Carlin’s Callum Voisin led from lights to flag and claimed his third GB3 win of the year in the first race of the Donington Decider weekend.
Voisin held off a persistent challenge from Elite’s Tom Lebbon, who took second place on the road, but was handed a time penalty post race and dropped to fourth, promoting championship leader Luke Browning to second from fifth on the grid, and extended his title advantage with two races remaining.
Elite’s John Bennett held third early on before being passed around the outside of Redgate by Browning after a safety car restart, but took third after his teammate's penalty. Fortec’s Joel Granfors minimised the damage to his championship aspirations by going from eighth to fifth, behind Lebbon on the amended classification.
Granfors passed Browning's teammate Bryce Aron for fifth at McLeans, with the American therefore settling for sixth, half a second clear of Carlin's Javier Sagrera, while Chris Dittmann Racing's Zak Taylor was eighth.
Arden VRD duo Nico Christodoulou and Alex Connor completed the top ten.
Voisin made the best start from pole position, and built a lead of several car lengths through the first corner, while a fast starting Browning looked to challenge for third straight away as he squeezed between Aron and Bennett on the run to Redgate.
He succeeded in passing Aron but had to wait to launch his challenge on Bennett as the safety car was deployed for an early spill at the Melbourne Hairpin for David Morales.
The race restarted on lap six, and Voisin looked to build an advantage, but every time he did, Lebbon managed to reel him back in again, finishing half a second behind at the flag, until he was handed the five second penalty for exceeding track limits.
Crucially that handed second to championship leader Browning, who now enjoys a more comfortable margin of 26.5 points at the top of the championship standings ahead of the final two contests of the season tomorrow.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park race one provisional result
1. Callum Voisin, Carlin, 14 Laps
2. Luke Browning, Hitech GP, +2.036
3. John Bennett, Elite Motorsport, +3.922
4. Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsports +5.532
5. Joel Granfors, Fortec Motorsport, +5.646
6. Bryce Aron, Hitech GP, +7.058
7. Javier Sagrera, Carlin, +7.577
8. Zak Taylor, Chris Dittmann Racing, +14.444
9. Nico Christodoulou, Arden VRD, +15.123
10. Alex Connor, Arden VRD, +16.912
11. Max Esterson, Douglas Motorsport, +18.043
12. Cian Shields, Hitech GP, +20.459
13. Nick Gilkes, Douglas Motorsport, +23.909
14. Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport, +24.722
15. Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsport, +25.490
16. Ayato Iwasaki, Elite Motorsport, +26.183
17. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, DNF
18. McKenzy Cresswell, Chris Dittmann Racing, DNF
19. Roberto Faria, Carlin, DNF
20. David Morales, Arden VRD, DNF