The 2023 GB3 grid is the largest in the championship’s history, but it could also be the quickest judging by Joseph Loake’s searing pace in the final test session of the day at Oulton Park on Thursday.
The JHR Developments driver was one of nine drivers to lap beneath the outright Oulton Park lap record, which has stood for 12 years.
Loake’s time of 1m28.094s was six tenths quicker than the existing record, and around nine tenths of a second faster than last year’s pole time.
In the final session of the day, he was just 0.067s clear of teammate Matthew Rees, while Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Souta Arao was third and just half a tenth further back.
The Japanese driver’s teammate Alex Dunne was next up in fourth, less than a tenth of a second away, with Arden VRD’s James Hedley fifth, 0.056s behind.
Douglas Motorsport’s Tymek Kucharczyk was sixth quickest, 0.094s ahead of Rodin Carlin’s Callum Voisin, with Michael Shin (Hitech) and Max Esterson (Fortec) also within outright lap record time.
The third JHR car of David Morales completed the top-10, which was covered by a scant 0.584s. The top-11 cars in the session were all within last year’s pole position time, with the top-15 again covered by less than a second.
24 of the 25 runners entered this weekend completed lap times in the session, with the whole field covered by less than two seconds. Lucas Staico was the only driver not to take part in the session, in which all drivers recorded their best laps of the day.
Testing resumes tomorrow with two more sessions, commencing at 09.35.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Oulton Park Thursday test session three result:
1. Joseph Loake, JHR Developments, 1m28.094s
2. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, +0.067s
3. Souta Arao, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.117s
4. Alex Dunne, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.213s
5. James Hedley, Arden VRD, +0.269s
6. Tymek Kucharczyk, Douglas Motorsport, +0.352s
7. Callum Voisin, Rodin Carlin, +0.446s
8. Michael Shin, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.488s
9. Max Esterson, Fortec Motorsport, +0.568s
10. David Morales, JHR Developments, +0.584s
11. John Bennett, Rodin Carlin, +0.689s
12. Jarrod Waberski, Fortec Motorsport, +0.845s
13. Oliver Stewart, Elite Motorsport, +0.867s
14. Gerrard Xie, Hillspeed, +0.917s
15. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, +0.966s
16. Ayato Iwasaki, Elite Motorsport, +1.038s
17. Arthur Rogeon, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.055s
18. Costa Toparis, Rodin Carlin, +1.187s
19. Nico Christodoulou, Arden VRD, +1.191s
20. Edward Pearson, Fortec Motorsport, +1.230s
21. Noah Ping, Arden VRD, +1.269s
22. Zak Taylor, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.804s
23. Shawn Rashid, Douglas Motorsport, +1.904s
24. Daniel Mavlyutov, Hillspeed, +1.982s