GB3 Championship leader Alex Ninovic enjoyed perhaps his best day of the season so far, with a crushing display on Saturday on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. The Australian delivered one of the most dominant qualifying performances in the championship’s history this morning, and converted that into a supreme win in race one, his fifth of the year.
Qualifying
Ninovic was simply unbeatable in the double qualifying session, breaking the qualifying lap record in the process. He secured race one pole with what was then a new benchmark of 1m18.180s, putting him over half a second faster than Hillspeed’s Freddie Slater, with Hitech TGR’s Deagen Fairclough a tenth of a second further back in third.
Xcel’s championship challenger Patrick Heuzenroeder was fourth quickest, just 0.020s away from Fairclough and less than a tenth clear of Elite’s Will Macintyre with Hillspeed’s Hiyu Yamakoshi completing the top-six.
Having dominated the first session, Ninovic did it again in Q2 for the race two grid. This time, he obliterated the qualifying lap record with a 1m17.660s, putting him four tenths clear of Slater, with Fairclough third once more ahead of Heuzenroeder.
Pradel and Yamakoshi completed the top-six for the race two grid. Ninovic's sixth and seventh poles of the year means he now holds an unassailable lead in the Jack Cavill Pole Position Cup, and will secure the end of year £2000 prize.
Race one
Ninovic held the lead off the line, but was made to work for it as first Fairclough and then Slater set about taking the position at Druids on the first lap.
After building an early lead, Ninovic was slowly reeled in by Slater, with the Hillspeed contender getting to within DRS range. But that was as close as it would get, as Ninovic then powered into the distance, extending a lead of over four seconds before a late race safety car, caused when Jack Sherwood skated into the gravel at Stirling’s.
There was enough time for two racing laps upon the return to green flag conditions, but Ninovic aced the restart, built a lead of a second after the first racing lap and won with a margin of two seconds to Slater, with Fairclough third.
Heuzenroeder and Macintyre completed the top-five ahead of Yamakoshi. Ninovic now holds a 53-point lead at the top of the standings, with two further races to come tomorrow.
Race winner Ninovic said: "The whole race was really, really nice. I controlled the pace quite well and managed the car quite well as well.
"The start was okay, it made me a little bit vulnerable into one and two, but then from there I managed to pull a gap from Freddie. An unfortunate safety car at the end brought us all back together, but it still showed that we had the pace to pull away again. I can't be happier with the way the results came.
"He [Slater] was pushing quite hard for the first five or six laps, and then I noticed he dropped off a little, so I managed to pull a nice gap which would have been hard for him to catch. And then from there, I just managed it, and it was pretty good.
"It's been the best weekend it can be so far, so hopefully we continue that on to tomorrow."
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Q1 result:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 1m18.180s
2. Freddie Slater, Hillspeed, +0.523s
3. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +0.630s
4. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +0.650s
5. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, +0.732s
6. Hiyu Yamakoshi, Hillspeed, +0.740s
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Q2 result:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 1m17.660s
2. Freddie Slater, Hillspeed, +0.411s
3. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +0.760s
4. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +0.866s
5. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +1.057s
6. Hiyu Yamakoshi, Hillspeed, +1.071s
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, race one result:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 18 laps
2. Freddie Slater, Hillspeed, +2.030s
3. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +2.510s
4. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +2.910s
5. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, +3.997s
6. Hiyu Yamakoshi, Hillspeed, +4.971s
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, provisional driver standings after race 16 of 24:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 323pts
2. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, 270pts
3. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, 257pts
4. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, 230pts
5. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, 229pts
6. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, 227pts
Click here for full standings
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, provisional team standings after race 16 of 24:
1. Rodin Motorsport, 588pts
2. Hitech TGR, 521pts
3. Xcel Motorsport, 399pts
4. Argenti with Prema, 398pts
5. Hillspeed, 393pts
6. JHR Developments, 380pts
Click here for full standings
For more championship information, visit www.gb-3.net.