Reigning British F4 champion Louis Sharp was in fine form on the second day of testing at Donington Park, as he topped three of the four GB3 test sessions.
His quickest time came in the first session of the day when conditions were at their best, with his 1m22.436s being the best of the entire two-day test, and only a tenth of a second away from the series lap record. The New Zealander also set the pace in sessions two and four, with two 1m22.6s efforts.
In all, Sharp was nearly two tenths of a second quicker than the rest of the field, which was headed by fellow Rodin runner Freddie Slater, who has sampled GB3 machinery during the test.
VRD Racing by Arden’s Nikita Johnson, who will join the GB3 grid at Spa, once he turns 16, marked himself as one to watch also, by setting the third quickest time on Thursday, 0.011s further back from the Rodin duo.
JHR Developments’ John Bennett was next up in fourth, ahead of the lead Hitech Pulse-Eight car of Will Macintyre. The three Hitechs were covered by 0.009s, with Gerrard Xie 0.005s away from Macintyre and four thousandths ahead of Tymek Kucharczyk.
The second VRD Racing by Arden machine of Noah Ping was eighth, and within four tenths of a second of the outright pace, with Elite’s Jarrod Waberski ninth, and the last of the top-10 runners to set their best laps in session three.
Fortec’s Edward Pearson completed the top-10, with his session one time.
As an indication of how close this year’s championship could be, the top-10 at the end of the second day of testing were covered by less than half a second, and the lead 17 runners by less than nine tenths.
Testing resumes at Silverstone next week, with two further days on the 19th and 20th March.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park testing day two result:
1. Louis Sharp, Rodin Motorsport, 1m22.436s (session one)
2. Freddie Sharp, Rodin Motorsport, +0.183s (session three)*
3. Nikita Johnson, VRD Racing by Arden, +0.194s (session three)
4. John Bennett, JHR Developments, +0.231s (session three)
5. Will Macintyre, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.324s (session three)
6. Gerrard Xie, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.329s (session three)
7. Tymek Kucharczyk, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.333s (session three)
8. Noah Ping, VRD Racing by Arden, +0.368s (session three)
9. Jarrod Waberski, Elite Motorsport, +0.411s (session three)
10. Edward Pearson, Fortec Motorsport, +0.462s (session one)
11. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, +0.485s (session two)
12. Patrick Heuzenroeder, JHR Developments, +0.566s (session three)
13. Shawn Rashid, VRD Racing by Arden, +0.658s (session three)
14. Hugo Schwarze, Elite Motorsport, +0.793s (session four)
15. Arthur Rogeon, Rodin Motorsport, +0.798s (session four)
16. Josh Irfan, JHR Developments, +0.835s (session three)
17. Colin Queen, Fortec Motorsport, +0.836s (session three)
18. Aditya Kulkarni, Hillspeed, +1.286s (session four)
19. Flynn Jackes, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.306s (session two)
20. Seb Murray, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.662s (session two)