Deagen Fairclough’s GB3 Championship resurgence continued with another double triumph at Donington Park last weekend, while an error denied Nikita Bedrin a potential early chance to seal the title.
There was little to separate the pair in qualifying, with Velocity Racing Development’s Bedrin edging Hitech GP’s Fairclough by 0.056 seconds to start from his sixth pole of the year in race one, and Fairclough then pipping his rival to race-two pole by 0.069s.
Fairclough made the better launch in the opener to snatch the lead on the outside into Redgate, while Rodin Motorsport’s Abbi Pulling also drew alongside Bedrin before backing out. Pulling then prevailed in a battle for third through the Cramer Curves with team-mate Maxim Rehm, who subsequently lost a place to fellow Rodin driver Martin Molnar. Rehm soon reclaimed fourth from the Hungarian, but his race would later be undone by front-wing damage after tagging Pulling and spinning at the Melbourne Hairpin.
The front two, meanwhile, pulled clear with Fairclough holding an early one-second advantage over Bedrin. However, having halved the deficit, Bedrin’s challenge ramped up with 10 minutes of the race remaining. He moved to the outside of Fairclough through Goddards and Redgate, and repeated the same moves again a couple of laps later, but each time Fairclough came out on top.
Having resisted another attack from his pursuer on the penultimate tour, Fairclough held on by 0.317s at the chequered flag to clinch his fourth win of the season. Pulling finished 6s in arrears for her third GB3 podium, leading home Molnar, with Lucas Fluxa and Rowan Campbell-Pilling completing the top six.
Fairclough converted pole into a clear lead at the start of race two, while Bedrin’s hopes of engaging in another lead battle were ended by a first-lap crash at the Fogarty Esses. The incident brought out the safety car, and it was required again shortly after green-flag racing had resumed when Jack Taylor and Ricardo Baptista tangled at Holly Wood before sliding into the barriers.
Campbell-Pilling romped clear for his maiden win in the finale
Photo by: JEP
Fairclough managed both restarts perfectly before eventually finishing 2s clear of Arden’s Leon Wilson. “This second half [of the season] has been really good so far,” said Fairclough after taking his fourth win from the past five races. “There was a test day we had at Snetterton recently where we made a big step forward.”
Molnar and Fluxa finished close behind Wilson in third and fourth, while Patricio Gonzalez pipped Rehm to fifth.
Elite Motorsport duo Kyuho Lee and Flynn Jackes occupied the front row for the reversed-grid race three, but it was Campbell-Pilling who grabbed the lead after making a great start from third. The Xcel Motorsport driver went on to take his first win, while Pulling finished third again behind Peter Bouzinelos (Hillspeed), despite briefing taking the lead away from Campbell-Pilling early on. Fairclough made up seven places to take fifth behind Fluxa, while Bedrin failed to score again by coming home a lowly 16th.
The Ginetta Junior Championship was wrapped up in the East Midlands, however, as R Racing’s Lewis Goff sealed the crown with three races to spare.
Melvin Kalousdian converted pole into a lead he would not relinquish in race one, though the Red Bull Junior was forced to fend off his R Racing team-mate Riley Cranham in a feisty late battle before taking his fourth win in a row. Goff had to settle for fifth behind Elite Motorsport duo Harrison Mackie and Devon Hagelen, the latter having wiped out Harry Bartle early on.
Mackie prevailed in an early squabble with Cranham to lead a slightly damp race two, while Jacob Ashcroft spun out of third and brought out the safety car. Bartle surged from sixth to engage in a thrilling three-wide battle for first at the restart, with Cranham edging clear to take his second victory of the season ahead of Bartle when the contest ended early. Mackie, meanwhile, slipped to fifth behind Goff and Kalousdian.
R Racing driver Goff has been the stand-out star for much of the Ginetta Junior campaign
Photo by: JEP
Cranham fended off Goff to finish first on the road in the finale despite his view being limited by a damaged bonnet, only to be demoted to fourth by a track-limits penalty. Goff inherited victory to clinch the title in style, while Mackie and Sebastien Leusch (R Racing) completed the podium.
Fred Green resisted a first-corner challenge from Alex O’Grady before leading home his chief championship rival to win GB4’s opener, while Yani Stevenheydens – standing in for the injured Emilio Valentino Del Grosso – took a surprise third on his debut ahead of Enzo Hallman and Dayton Coulthard. Stevenheydens’ impressive weekend continued, as he converted pole into victory in race two ahead of team-mate Green in an Elite 1-2, while Hallman took third and O’Grady finished sixth behind Torrin Byrne and Thomas Ingram Hill.
Pace Performance’s Josh McLean took his fourth reversed-grid win of the campaign in the finale ahead of Conor Grant and John O’Donnell, as O’Grady finished one place behind Green in 10th to take a 49-point lead to the Brands Hatch decider later this month.
William Antrobus held on to his points advantage during three frenetic Ginetta GT Championship encounters. The Elite driver was squeezed onto the grass by Harry Gamble at the start of race one before reclaiming the lead at Old Hairpin, where the latter ran wide and banged wheels with Jamie Caudle, causing debutant Martin Addison to crash out in avoidance. Antrobus took a comfortable triumph following the resultant safety car period.
Gamble locked horns with Antrobus again in race two, but the duo eventually retired in a dramatic clash at Redgate, allowing fellow championship contender Cameron Pratt-Thompson to take a crucial win. Gamble then climbed from sixth to win race three in dominant fashion ahead of Louis Darling, while Pratt-Thompson held off chief rival Antrobus for third.
Adam Shepherd (Audi) and Maximus Hall (Honda) took a win each in TCR UK, while Honda driver Max Hart remained at the head of the standings despite failing to make the podium in either contest.
Hall and Shepherd (r) were at the head of small TCR UK flock
Photo by: JEP
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– The Autosport.com Team
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