged seconds later by Sharp who set a 1m31.217s before rain arrived. Bennett improved to fourth behind Ping, who caused a late red flag period by making small contact with the barriers, with Waberski and Hedley slipping to fifth and sixth.

Further wet weather prevented any improvements in FP2, which was red-flagged halfway through after Ping had another collision with the barriers and damaged his car’s suspension. Kucharczyk led at the time of the stoppage, and after Bennett lapped 0.4s quicker following the resumption the Pole reclaimed top spot with a 1m42.848s before Bennett brought the session to a halt for a second time with four minutes remaining. Elite’s Hugo Schwarze ended the session just 0.001s behind Kucharczyk and 0.075s ahead of Xie.

Free practice results