Patrick Heuzenroeder claimed a first GB3 Championship victory both for himself and the Xcel Motorsport team in the first race of the weekend at Zandvoort. The Australian rebuffed a challenge off the line from Hitech TGR's Deagen Fairclough, and then put himself out of DRS reach across the opening couple of laps.
Stretching a small initial lead of over a second, Fairclough was able to get within a second during the middle part of the race, but after that his challenge fell away, and Heuzenroeder was able to build a big lead, stretching it as far as six seconds by the end of the 15th lap of racing.
While Heuzenroeder disappeared into the distance, Fairclough had to fend off the battling Rodin duo of Gianmarco Pradel and Alex Ninovic, who closed up rapidly. Pradel was within DRS range for the final lap, but Fairclough somehow held on to claim second place, a quarter of a second clear of Pradel, with Ninovic settling for fourth.
Argenti with Prema duo Reza Seewooruthun and Yuanpu Cui claimed fifth and sixth places in the train that formed behind Fairclough, with JHR's Noah Lisle, Hitech TGR's Keanu Al Azhari, Kai Daryanani (JHR) and Elite's Will Macintyre all closing in too, with Macintyre completing the top-10.
Behind, the biggest mover of the race was Heuzenroeder's teammate Jack Sherwood. The Brit had crashed in the first part of qualifying and had his times erased as a result. He fought up from 19th to 12th at the chequered flag, behind VRD's Hugo Schwarze.
The second race of the weekend at Zandvoort is due to commence at 11.10 local time (10.10 UK), with Ninovic on pole.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Zandvoort race one provisional result:
1. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, 15 laps
2. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +6.573s
3. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +6.836s
4. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, +7.315s
5. Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema, +7.676s
6. Yuanpu Cui, Argenti with Prema, +8.282s
7. Noah Lisle, JHR Developments, +9.045s
8. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, +9.729s
9. Kai Daryanani, JHR Developments, +10.608s
10. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, +11.449s
11. Hugo Schwarze, VRD Racing, +15.661s
12. Jack Sherwood, Xcel Motorsport, +16.096s
13. Lucas Fluxa, Argenti with Prema, +21.375s
14. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +26.993s
15. Stefan Bostandjiev, Fortec Motorsports, +29.049s
16. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +29.343s
17. Bianca Bustamante, Elite Motorsport, +33.607s
18. Divy Nandan, JHR Developments, +37.005s
19. Nikita Johnson, Hitech TGR, +1m28.010s