Peter Bouzinelos was “grateful” to see the chequered flag in races two and three at the Red Bull Ring, bringing a recent run of misfortune to an end.
Having secured a season-best finish of eighth in the first race at Budapest, the Hillspeed driver suffered two luckless retirements in the other two races. In race two, he was hit in the rear at the first corner on the opening lap, before spinning out of the race at the same corner in race three.
Arriving in Spielberg for the fourth round of the season, it initially appeared that his bad luck was set to continue. Bouzinelos’ qualifying “didn’t turn out as planned”, setting times good enough for only 15th and 13th respectively, before suffering a third successive non-finish.
“I got unlucky in race one and got hit off by the driver behind me,” said Bouzinelos, following a collision at turn three.
However, the Australian came back in the following races to deliver two point-scoring finishes on the Sunday, ending his weekend on a high with ninth in the reverse grid race.
“These past couple of weeks with Budapest, I’ve been throwing a bunch of money at my car for parts and stuff [due to collisions],” he said. “For race three, I knew I had to finish and make sure the car was in one piece. We finished in the points, and the car is in one piece, so I am grateful for that.”
Now at the halfway point of the 2026 season, Bouzinelos reflects on what has been a tough start to his maiden campaign in the GB3 Championship.
“It’s been a learning curve,” he said. “It’s rough at the moment and hopefully the luck comes to my side towards the end of the year. But I’ve definitely been learning.”
The 2026 season marks the first full season in racing for the Australian since he was sidelined for a year following a serious road traffic accident in his home nation, in which his bicycle was struck by a car. Bouzinelos had been set to race in GB3 last season, but withdrew as a result.
“Stepping into a car this powerful and with this much downforce was definitely a shock to me,” he admitted. “It took some time to get used to the car. After a year off, I’m still getting back into the groove off things and back into racing.”
Bouzinelos now heads to Silverstone looking to continue improving and begin to move up the drivers’ standings.
“I think Silverstone is going to give me a good shot,” he said. “I’ve done plenty of testing there, I’m sure everyone else has too, so it levels out quite a bit. I can’t wait to go to Silverstone and smash it!”