Browning beats them all for GB3 brace
OULTON PARK MSVR 16 & 18 APRIL
Luke Browning asserted his dominance on the opening round of the GB3 Championship at Oulton Park, as he took two lights-to-flag victories.
The 2020 British F4 champion had no problem adapting to the new-for-2022 Tatuus MSV-022 machine, placing his Hitech Gp-run car on pole for the first two races. The closest his rivals came to challenging was off the line but, once Browning had the holeshot each time, he was never headed, cruising to victory by around 10 seconds in both races.
“For sure [the start was key] as it’s so difficult to overtake,” said the 20-year-old after winning at his local track. “It feels amazing [to win] and being at home is something special.”
Roberto Faria was his closest challenger on both occasions, but the Carlin driver’s focus was on those behind him as he withstood constant pressure from an impressive Matthew Rees in the opener. Despite the difficulty of following in the heavily aero-dependent cars, the 2021 British F4 champion kept under the Brazilian’s rear wing almost throughout but failed to find an opening.
“It was maybe not the best for the tyres, but for me it was psychological to show I was there, but credit to him he didn’t make a mistake,” said Rees.
Mckenzy Cresswell was another impressive debutant in the opener, as he took fourth for Chris Dittmann Racing ahead of fellow rookie John Bennett
(Elite Motorsport), who passed Joel Granfors on the last lap. The Fortec Motorsports driver was stuck in fifth gear for the final tour and eventually finished sixth, having lost the opportunity to start from the front row having been demoted five places for a collision with Branden Oxley in qualifying.
The Swede did keep his front-row start for the second race, but lost out to Faria off the line and came home third from Rees, Bennett and Tom Lebbon (Elite), who had also been on the receiving end of a qualifying grid penalty for race one.
Mikkel Grundtvig (Fortec) took another fully reversed-grid victory, having never been headed from the start as Douglas Motorsport’s Tommy Smith came home second. David Morales completed the podium for Arden having pulled off an audacious overtake on Nick Gilkes, looking to the outside at the high-speed Island Bend before taking to the inside at the Shell Oils hairpin. Gilkes, Oxley and
Zak Taylor (Fortec) completed the top six.
Browning made progress from his 19th on the grid, climbing to 16th before contact with Lebbon at the Hislops chicane put him out with broken right-front suspension on lap five of 14. However, he still left the Cheshire venue with the championship lead, with Faria – who finished 14th in race three – just seven points in arrears.
Alex Walker extended his points lead in the GB4 Championship after the Elite driver also took two lights-to-flag victories. Much like Browning, the Briton romped away in both races and was never challenged.
Main title rival Tom Mills finished last in Saturday’s opening race having stalled on the grid after burning his clutch out, but fought through from fifth to second in race two, pulling off a neat switchback on Max Marzorati exiting Lodge for the spot.
Nikolas Taylor – winner of the inaugural
GB4 race at Snetterton – endured two torrid starts from the front row, which derailed any hopes he had of pushing Walker for the lead, with the Fortec driver only able to salvage sixth and third.
Jarrod Waberski handed Kevin Mills Racing its maiden win in GB4 in the reversed-grid race, pulling alongside front-row starters Logan Hannah and Jessica Edgar on the run to Old Hall. With the inside line, the South African pulled clear from Edgar as Marzorati claimed third, which moved him to second in the standings and 32 points behind Walker.
Will Jenkins recovered from the disappointment of retiring from the opening Ginetta GT5 Challenge race with a cracked clutch plate to dominate race two – the Ginetta Junior graduate passing race one winner Nat Hodgkiss into Hislops.
Both were jumped by Connor Grady in race three, having swept into the lead around the outside at Old Hall from fourth on the grid. A shortened race due to a crash and track curfew guaranteed him victory.
Paul Brydon was utterly dominant in his BMW M3 in both Northern Saloon and Sportscar races, although his margin of victory in the second race was far less as Matt Cobb’s newly built Volkswagen Beetle kept him in sight.