VRD Racing’s Nikita Bedrin clinched the 2026 GB3 Championship in fine style, by fighting back to victory in the first race of the season finale weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The 20-year-old had secured pole for race one in qualifying but lost the lead at the start to a fast-starting Rowan Campbell-Pilling. Bedrin was determined to take the title in the best way possible, and he swooped around the outside of the British driver at two thirds distance to retake P1.
Bedrin had only needed to finish seventh in the race to put the title beyond doubt, but instead claimed his seventh win of the season to wrap up the championship.
Qualifying
Bedrin started his title-winning day by securing this year’s Jack Cavill Pole Position Cup courtesy of his seventh pole of the season in Q1 for the race one grid. He was pushed all the way by sensational debutant Lewis Wherrell, who put his JHR Developments car second and only 0.071s away from Bedrin.
Elite’s Kyuho Lee secured a season’s best qualifying result in third ahead of another JHR newcomer in the form of GB4 graduate Thomas Ingram Hill. Campbell-Pilling was fifth ahead of Hitech’s then title contender Deagen Fairclough.
Things closed up even more in Q2, in what must be one of the closest single-seater qualifying sessions for some time. Wherrell completed a dream debut qualifying by taking pole for race two, 0.030s ahead of yet another starring newcomer Fred Green. Elite’s GB4 runner-up was only 0.015s ahead of Rodin’s Abbi Pulling, with her teammate Martin Molnar and JHR’s Ingram Hill completing a top-five covered by 0.069s!
Champion-elect Bedrin was sixth this time, but only just over a tenth of a second away from pole. The top-10 in Q2 were separated by a tiny 0.228s, while the lead 21 drivers were within a second of the outright pace.
Race one
Bedrin’s job was almost complete by the time race one started, but he had spoken before the contest about wanting to win the title with a victory. That looked in jeopardy as Campbell-Pilling blasted from row three to the lead by the time the field reached turn one, with Bedrin slotting into second ahead of Campbell-Pilling’s Xcel teammate Lucas Fluxa, who also made a rapid start from seventh.
An early safety car period to cover a turn one incident which left Leon Wilson’s Arden car in the gravel closed the pack up, but Campbell-Pilling aced the restart on lap five to open up a lead of three quarters of a second.
But Bedrin wasn’t about to let him go, and edged closer on the run to turn one for a couple of laps before plunging around the outside on lap 10 to reclaim the lead. From there he built just enough of a gap to put Campbell-Pilling out of DRS striking range, and claimed victory and the title with a margin of 0.975s.
Campbell-Pilling settled for second ahead of Fluxa, who may have missed out on the title but has moved into second place in the standings with two races to go.
Elite’s Flynn Jackes climbed from eighth to fourth ahead of Wherrell, who dropped from second to fifth at the start, with Lee taking sixth ahead of Ingram Hill. Pulling, a penalised Fairclough and GB4 ace Green completed the top-10.
Two more races at 11.10 and 14.50 local time on Sunday will settle the remaining scores, with the team’s championship and the remaining spots in the top-five still to be finalised.
2026 GB3 champion Nikita Bedrin: “Honestly, it’s incredible. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time and we’ve finally done it. To do it by winning the race is the way we wanted to do it, so I couldn’t be any happier. The start of the race was a bit tricky and dropped to P2, but I had to get that P1 because otherwise it would have been a big disappointment! We’ve done the job, and we can finally have fun tomorrow!”
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, qualifying one top-six result:
1. Nikita Bedrin, VRD Racing, 1m33.389s
2. Lewis Wherrell, JHR Developments, +0.071s
3. Kyuho Lee, Elite Motorsport, +0.138s
4. Thomas Ingram Hill, JHR Developments, +0.174s
5. Rowan Campbell-Pilling, Xcel Motorsport, +0.277s
6. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech, +0.309s
Click here for full results
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, qualifying two top-six results:
1. Lewis Wherrell, JHR Developments, 1m33.033s
2. Fred Green, Elite Motorsport, +0.030s
3. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +0.045s
4. Martin Molnar, Rodin Motorsport, +0.048s
5. Thomas Ingram Hill, JHR Developments, +0.069s
6. Nikita Bedrin, VRD Racing, +0.105s
Click here for full results
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, race one top-six result:
1. Nikita Bedrin, VRD Racing, 15 laps
2. Rowan Campbell-Pilling, Xcel Motorsport, +0.975s
3. Lucas Fluxa, Xcel Motorsport, +1.427s
4. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +6.239s
5. Lewis Wherrell, JHR Developments, +7.375s
6. Kyuho Lee, Elite Motorsport, +8.030s
Click here for full results
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, drivers' championship standings after round 22 of 24:
1. Nikita Bedrin, VRD Racing, 480pts
2. Lucas Fluxa, Xcel Motorsport, 379pts
3. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech, 368pts
4. Martin Molnar, Rodin Motorsport, 360pts
5. Maxim Rehm, Rodin Motorsport, 327pts
6. Rowan Campbell-Pilling, Xcel Motorsport, 313pts
Click here for full standings
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, teams' championship standings after round 22 of 24:
1. VRD Racing, 785pts
2. Rodin Motorsport, 780pts
3. Xcel Motorsport, 718pts
4. Hitech, 705pts
5. Elite Motorsport, 483pts
6. Hillspeed, 345pts
Click here for full standings
For more championship information, visit www.gb-3.net.