The 2023 GB3 season proved to be one of the most competitive on record, as Callum Voisin edged out a final day challenge from Alex Dunne and Joseph Loake.
As we start our look back on a thrilling season of action, we’re starting off with a bit of number crunching as we calculate the fastest drivers on average throughout the year, based on ‘supertimes’ (full description at the end of the article) from each event. So who made the top-five? Read on below…
5. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments
Like all of the drivers in the top-five, Rees was the outright fastest driver at least one event this season, as he demonstrated a clear gain in pace compared to his debut season in 2022. The JHR driver’s best rounds came at Snetterton and Silverstone in the summer, where he was the driver to beat, and was among the fastest three at Oulton Park too. The Welshman’s pace average was 100.465, meaning that over a theoretical 90-second lap (equivalent to Oulton Park), he was just 0.166s away from the outright pace across the year.
4. Tymek Kucharczyk, Douglas Motorsport
The young Polish contender showed on several occasions that he was a potential race winner, with his best weekend coming at Silverstone towards the start of the year, where he registered the fastest lap of the entire event during race three, while also being among the fastest three at Snetterton, Silverstone again and the season finale at Donington Park. His pace average was 100.452, so based on the same 90-second lap, just 0.154s away. A very impressive mark for his debut season in GB3!
3. Callum Voisin, Rodin Carlin
An expected title challenger, and Voisin duly delivered. Within the fastest three drivers for more than half of the events, he was considerably more consistent than IN his debut campaign, and retained all his speed too. The fastest driver based on pure pace at Spa, he was also inside the fastest three at Oulton Park, and in the top-two at Snetterton and Brands Hatch, where he clinched his first win of the year. Ignoring his qualifying drama at Zandvoort, Voisin was at 100.329%, meaning he was just 0.044s away from top spot in our lists, however, you get the feeling that even more pace was available, should he have needed it!
2. Joseph Loake, JHR Developments
What a campaign from the F4 graduate. An immediate impression was made with lap record pace at Oulton Park, and he was again the fastest driver of all at Brands Hatch as he reignited his championship fight towards the end of the year. He was also within the top-three at Silverstone and Donington Park, and he obviously showed that pace once more when thrust into the high pressure environment of the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award assessments, as he claimed the prize at the start of December. On average, Loake was just 0.013s away from the outright pace throughout the year, with a percentage of 100.295%.
1. Alex Dunne, Hitech Pulse-Eight
The reigning British F4 champion took the title fight all the way down to the last race at Donington Park, and though he just missed out on the title, he saved his best until last, being the fastest driver of all at both Zandvoort and Donington Park. Also within the top-three at Silverstone and Spa, where he was dominant in the races, Dunne’s average percentage was 100.281, with his overall score only really affected by a difficult event at Brands Hatch in September. That pace was on show again as he sampled FIA F3 for the first time in Macau, where he was a podium finisher in the qualifying race. Whatever he does in 2024, you know he'll be quick!
Honorary mentions
The 2023 grid was supremely competitive; based on supertimes, the above top-five were covered by just 0.166 seconds around an example lap of 90 seconds (1m30s)! So a shout out to McKenzy Cresswell, who was also on average within two tenths of a second from the outright pace, and a top-three contender on ultimate speed at half of the rounds this year. And without his difficult season opener at Oulton Park, the British driver would actually have been fourth in our list overall.
As an indication of how tight the 2023 grid was, the top-10 was on average covered by just over half a second, and the top-23 drivers by 1.004s around the example lap! How close do you want it?!
The figures:
Rees
Season average: 100.465%
Theoretical 90-second lap time: 90.419s (+0.166s)
Kucharczyk
Season average: 100.452%
Theoretical 90-second lap time: 90.407s (+0.154s)
Voisin
Season average: 100.329%
Theoretical 90-second lap time: 90.297s (+0.044s)
Loake
Season average: 100.295%
Theoretical 90-second lap time: 90.266s (+0.013s)
Dunne
Season average: 100.281%
Theoretical 90-second lap time: 90.253s
Fastest times at each event:
Oulton Park: Joseph Loake, 1m27.958s (qualifying)
Silverstone: Tymek Kucharczyk, 1m54.331s (race three)
Spa-Francorchamps: Callum Voisin, 2m14.912s (qualifying)
Snetterton: Matthew Rees, 1m39.616s (qualifying)
Silverstone: Matthew Rees, 1m53.085s (qualifying)
Brands Hatch: Joseph Loake, 1m19.132s (qualifying)
Zandvoort: Alex Dunne, 1m30.023s (race two)
Donington Park: Alex Dunne, 1m22.335s (race two)
Criteria
Only the drivers who completed a significant portion of the season have been included in the calculations; we’ve taken six of the eight rounds as our minimum participation point.
What is a supertime?
From each race event, we’ve taken the fastest individual lap set by each driver and converted that into a percentage of the quickest outright effort from that event. This allows a greater spectrum of data to be analysed, and allows us to create a season-long average. The closer each driver is to 100%, the faster they were across the year as a whole. Around a 90-second lap, (similar to Oulton Park) one percent is equivalent to around nine tenths of a second of lap time.