Hitech TGR’s Deagen Fairclough and Hillspeed debutant Maxim Rehm clinched victories on Sunday at Monza, while a fightback drive in race three was enough to secure the championship runner-up spot for Xcel’s Patrick Heuzenroeder.
Fairclough finally claimed a first GB3 win in a thrilling race two this morning, resisting constant pressure from champion Alex Ninovic as the leaders battled throughout the contest. Rehm then converted pole into victory in the reverse grid season finale, holding off a charging Fairclough who was eyeing second in the standings.
Race two
After a tricky campaign, a breakthrough victory was apparently never going to be straightforward for Fairclough, and he had to survive all sorts of drama to finally clinch a win in the day’s opener. The first half of the race was punctuated by multiple safety car appearances, but Fairclough fought his way from fourth on the grid to feature at the front throughout.
In between the safety car appearances, there was sensational racing between the lead contenders, which featured Ninovic and JHR’s Noah Lisle as well as Fairclough, and the tense action continued as the second Rodin of Gianmarco Pradel joined the scrap.
Fairclough finally stamped his authority on the contest to move from third to first in the space of three corners, and then hung on as Ninovic tried every which way to force a move past. Victory was secured by just 0.278s, with champion Ninovic settling for second and Pradel third.
Behind, Keanu Al Azhari stunned as he went from 20th on the grid to fourth ahead of a combative Abbi Pulling (Rodin), with JHR’s Kai Daryanani completing the top-six. With Heuzenroeder failing to score, and Fairclough sealing victory combined with Pradel’s podium, the fight for the runner-up spot was wide open heading into the season finale.
Race three
Starting from reverse grid pole, it was a hard-fought victory for Rehm who only briefly conceded the lead to race two winner Deagen Fairclough, who climbed from ninth to third after a daring first lap. With the battle for the runner-up spot playing out behind him, Rehm kept his cool despite constant pressure behind from both Fairclough and Rodin's Gianmarco Pradel, who swapped second place several times early on.
Rehm ultimately hung on to win by six tenths of a second from Fairclough, but aside from the lead battle, eyes were on the progress of runner-up chasers Fairclough, Heuzenroeder and Pradel. Heuzenroeder entered the event with a margin of 13-points to Fairclough, with Pradel just a point further behind.
Fairclough looked poised to take the position in the standings while leading early on, but after a challenging opening few laps, a fightback to fifth on the road, but sixth after a penalty, was all Heuzenroeder needed to claim the runner-up spot. Third place in the race for Pradel wasn’t enough to propel him into the championship top-three, while teammate Abbi Pulling was fourth after one of her strongest race days of the year.
Seewooruthun ended his campaign with fifth in the final encounter, ahead of the penalised Heuzenroeder. Champion Ninovic meanwhile started 12th and dropped as far back as 18th after an early gravelly moment at the second Lesmo, but fought back to seventh. In the final standings, Ninovic ended the campaign with a points haul of 524, with Heuzenroeder and Fairclough finally cementing their positions inside the top-three.
Race two winner Fairclough said: “Finally! I've missed this feeling so much and the team deserves it. They've put up with me all year and to finally get a win at the end of the season is mega. All the lows have definitely come out now today.
“I wanted to win all season, and to finally do it before the last race has lifted a lot of weight off the shoulders. But I am just super pleased. It was a tough race, really good, hard racing as well between Alex and Noah and Pradel.”
“I've missed this feeling. I absolutely love it and the team deserve it massively.”
Race three winner Rehm said: “I feel good, I feel amazing! Starting off the weekend I didn’t think this would be possible. I didn’t really go into this weekend with any expectations but we were fast enough in the free practice sessions and we showed we were fast enough in the qualis.
“I think we’ve now just proven that we’re plenty fast enough to win around here. Especially without the slipstream and without the DRS into turn one, it was very difficult to stay in the lead. You’ve seen me and Deagen scrapping a little bit, and when he was in the slipstream with DRS it was almost impossible to defend really. I tried to break the slipstream in the race, it worked, and I’m happy with the result.”
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Race two result:
1. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, 12 laps
2. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, +0.278s
3. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +0.961s
4. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, +2.619s
5. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +3.124s
6. Kai Daryanani, JHR Developments, +3.958s
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Race three result:
1. Maxim Rehm, Hillspeed, 13 laps
2. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +0.636s
3. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +0.774s
4. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +1.171s
5. Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema, +2.278s
6. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, penalty
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, final driver standings:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 524pts
2. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, 376pts
3. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, 373pts
4. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, 364pts
5. Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema, 315pts
6. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, 310pts
Click here for full standings
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, team standings:
1. Rodin Motorsport, 914pts
2. Hitech TGR, 766pts
3. Xcel Motorsport, 618pts
4. Hillspeed, 557pts
5. JHR Developments, 536pts
6. Argenti with Prema, 529pts
Click here for full standings
For more championship information visit www.gb-3.net.