Velocity Racing Development’s Nikita Bedrin laid down an early marker by winning twice from pole at the GB3 Championship’s Silverstone curtain-raiser last weekend.
The former FIA Formula 3 driver displayed some scintillating speed across the meeting, which left his rivals scratching their heads. Having topped pre-event testing, Bedrin continued his form into qualifying, where he claimed pole for race one by 0.035 seconds, and by a more comfortable 0.232s for race two.
But lacking practice starts, he was slow off the line in the opener and slipped to fourth, while Martin Molnar edged ahead of his Rodin Motorsport team-mate Maxim Rehm into Maggotts to grab an early lead.
Bedrin ended up off the road at Chapel as he tried to reclaim third from Deagen Fairclough, but he made amends one corner later by sweeping around the outside while the Hitech driver was battling Rehm ahead. Molnar capitalised on the trio’s squabble to pull out a three-second lead by the end of the first lap, but soon started to struggle for pace.
After dispatching Rehm on the third tour, Bedrin eradicated a 2s deficit to Molnar in little more than one lap, and then produced a perfectly-executed move to take the lead into Club. Molnar had no response as Bedrin disappeared up the road and, following a late safety car period, the latter pulled away again in a two-lap dash to the chequered flag to claim victory by 2.6s.
“We have been working with the clutch and struggling to fix the problems that we have, but overall I’m happy with how things worked out,” Bedrin revealed.
Rehm completed the podium, while Fairclough passed Rowan Campbell-Pilling for fourth, having initially slipped behind the Xcel Motorsport driver during the early exchanges. Bedrin’s team-mate Patricio Gonzalez completed the top six, but Rodin’s Abbi Pulling dropped out with a mechanical issue.
It was another frustrating GB3 weekend for Fairclough
Photo by: JEP
Problems also prevented Molnar from starting the second contest, while Fairclough made the better launch from the inside of the front row to lead into the first corner. Bedrin swiftly reclaimed the place into Maggotts, and then fought off two challenges from his pursuer during the opening lap before edging over 1s clear following a brief safety car period.
Fairclough set the fastest lap to move back into contention, but he was cruelly denied when his car slowed to a halt on the Hangar Straight, bringing out the safety car once more. There was enough time for one more green-flag lap, and Bedrin resisted a challenge from Rehm at the restart before leading the German home by 0.8s.
A frenetic final-lap scrap for third ended in tears when Gonzalez was launched over the top of Pulling’s car – the halo doing its job in saving the latter from potential injury. Having begun the final lap in sixth, Lucas Fluxa therefore claimed a dramatic podium finish ahead of Jin Nakamura, Campbell-Pilling and Kyuho Lee. However, Fluxa was later demoted one place having been deemed to have crowded out another car.
Elite’s Flynn Jackes led for all-but two corners in the reversed-grid race but, armed with DRS down the Wellington Straight for the final time, his team-mate Lee and Nakamura moved either side of him, and it was the latter that claimed a spectacular maiden win.
Bedrin recovered from 12th to fifth behind Fluxa, but was subsequently handed a penalty that dropped him to 11th. Fairclough, meanwhile, was forced into retirement with issues once more. “Hopefully that’s all our bad luck out of the way, we just have to keep our heads up,” he said.
Goff has now taken five Ginetta Junior wins, but had to work hard for his Silverstone triumphs
Photo by: JEP
Elsewhere, Lewis Goff increased his win tally to five in Ginetta Junior despite fierce battles with Harry Bartle in all three races.
The R Racing driver qualified fifth for the opener, but he quickly gained two places at the start to run third behind Bartle and Daniel Oliver. After climbing to second on lap two, Goff dispatched Bartle for the lead at Stowe next time around. The pair then broke away until their late dice brought Oliver back into contention.
Bartle moved ahead into Brooklands and put up a firm defence on the final lap. Goff’s bid to reclaim the advantage ended with him being shuffled to third by Oliver at Abbey, but he then pulled off a sensational double overtake at the Loop to clinch his fourth successive victory. Pace Performance driver Bartle slipped to third but reclaimed a spot due to Oliver being penalised 5s for track-limits abuses.
Bartle and Goff traded early blows at the front in another thrilling sequel. Helped by a bump-draft from Jacob Ashcroft, Bartle moved ahead on the Hangar Straight while Goff was shuffled down to fifth.
Goff prevailed in a five-car battle for second before locking horns with Bartle once more, but a clash between the pair exiting Club allowed Ashcroft and Max Murray to sweep by. The two main protagonists were soon back into first and second, and Goff’s unbeaten run was ended when Bartle produced an audacious overtake into Brooklands on the final tour to snatch victory.
Bartle and Goff’s continued battle in race three was diffused when the latter was bump-drafted by his team-mates Jesse Phillips and Melvin Kalousdian. That left Bartle in fourth, but he fought back to second while Goff took another win.
Green’s orange machine was twice at the head of packed GB4 field
Photo by: JEP
One of the stars of Ginetta Junior last year, Fred Green, won his first two single-seater races with lights-to-flag successes from pole at the GB4 opener. The Elite driver led home team-mate and fellow Ginetta graduate Emilio Valentino Del Grosso and KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady in race one, and then Enzo Hallman and Jason Smyth in a heavily-truncated sequel.
Dayton Coulthard inherited victory in a restarted reversed-grid finale after on-the-road winner Romuald Bocquet was penalised for a jump-start, while Green was only 17th following contact with Thomas Ingram Hill.
The Ginetta GT Championship, which shared the grid with the GT Academy series for the first time, produced the most extraordinary finish of the weekend. Felix Livesey – another Ginetta Junior alumni – slowed from the lead in the opener as he approached the final lap.
Cameron Pratt-Thompson took first on the road but had a track-limits penalty, and William Antrobus was denied victory by issues within yards from the finish, handing Harry Gamble an unlikely win. Antrobus claimed a redemptive triumph in race two ahead of Livesey and Gamble.
Gamble was a surprise winner of first Ginetta GT contest
Photo by: JEP
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– The Autosport.com Team
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