JHR Developments’ Matthew Rees was the fastest driver on the first day of this week’s GB3 test at Oulton Park.
Not only was the Welshman’s time of 1m28.491s quicker than any GB3 lap recorded at the circuit previously, but was also faster than the International circuit’s lap record time of 1m28.668s, set by Lucas Foresti back in 2011.
Rees was less than a tenth of a second faster than Elite’s McKenzy Cresswell, who topped last week’s test at Silverstone, while aspiring GB3 entrant Oliver Stewart was third fastest with Elite and 0.031s further back.
Fellow F4 graduate Joseph Loake completed a good day for JHR by posting the fourth quickest time, and was the final driver inside Foresti’s lap record time.
Max Esterson was the lead Fortec runner in fifth place, with a time less than two tenths of a second away from top spot, and 0.032s ahead of Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Souta Arao.
James Hedley, eyeing a second season in GB3, was seventh fastest and only a quarter of a second away from P1 for Chris Dittmann Racing, with Esterson’s teammate Jarrod Waberski eighth, half a tenth further back.
Rodin Carlin’s John Bennett and the third Fortec machine of Edward Pearson completed the day one top-10, which was covered by just over half a second. Each of the top-10 runners set their best time in the afternoon session.
In all, 23 drivers tested today, with 20 recording lap times; the three Douglas Motorsport cars opted not to run transponders. The 20 cars that did set lap times were covered by just 1.7 seconds.
Testing resumes tomorrow, with a number of GB4 cars also set to take part.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Oulton Park pre-season test day one result:
1. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, 1m28.491s
2. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, +0.099s
3. Oliver Stewart, Elite Motorsport, +0.130s
4. Joseph Loake, JHR Developments, +0.161s
5. Max Esterson, Fortec Motorsport, +0.182s
6. Souta Arao, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.214s
7. James Hedley, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.257s
8. Jarrod Waberski, Fortec Motorsport, +0.307s
9. John Bennett, Rodin Carlin, +0.533s
10. Edward Pearson, Fortec Motorsport, +0.541s
11. Alex Dunne, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.603s
12. Costa Toparis, Rodin Carlin, +0.889s
13. Callum Voisin, Rodin Carlin. +1.033s
14. Ayato Iwasaki, Elite Motorsport, +1.070s
15. Michael Shin, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +1.115s
16. David Morales, JHR Developments, +1.225s
17. Noah Ping, Arden VRD, +1.270s
18. Gerrard Xie, Hillspeed, +1.271s
19. Arthur Rogeon, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.324s
20. Daniel Mavlyutov, Hillspeed, +1.762s