Rodin Motorsport’s champion Alex Ninovic began his celebratory weekend in style at Autodromo Nazionale Monza with a lights to flag victory in the opening race of the weekend, despite constant pressure from fellow Australian Patrick Heuzenroeder.
Having been crowned champion two weeks ago at Donington Park, pressure-free Ninovic continued his season-long form by claiming both poles in qualifying, his ninth and tenth of the campaign, which he converted into victory in the opening race this afternoon.
Meanwhile, Heuzenroeder strengthened his aspirations of finishing runner-up in the standings by claiming second, and a late move for Ninovic’s teammate Gianmarco Pradel secured third place, keeping his own aspirations of taking second in the championship alive.
The podiums for Ninovic and Pradel ensured their Rodin Motorsport team can no longer be caught in the Teams’ Championship standings, winning the title for the second year in succession.
Qualifying
Ninovic claimed race one pole by just 0.004s after improving late on following a red flag. Heuzenroeder looked to be on course for pole before the stoppage, caused by a couple of incidents with five minutes to go, but Ninovic found more time in the final moments after the restart to register a 1m43.930s, with Heuzenroeder having to settle for second.
Hitech TGR’s Deagen Fairclough was third quickest, three tenths of a second away from the top two, with Pradel fourth ahead of impressive Hillspeed newcomer Maxim Rehm and Xcel’s Jack Sherwood, who secured his best qualifying result of the season.
Ninovic’s advantage in the second qualifying session for the race two grid was greater, setting a 1m43.406s to put himself 0.235s quicker than JHR’s Noah Lisle, who was only 17th in Q1, but equalled his best qualifying of the season in the second session.
Heuzenroeder was third this time around, 0.002s away from Lisle and 0.05s ahead of Fairclough. Hillspeed’s other newcomer, Newman Chi, was fifth this time, ahead of Argenti with Prema’s Reza Seewooruthun.
Race one
Ninovic led the pack away at the start of race one, but the contest was red-flagged after separate incidents at the first chicane and at the Curva Grande. Upon the restart, with the distance reduced to 10 laps or 20 minutes, Ninovic again led the pack away, while Heuzenroeder and Fairclough set about entering his slipstream.
Ninovic was unable to shake off Heuzenroeder for the majority of the contest, the Xcel car was constantly within half a second of the race leader, who was punching a hole in the air for his DRS-equipped rivals to benefit from.
Despite that, Ninovic was able to break clear in the final two laps to win by 1.6 seconds, while behind, Pradel made a move for third on Fairclough around the entry of the Ascari chicane on the penultimate lap.
Fairclough had to settle for fourth behind the all-Australian top-three, while Hillspeed duo Chi and Rehm continued their excellent GB3 debuts with fifth and sixth positions in their first races.
Race one winner Ninovic said: "It was definitely a tough race. To lead at Monza is very tricky with no DRS, and trying to keep everyone behind you in the train is definitely hard. But I managed quite well and I didn't stress too much, I tried to make as little mistakes as I could and maximise when I saw Pat had made a mistake or something. In the last couple of laps, I knew I could put my foot down a bit more and pull a gap, and it was good to know we had a bit more left in it. I can't be happy enough to get another win."
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Q1 result:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 1m43.930s
2. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +0.004s
3. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +0.325s
4. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +0.440s
5. Maxim Rehm, Hillspeed, +0.478s
6. Jack Sherwood, Xcel Motorsport, +0.498s
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Q2 result:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 1m43.406s
2. Noah Lisle, JHR Developments, +0.235s
3. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +0.237s
4. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +0.289s
5. Newman Chi, Hillspeed, +0.363s
6. Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema, +0.412
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, race one result:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 10 laps
2. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +1.613s
3. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +3.240s
4. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +3.734s
5. Newman Chi, Hillspeed, +4.394s
6. Maxim Rehm, Hillspeed, +5.036s
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, provisional driver standings after race 22 of 24:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 481pts
2. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, 362pts
3. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, 324pts
4. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, 314pts
5. Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema, 303pts
6. Noah Lisle, JHR Developments, 278pts
Click here for full standings
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, provisional team standings after race 22 of 24:
1. Rodin Motorsport, 831pts
2. Hitech TGR, 670pts
3. Xcel Motorsport, 567pts
4. Hillspeed, 541pts
5. Argenti with Prema, 519pts
6. JHR Developments, 505pts
Click here for full standings
For more championship information, visit www.gb-3.net.