Heuzenroeder fastest as Rodriguez changes teams in GB3

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Xcel Motorsport’s Patrick Heuzenroeder edged out chief title rival Alex Ninovic to the quickest time in GB3 pre-event testing at Brands Hatch.

While this weekend’s latest round will take place around the full Grand Prix circuit, Friday’s action was held on the shorter Indy layout. Three different drivers topped a session each, and Heuzenroeder’s session two effort of 42.123 seconds was enough to end the day 0.065s clear of Rodin Motorsport’s Ninovic.

After a number of lead changes during the early stages of session one, Hillspeed’s Freddie Slater posted a 42.344s lap at the nine-minute mark to displace Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough from top spot by 0.060s. 

Fairclough had a trip through the Paddock Hill bend gravel trap as he tried to respond, and neither his or Slater’s times would be beaten by the time the chequered flag was waved – leaving the latter quickest.

Heuzenroeder made a late gain into third, Argenti with Prema’s Reza Seewooruthun pipped Hillspeed’s Kanato Le to fourth by 0.002s, and Red Bull junior Enzo Tarnvanichkul was within 0.234s of the pace in sixth for Velocity Racing Development.

Ninovic, meanwhile, spent most of the session in the pitlane with an issue and failed to register a time.

Slater was unable to beat his earlier benchmark in session two and, despite leading again at the halfway stage, was eventually shuffled down to fourth. 

Heuzenroeder lowered the testing pace by just under 0.1s with 10 minutes remaining, and the Australian improved further with what proved to be his test-topping time, which put him 0.155s clear at the session’s conclusion.

Ninovic was best of the rest, and 0.098s ahead of Fairclough, while Elite Motorsport’s Will Macintyre, JHR Developments’ Noah Lisle and Hillspeed’s Kanato Le completed the top six – the trio separated by 0.014s.

Heuzenroeder was one of only seven drivers to not improve in session three, which was led by Slater initially. Most of the field fitted brand new tyres at the halfway stage, and Ninovic soon set a new personal best of 42.194s to lead Fairclough by 0.098s. He improved by a further 0.006s late on to slightly reduce the deficit to Heuzenroeder in the day’s overall classification.

Fairclough also found more time to be just 0.020s further behind, while Tarnvanichikul snatched fourth overall from Slater by just 0.004s – the pair also setting new personal bests in the final session.

Macintyre ended the day sixth ahead of Hitech’s Alpine junior Keanu Al Azhari, while Rodin’s other title contender Gianmarco Pradel was 0.271s off the pace in eighth.

Rodrigo Gonzalez has made the switch to VRD for the remainder of the season after making his debut with Chris Dittmann Racing at the previous round. The Mexican was 18th overall in testing, and two places ahead his brother and new team-mate Rodrigo.

Test results