Home Formula 3GB3 Simmons beats Bearman to victory in BRDC British F3 season opener

Simmons beats Bearman to victory in BRDC British F3 season opener

by Steve Whitfield

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Ayrton Simmons took a lights-to-flag win from pole as the BRDC British Formula 3 season got underway on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

After leading away at the start, the Chris Dittmann Racing driver withstood pressure from Fortec Motorsports’ Ollie Bearman, who remained just over one second behind throughout the 12-lap encounter.

Bearman and Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan completed the podium in second and third on their respective British F3 debuts, while Bart Horsten was a further five seconds behind in fourth in his first race for Hitech GP. Reece Ushijima finished in fifth behind his team-mate.

Arden marked its F3 debut with sixth and seventh, Frederick Lubin finishing ahead Alex Connor. Cariin’s free practice pacesetter Christian Mansell was eighth after passing CDR’s Alex Fores in the closing stages.

Ginetta Junior champion Tom Lebbon was ninth for Elite Motorsport, the team also making its series debut. Fores and Fortec’s Roberto Faria were the last two classified finishers after last-lap drama dropped the pair down the order. Faria was attempting to recover from a poor start, having qualified fourth.

Race results (12 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Ayrton Simmons Chris Dittmann Racing 16m21.696s
2 Ollie Bearman Fortec Motorsports +1.207s
3 Zak O’Sullivan Carlin +1.644s
4 Bart Horsten Hitech GP +6.872s
5 Reece Ushijima Hitech GP +10.579s
6 Frederick Lubin Arden +11.388s
7 Alex Connor Arden +14.997s
8 Christian Mansell Carlin +23.346s
9 Tom Lebbon Elite Motorsport +24.437s
10 Bryce Aron Carlin +27.274s
11 Sebastian Alvarez Hitech GP +27.868s
12 Javier Sagrera Elite Motorsport +28.401s
13 Dexter Patterson Douglas Motorsport +30.337s
14 Max Marzorati Chris Dittmann Racing +30.865s
15 Reema Juffali Douglas Motorsport +42.101s
16 Mikkel Grundtvig Fortec Motorsports +42.355s
17 Alex Fores Chris Dittmann Racing +1 lap
18 Roberto Faria Fortec Motorsports +1 lap
Ret Jorge Garfias Elite Motorsport
Fastest lap: Simmons, 1m20.832s