Browning bags GB3 title after battling display
An impressive performance at Donington Park last weekend ensured that Luke Browning became the first driver to obtain both the GB3 Championship and the British Formula 4 titles.
The Briton headed into the final meeting with a 16.5-point lead over title rival Joel Granfors, but both failed to feature at the top of the times in qualifying. Damp but improving conditions meant they remained on their used slick rubber, rather than pitting for fresh tyres, to avoid falling foul of any potential red flag. But this restricted the pair to only fifth and eighth for the opener.
There were no such problems for Carlin’s Callum Voisin, who took a double pole and converted the first of those into victory, having got the jump on fellow front-row starter Tom Lebbon. The Elite Motorsport driver threatened on the last lap through the final corners, but couldn’t find a way past as Voisin recorded his third win of the season.
Browning, meanwhile, disposed of team-mate Bryce Aron at the start, before getting the better of Elite’s John Bennett on a safety car restart around the outside at Redgate. A track-limits penalty demoted Lebbon to fourth – promoting Browning and Bennett – but crucially still placed him ahead of Granfors in fifth, which handed more points to Browning and meant the Hitech GP driver only needed to outscore his title rival by six in Sunday’s opener.
Browning started fifth again for race two, one spot behind the Fortec Motorsports driver, with both title protagonists and most of the field using wet tyres on a damp but quickly drying track.
Granfors gave himself the best chance of taking the title fight to the final race by surging into the lead, sweeping around
the outside of Lebbon into Redgate while Browning dropped to sixth. With the track quickly drying, Granfors soon found himself under pressure, though, Lebbon eventually moving into the lead around the outside of the Melbourne Hairpin on lap three of 13 as Granfors struggled with oversteer.
As Granfors dropped back, Browning was on the rise and had moved into third having benefited from a collision between Voisin and Bennett at the Melbourne Hairpin, which put the latter out. Voisin recovered back to third and demoted Granfors into the Fogarty Esses on lap five, with Browning making a late dive to the inside at Goddards to move ahead of his title rival.
Granfors began to drop further back and eventually finished 13th, while Browning passed Voisin with a neat switchback into Redgate on lap eight to take second behind Lebbon and secure the title. “It’s difficult when you work so hard for something, and it works out, for it all to sink in,” he said. “We’re a double British champion!”
Aron completed the podium having dropped down the order initially on slicks, with one more lap potentially putting him in with a shot of victory.
Hillspeed’s Nick Gilkes took his maiden GB3 win from the front in the full reversedgrid race from Cian Shields (Hitech) and Alex Connor (Arden). Browning and Granfors finished in seventh and fifth.
A three-way fight for the Ginetta GT5 Challenge title was provisionally decided in controversial circumstances. Mikey Doble won race one to take over the points lead from Harley Haughton, who retired with suspension damage. Will Jenkins was dropped from third to fifth having received a penalty for a collision. Haughton then recovered from a poor start to finish second behind Jenkins in race two, as Doble slipped to fourth after making an early mistake.
Jenkins took a further comfortable triumph in the final contest, as Doble prevailed over Haughton in a fierce fight for second to claim the title on the road. Haughton slipped back to fifth late on, but Jenkins was handed the championship in the officials’ room after Doble was demoted to fifth for overtaking Haughton under yellow flags on lap one. That decision is now being appealed to the National Court.
Harry Foster had a near-perfect weekend to seal the Porsche Sprint Challenge crown. He took victory ahead of nearest rivals and Team Parker Racing team-mates Charles Clark and Matt Armstrong in the opener.
Armstrong dropped to fourth into Redgate at the start of race two, and then crashed a lap later on his own fluid, having suffered a broken radiator in a collision with Toby Trice. Foster resisted fellow title contender Steve Roberts to finish first on the road again but a penalty for repassing Roberts under yellow flags, when the Redline driver briefly edged ahead earlier in the race, demoted him to second. It was still enough to wrap up the title before the finale, which he duly won ahead of Roberts.