Fortec’s championship challenger Joel Granfors claimed his second win of the season in the first GB3 race of the weekend at Silverstone.
The Swedish driver started second on the amended grid, after original pole-sitter Luke Browning was excluded from the results of qualifying.
Granfors went wheel to wheel with new pole sitter Callum Voisin at Maggotts and Becketts on the first lap, and made the move stick, while Voisin’s teammate Javier Sagrera followed him through to second.
While Granfors made good his escape, Sagrera held off Voisin until lap six, when the British driver forced his way through, and closed down a gap of nearly three seconds down to just 1.1 seconds at the flag.
As Voisin chased Granfors, Sagrera held off teammate Roberto Faria until the pair went wheel to wheel through Brooklands, Luffield, Woodcote and Copse, with Faria passing the Spaniard at Maggotts on lap nine to take third.
Sagrera had to settle for fourth, just ahead of Elite duo John Bennett and Tom Lebbon in fifth and sixth.
Arden’s Nico Christodoulou claimed his best result of the season with seventh ahead of JHR’s Matthew Rees, while Douglas Motorsport’s Max Esterson took ninth.
Fastest qualifier Luke Browning was put to the back of the grid for the race, along with his Hitech teammates after failing post-qualifying scrutineering, but gained 10 places on the first lap to run 11th, and fought his way into the top-10 by passing McKenzy Cresswell on the second lap. While he wasn’t able to make further ground from there, he finished just three tenths of a second behind Esterson at the end of the race.
Granfors led Sagrera by over 1.4 seconds at the end of the first lap, a gap he increased by large chunks across the first half of the race, with a margin of 2.8 seconds at the end of the sixth lap.
But once Voisin was past Sagrera, the British-Swiss contender was able to show his pace to lap around half a second quicker than the leader, before ultimately running out of laps.
The provisional result means Granfors closes the gap down to just 6.5 points to Browning at the top of the standings, heading into tomorrow’s two races.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Silverstone race one provisional result:
1. Joel Granfors, Fortec Motorsport, 10 laps
2. Callum Voisin, Carlin, +1.116s
3. Roberto Faria, Carlin, +6.752s
4. Javier Sagrera, Carlin, +7.307s
5. John Bennett, Elite Motorsport, +7.982s
6. Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +8.323s
7. Nico Christodoulou, Arden Motorsport, +8.646s
8. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, +9.082s
9. Max Esterson, Douglas Motorsport, +9.875s
10. Luke Browning, Hitech GP, +10.223s
11. McKenzy Cresswell, Chris Dittmann Racing, +10.882s
12. Branden Oxley, Chris Dittmann Racing, +13.344s
13. Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, +15.475s
14. Nick Gilkes, Hillspeed, +16.054s
15. James Hedley, JHR Developments, +16.660s
16. Bryce Aron, Hitech GP, +17.039s
17. Cian Shields, Hitech GP, +18.794s
18. David Morales, Arden Motorsport, +20.984s
19. Zak Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, +23.379s
20. Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsport, +24.007s
21. Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport, +24.744s
22. Marcos Flack, Douglas Motorsport, +25.647s
23. Ayrton Ori, Chris Dittmann Racing, +28.466s