Hillspeed's Freddie Slater marched to a convincing victory in the first race of GB3's new era at Silverstone with a supreme lights-to-flag victory in the first GB3 Championship race of the weekend.
The British driver, already a podium finisher in FIA F3 this year, made a strong start from pole, and built a lead of over 1.8 seconds at the end of the first lap of racing for the new Tatuus MSV GB3-025 cars, despite an early challenge from the fast starting Noah Lisle from third on the grid.
After getting away from any potential DRS attack, Slater regularly built his lead, and took the flag 6.982s clear of Lisle, with Rodin's Gianmarco Pradel taking third from the front row.
There was drama before the flag fell on lap one after Hitech’s Deagen Fairclough stalled at the start of the formation lap and had to start the race from the pitlane.
Heading into turn one, Slater defended strongly as Noah Lisle beat Pradel off the line to move up into second. Although Lisle initially challenged Slater heading into Maggotts and Becketts on lap one, the Hillspeed driver soon settled and demonstrated his impressive pace to pull clear of the chasing pack.
Pradel pressured Lisle throughout the race, but the JHR driver held on to finish second ahead of the lead Rodin car. Pradel’s Rodin teammates Alex Ninovic and Abbi Pulling finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Hitech’s Nikita Johnson crossed the line in sixth after benefiting from a time penalty for JHR Development’s Kai Daryanani.
Keanu Al Azhari was the big mover early on, making up five places on lap one after making strong moves through the infield complex and the Hitech driver finished seventh as a result. Will Macintyre finished as the lead Elite Motorsport car in eighth, while Daryanani was demoted to ninth after his penalty. Xcel Motorsport’s Dion Gowda rounded out the top-10.
Despite his pit lane start, Fairclough made his way up through the field with a series of well executed moves and made effective use of GB3's new DRS system by climbing from 24th to 17th.
The second race of the weekend at Silverstone is due to start at 10.02 on Sunday morning, with Slater again on pole.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Race One provisional result:
1. Freddie Slater, Hillspeed, 12 laps
2. Noah Lisle, JHR Developments, +6.982s
3. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +7.564s
4. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, +8.484s
5. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +9.744s
6. Nikita Johnson, Hitech TGR, +16.156s
7. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, +19.455s
8. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, +19.665s
9. Kai Daryanani, JHR Developments, +20.656s
10. Dion Gowda, Xcel Motorsport, +22.745s
11. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +23.251s
12. Hiyu Yamakoshi, Hillspeed, +23.605s
13. Kanato Le, Hillspeed, +24.163s
14. Lucas Fluxa, Argenti with Prema, +24.819s
15. Reza Seewooruthun, Xcel Motorsport, +26.111s
16. Hugo Schwarze, VRD Racing, +29.460s
17. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +30.123s
18. Jack Sherwood, Xcel Motorsport, +32.318s
19. Enzo Tarnvanichkul, VRD Racing, +35.835s
20. Yuanpu Cui, Argenti with Prema, +36.000s
21. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +41.727s
22. Mika Abrahams, Fortec Motorsports, +45.359s
23. Stefan Bostandjiev, Fortec Motorsports, +55.955s
24. Divy Nandan, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1m04.586s