VRD Racing's Nikita Bedrin claimed his sixth win of the season, and his second of the weekend, with a crushing performance in race two at the Red Bull Ring this morning, before teammate Patricio Gonzalez triumphed in a dramatic event finale.
Bedrin's almost faultless weekend ended with a charge to second from 12th on the grid in race three, meaning he scored a total of 97 points across the event in Austria, the highest weekend points tally for any driver in the GB3 era.
Race Two
In a display of pace and precision, Bedrin stormed to his second win of the weekend, extending his championship lead to 90 points in the process.
Bedrin made a strong start from pole and led from there, gradually building a lead of over three seconds at the end of the 25-minute contest, with Xcel's Lucas Fluxa claiming his second podium of the weekend and fourth in a row, including the final two Hungaroring contests.
Maxim Rehm (Rodin) was classified third after a track limits penalty demoted Fluxa's teammate Rowan Campbell-Pilling, with Martin Molnar fourth. Rehm had made a crucial pass on his teammate stick late on for what eventually became a podium position.
Patricio Gonzalez and Rodin's Abbi Pulling were locked in battle throughout, with the Mexican finishing eight tenths of a second ahead at the chequered flag.
Race Three
With brothers Rodrigo and Patricio Gonzalez lining up at the front of the top-12 reverse grid, it was Patricio from second who made the better start to take the lead at turn one.
Racing was almost immediately nullified behind the safety car as a turn three collision eliminated a fast-starting Abbi Pulling (Rodin), her teammate Maxim Rehm, plus Xcel's Rowan Campbell-Pilling, while Fluxa sustained damage and was forced to pit for repairs.
After the restart, the brothers were separated by little over half a second before another safety car appearance, when Lewis Gilbert spun into the gravel at turn four. Racing resumed again with three minutes left, and while Patricio made a good restart to hold the lead, Rodrigo came under attack from Elite's Kyuho Lee in third. The South Korean went for a move around the outside, but contact was made, and Lee dropped out of the race, with Gonzalez dropping towards the tail of the pack.
All that meant Patricio was unchallenged to claim his first GB3 win, while Bedrin capitalised to complete a sensational drive from 12th on the grid to second. Arden's Leon Wilson was another new face on the podium, as he avoided the trouble to rise from fifth to third.
Rodin's Molnar went from 11th to fourth, while Elite's Flynn Jackes blasted from 15th to fifth, ahead of Hillspeed's Dante Vinci. Fluxa, who remains Bedrin's closest challenger in the standings, recovered back up to seventh.
Bedrin's lead at the top now stands at a colossal 106 points, more than a full weekend's allocation, with the series now at the halfway mark and heading to Silverstone at the start of August.
Nikita Bedrin: “Everything went to plan, we got a really good start [to race two], and then we just controlled it from the front. I'm happy with how I managed the race.
"It was a crazy start to race three, I made a really good decision at the second turn and avoided the mess. It was just about surviving the race with very old tyres, we kept it in one piece and took our opportunities when we had them and ended up P1 and P2 for the team.
"It's been a speechless weekend! The amount of points we've scored, we couldn't really ask for more. I'm really grateful to the team for the job they've done and I think we just need to keep up the momentum.”
Patricio Gonzalez: "It feels amazing, especially when I was fighting with my brother for the whole race, it felt really good. I would have loved for him to be on the podium with me, to have taken our first podiums together would have been nice. I really want to thank my family and the whole team for making this possible."
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Red Bull Ring Race Two top-six result:
1. Nikita Bedrin, VRD Racing, 18 laps
2. Lucas Fluxa, Xcel Motorsport, +3.458s
3. Maxim Rehm, Rodin Motorsport, +7.927s
4. Martin Molnar, Rodin Motorsport, +8.477s
5. Patricio Gonzalez, VRD Racing, +14.930s
6. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +15.734s
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Red Bull Ring Race Three top-six result:
1. Patricio Gonzalez, VRD Racing, 12 laps
2. Nikita Bedrin, VRD Racing, +0.841s
3. Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport, +1.324s
4. Martin Molnar, Rodin Motorsport, +1.975s
5. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +2.817s
6. Dante Vinci, Hillspeed, +3.013s
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, drivers' championship standings after round 12 of 24:
1. Nikita Bedrin, VRD Racing, 319pts
2. Lucas Fluxa, Xcel Motorsport, 213pts
3. Martin Molnar, Rodin Motorsport, 206pts
4. Maxim Rehm, Rodin Motorsport, 193pts
5. Patricio Gonzalez, VRD Racing, 146pts
6. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, 124pts
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, teams' championship standings after round 12 of 24:
1. VRD Racing, 490pts
2. Rodin Motorsport, 443pts
3. Xcel Motorsport, 344pts
4. Hitech, 314pts
5. Elite Motorsport, 259pts
6. Hillspeed, 171pts
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For more championship information, visit www.gb-3.net.