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 |