JHR Developments’ Matthew Rees converted pole position into a dominant victory in the first GB3 Championship race of the weekend at Silverstone.
After making a strong start from pole, the birthday boy regularly extended his advantage to claim his first victory of the season, four seconds clear of Elite’s McKenzy Cresswell, with Rodin Carlin’s Callum Voisin moving up from fourth to complete the podium.
Rees was untouchable throughout the nine lap contest, with rain beforehand wiping off a lap from the duration to allow for an extra formation lap. The Welshman led by 1.6 seconds at the end of the first lap alone, and was almost three seconds clear by the mid-race point.
He continued to extend his margin to cross the line 4.4 seconds clear of Cresswell, to avenge his lost win here back in May when he picked up a penalty for a jump start.
While Rees was clear in front, Cresswell managed to establish a gap of over a second to Voisin, to replicate his result from the May round.
Voisin jumped Tymek Kucharczyk on the first lap and then held on to third to claim his seventh podium of the season, which closed the gap to Alex Dunne at the top of the standings to just one point.
After starting third, Douglas Motorsport's Kucharczyk had to settle for fourth ahead of Hitech Pulse-Eight's championship leader Dunne, while Joseph Loake lost a position on the run to Copse on lap one and took sixth for JHR.
Arden VRD's Nico Christodoulou took seventh place ahead of Chris Dittmann Racing's Zak Taylor, with the second Arden VRD machine of Noah Ping ninth, while Fortec's Max Esterson was the main mover of the contest, as he surged from 18th on the grid to complete the top-10.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Silverstone race one provisional result:
1. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, 9 laps
2. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, +4.442s
3. Callum Voisin, Rodin Carlin, +5.798s
4. Tymek Kucharczyk, Douglas Motorsport, +6.802s
5. Alex Dunne, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +9.919s
6. Joseph Loake, JHR Developments, +10.775s
7. Nico Christodoulou, Arden VRD, +11.290s
8. Zak Taylor, Chris Dittmann Racing, +14.535s
9. Noah Ping, Arden VRD, +16.793s
10. Max Esterson, Fortec Motorsport, +21.408s
11. James Hedley, Arden VRD, +23.796s
12. Oliver Stewart, Elite Motorsport, +24.307s
13. Souta Arao, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +24.481s
14. David Morales, Arden VRD, +26.039s
15. Lucas Staico, Douglas Motorsport, +26.671s
16. Arthur Rogeon, Chris Dittmann Racing, +27.397s
17. Gerrard Xie, Hillspeed, +32.580s
18. John Bennett, Rodin Carlin, +36.562s
19. Edward Pearson, Fortec Motorsport, +39.613s
20. Costa Toparis, Rodin Carlin, +42.587s
21. Daniel Mavlyutov, Hillspeed, +43.501s
22. Shawn Rashid, Douglas Motorsport, +1 lap
23. Jarrod Waberski, Fortec Motorsport, +1 lap