A late lap from JHR Developments’ Matthew Rees put him top of the times in the opening test session of the week for the GB3 Championship at Snetterton.
His time of 1m42.287s, set with 30 seconds to go in the 40-minute session put him over half a second clear of Fortec’s championship leader Joel Granfors, who had topped much of the final half of the test.
Rees’ time was over 2.5 seconds faster than any time posted at the venue in 2021 and well under the qualifying lap record set back in 2016 by Ricky Collard.
Douglas Motorsport’s Marcos Flack was third quickest, a couple of tenths further back from Granfors and 0.365s clear of Carlin’s Javier Sagrera in fourth.
Chris Dittmann Racing’s McKenzy Cresswell ensured five different teams were represented in the top-five, 0.049s away from Sagrera and just over a tenth ahead of Carlin’s Roberto Faria in sixth.
John Bennett was the lead Elite Motorsport driver in seventh, 0.045s ahead of Hitech’s title challenger Luke Browning, with Arden’s David Morales and Douglas Motorsport’s Tommy Smith completing the top-10.
The second test session of the week is due to commence at 13.00, with full live timing available on the GB3 Championship website.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Snetterton Thursday session one result:
1. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, 1m42.287s
2. Joel Granfors, Fortec Motorsport, +0.592s
3. Marcos Flack, Douglas Motorsport, +0.872s
4. Javier Sagrera, Carlin, +1.237s
5. McKenzy Cresswell, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.286s
6. Roberto Faria, Carlin, +1.424s
7. John Bennett, Elite Motorsport, +1.545s
8. Luke Browning, Hitech GP, +1.590s
9. David Morales, Arden Motorsport, +1.604s
10. Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport, +1.659s
11. Callum Voisin, Carlin, +1.681s
12. Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, +1.830s
13. Cian Shields, Hitech GP, +1.845s
14. Branden Oxley, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.877s
15. Bryce Aron, Hitech GP, +2.083s
16. James Hedley, Elite Motorsport, +2.267s
17. Nico Christodoulou, Arden Motorsport, +2.290s
18. Nick Gilkes, Hillspeed, +2.391s
19. Zak Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, +2.801s
20. Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsport, +3.746s
21. Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +5.028s
22. Max Esterson, Douglas Motorsport, no time set