Slater tops GB3 test day at Brands Hatch

Photo: GB3

Hillspeed’s part-timer Freddie Slater set the quickest time in Wednesday’s GB3 test on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

Slater, who will contest the next round at the Kent venue later this month, lapped 0.157 seconds faster than Rodin Motorsport’s points leader Alex Ninovic.

Ninovic posted a 1m20.229s to displace his closest title rival Patick Heuzenroeder from the top of the timesheet just past the halfway mark of session one, but the Xcel Motorsport driver responded by going 0.2s quicker.

Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough swiftly lowered the pace by a further 0.04s, only for Heuzenroeder to reclaim top spot once more with his next effort.

Ninovic moved again ahead with 12 minutes remaining, and his 1m19.767s lap left him 0.065s clear of Heuzenroeder at the session’s conclusion. Fairclough was 0.034s further behind, with Elite’s Will Macintyre and Slater the only other two within 0.5s of the pace.

Fairclough beat Ninovic’s benchmark by 0.026s five minutes into session two, and he made a couple of further improvements to remain on top with a 1m29.425s.

Ninovic laid down three fastest laps of his own, however, his 1m19.026s in the closing stages leaving him fastest again by 0.215s.

The top five was a repeat of session one, with Heuzenroeder pipping Fairclough to second, and Macintyre fourth ahead of Slater, who edged out JHR Developments’ Noah Lisle by 0.022s.

Slater set a new personal best so far to lead the final session, and then found 0.3s to become the first driver of the day to lap sub-1m19s. He continued to go quicker, setting his test-topping 1m18.634s inside the final four minutes.

Ninovic and Fairclough also improved to finish second and third, the latter over half a second off the pace and just 0.015s ahead of his team-mate Keanu Al Azhari.

Heuzenroeder, one of only five drivers to not improve in session three, was fifth overall ahead of Macintyre, who was less than 0.1s ahead of Hillspeed’s Hiyu Yamakoshi, Rodin’s Gianmarco Pradel, Lisle and Abbi Pulling.

Liam McNeilly, who recently made his USF Pro 2000 debut after visa issues halted his USF2000 campaign earlier in the year, tested for Fortec Motorsports and was 1.3s shy of the pace in 16th.

Testing results