Rodin Carlin’s John Bennett took a provisional victory in the second race of the weekend at Silverstone.
Bennett finished second but took the win when on the road winner Matthew Rees was penalised with a 10-second penalty mid-race for a false start.
Rees went from fifth to first by the first corner and led the race throughout but lost the chance of the win when a mid-race safety car eliminated a margin of nine seconds he had mid-race.
Bennett therefore took the win, half a second ahead of JHR’s championship leader Joseph Loake, who delivered a string of stunning overtaking moves to rise from 10th on the grid to second. Bennett however was involved in an incident with Alex Dunne before the safety car, a move likely to be investigated post-race.
Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell climbed from seventh to the final step of the podium, having engaged in a late race scrap with Bennett’s teammate Callum Voisin, who finished fourth.
Fortec’s Jarrod Waberski was less than a second behind in fifth, half a second clear of Rodin Carlin’s Costa Toparis, with Rees dropping to seventh at the flag after his penalty.
Max Esterson (Fortec) and Nico Christodoulou (Arden VRD) were eighth and ninth, while Tymek Kucharczyk, who had been fastest in qualifying before his technical disqualification, surged up the order from 25th to complete the top-10 after a superb drive.
At the start, Rees shot to the front from fifth on the grid, taking the lead at Copse and romping into the distance, building an immediate lead of over three seconds.
His start was too good though, and picked up a 10 second penalty for a false start. Undeterred, he’d built up a nine second lead by lap four, giving him a chance of taking the win anyway, but the safety car was deployed when firstly Dunne and Bennett came together at Brooklands, forcing the former out of the race, and then Souta Arao and David Morales collided at Stowe, with both also forced out.
The safety car pitted with three laps remaining, allowing time for Rees to build a five second lead by the flag, but not enough to give him the win, and provisionally handing victory to Bennett, who list his first win yesterday.
The final GB3 race of the weekend, the reverse grid encounter, is due to commence at 15.40, with live streaming available on the official GB3 website.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Silverstone race two provisional result:
1. John Bennett, Rodin Carlin, 9 laps
2. Joseph Loake, JHR Developments, +0.595s
3. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, +3.135s
4. Callum Voisin, Rodin Carlin, +3.776s
5. Jarrod Waberski, Fortec Motorsport, +4.746s
6. Costa Toparis, Rodin Carlin, +5.315s
7. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, +5.884s
8. Max Esterson, Fortec Motorsport, +7.411s
9. Nico Christodoulou, Arden VRD, +8.950s
10. Tymek Kucharczyk, Douglas Motorsport, +9.096s
11. Arthur Rogeon, Chris Dittmann Racing, +9.263s
12. Michael Shin, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +12.121s
13. Noah Ping, Arden VRD, +12.446s
14. Daniel Mavlyutov, Hillspeed, +12.888s
15. Gerrard Xie, Hillspeed, +13.247s
16. Shawn Rashid, Douglas Motorsport, +15.590s
17. Ayato Iwasaki, Elite Motorsport, +16.528s
18. Lucas Staico, Douglas Motorsport, +18.088s
19. Oliver Stewart, Elite Motorsport, +20.441s
20. James Hedley, Arden VRD, +21.025s
Full result to follow