Hitech’s latest GB3 race winner, Jacob Micallef, dedicated his Silverstone reversed-grid race victory to his home nation of Malta.
The 16-year-old took victory from VRD Racing’s Rodrigo Gonzalez after a stunning last-lap overtake at Brooklands, taking the chequered flag 0.176 seconds ahead of the Mexican.
“It means so much to represent Malta and I’m super happy I can do that,” he said. “I hope to see other Maltese drivers doing the same in the future.”
Micallef was left stunned when he claimed the first win of his single-seater career.
“I’m literally speechless,” he said. “I sent it fully, was committed and made it stick, it was a very good overtake. I was raising my hand and literally crying on the in-lap.”
Micallef had battled with Gonzalez throughout the 3.660-mile final lap of the Silverstone circuit, with the former filling his opponents’ mirrors on multiple occasions before making a bold move around the outside of the penultimate corner of the race.
It is not the first time that a Hitech driver has stolen victory at the corner this season, with Jin Nakamura – whose seat Micallef now occupies – doing so in the reversed-grid race at the season opener.
“When I was in the same position, I remembered watching [Jin’s overtake] on YouTube,” laughed Micallef. “I need to send him a bit of a thank you for the idea.”
Victory for the Maltese driver came in just his third weekend in the championship, having made his debut in Budapest in July.
“[After] the first lap at the Hungaroring, I just fell in love with the car,” he said. “The hard work is paying off slowly but now we have to keep working hard so we can keep getting these results.
“I’m looking forward to keep on learning about the car and keep developing and improving as a driver.”