Voisin wins shortened GB3 opener at Donington to extend points lead

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Callum Voisin extended his GB3 championship lead to 28 points with his second win of the season in a truncated Donington Park opener that finished behind the safety car.

The Rodin Carlin driver led away from pole at the start in damp conditions, while JHR Developments’ Matthew Rees covered off Hitech GP’s Alex Dunne into Redgate for second. A couple of first-corner incidents then brought out the safety car.

Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell went through the gravel while battling Joseph Loake and then retired moments later through the Craner Curves, ending his title hopes. Hitech’s Michael Shin also stopped in the Redgate gravel trap after contact with Hillspeed’s Daniel Mavlyutov.

The race resumed on lap four, with Voisin making a great restart to immediately pull clear and build 1.5-second gap, which he maintained for three laps before the safety car was deployed once more after Elite’s Oliver Stewart collided with Noah Ping at the final corner and nosed his car into the barriers.

With the alloted time limit expiring, racing did not resume, with only 10 of the scheduled 14 laps being completed.

Dunne moved up to second in the standings with a third place finish behind Rees, whose runner-up spot was not enough to keep him in the title race, which was reduced to a three-way affair. Loake meanwhile recovered three places to 10th following a poor start, leaving him 37 points adrift in third in the championship fight.

Arden VRD’s James Hedley was fourth, having applied pressure on Dunne for the final podium spot during the limited green-flag running. Hitech’s Souta Arao was fifth ahead of Fortec Motorsports duo Max Esterson and Jarrod Waberski.

Arden’s Nico Christodoulou overtook Tymek Kucharczyk following the first safety car period to finish eighth, with the Canadian almost passing Waberski as well.

Carlin’s John Bennett was 11th, surviving light contact exiting Melbourne hairpin in a battle for 10th with Loake, while David Morales came home 12th. Mavlyutov had a further excursion and eventually finished a lap down after making a pitstop.

Voisin starts from pole again in race two on Sunday, and will clinch the title with victory if Dunne finishes lower than second.

Race result (10 laps)