Fairclough keeps GB3 title hopes alive with dominant double at Brands Hatch

Bedrin retains a commanding lead but it's now six wins in nine races for Hitech driver Fairclough, while O'Grady secures GB4 glory

Deagen Fairclough scored another double victory to take the GB3 Championship battle to the wire during last weekend’s penultimate round of the season at Brands Hatch.

Having shown imperious form during the second half of the campaign, the Hitech driver produced his most emphatic display yet around his local circuit. Fairclough stormed to his fourth and fifth poles in qualifying, and converted the first of those into a hugely dominant victory in race one. He beat Maxim Rehm into Paddock Hill Bend at the start before quickly romping clear - his eventual 14-second winning margin the fourth largest in the championship’s history.

Points leader Nikita Bedrin (VRD) came home a further second adrift, while Kanato Le took fourth on his GB3 return with Hitech ahead of Rowan Campbell-Pilling. Martin Molnar’s remote championship hopes were dented further by finishing seventh behind Peter Bouzinelos.

Having been denied a front-row spot by a grid penalty in race one, Campbell-Pilling lined up alongside Fairclough for the sequel, and he recovered from a slow getaway by sweeping around the outside of Bedrin at the first corner to retain second while Fairclough led once more. Abbi Pulling prevailed in a three-way Rodin scrap for fourth, only to later retire with an issue, while her team-mates continued to squabble - Rehm pulling off a bold overtake around the outside of Molnar at Hawthorns.

A heavy crash for Hillspeed’s Aurelia Nobels caused an early safety car period, and Fairclough aced the restart before eventually finishing 7.4s clear of Campbell-Pillling to record his sixth win in eight races. Bedrin edged a charging Molnar to third by less than a second, the latter having passed Dante Vinci and Rehm before reeling in the VRD driver.

Bouzinelos and Hitech’s Yuhao Fu occupied the front row for the reversed-grid contest but both were slow away at the start. Patricio Gonzalez made light contact as he tried to squeeze between the middle of the pair, while Lucas Fluxa climbed from fourth to snatch the lead. The Xcel driver remained in championship contention by holding off Fu for his first win of the season, while Le passed Hillspeed duo Bouzinelos and Vinci to complete a double Hitech podium.

Fluxa kept his own faint chances alive by scoring maiden victory in race three

Photo by: JEP

Fairclough climbed from 12th to sixth and gained a further place at the chequered flag when Bouzinelos was penalised 15s for multiple track-limits violations, while a 10s penalty for a false start relegated Bedrin to 11th - but he still heads to November’s Barcelona decider 89 points clear of Fairclough.

“Our pace has been mega this weekend,” Fairclough reflected. “To win race one by that margin was special, and to get up to P5 in the reversed-grid race at a track where not much overtaking happens is quite pleasing.”

Meanwhile, GB4’s season drew to a close, with KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady taking the title after an impressively consistent campaign.

O’Grady had to settle for third in qualifying for the first two contests, while his chief rival Fred Green took a double pole, but he passed Thomas Ingram Hill as soon as the lights went out in the opener to run second. The front three held station for the remainder of the contest, with Elite Motorsport’s Green taking victory by 2s.

Green achieved another lights-to-flag win by a more comfortable 5s margin in race two, while O’Grady again beat Ingram Hill off the line and then cruised to second place to secure the title with a race to spare.

“All year we’ve not put a foot wrong,” he said. “I learned from last year that risking it and taking your front wing off isn’t the way, that’s been the mindset. It was nice to get some wins, but scoring points all year has made the difference.”

Two second places were enough for O'Grady to clinch the GB4 spoils with a race to spare

Photo by: JEP

With the pressure off, O’Grady and Green engaged in a frenetic dice towards the rear of the top 10 in the reversed-grid race, the latter prevailing to finish fifth once penalties were applied, while Arden’s Michael Koh led Matan Achituv and Connor Willis throughout to take a maiden triumph.

Elite Motorsport’s William Antrobus also clinched the title with a race to spare in the Ginetta GT finale. Just 22 points separated the main three contenders beforehand, but Antrobus left nothing to chance by scoring an emphatic double victory.

Harry Gamble, who sat third in the standings when the action got under way, initially got the better of Antrobus in race one by sweeping around the outside at Paddock Hill Bend, but he threw away the lead just a few corners later with a trip through the gravel at Sheene Curve and slipped to fourth. He reclaimed one spot when Louis Darling slowed with an issue, but Antrobus remained ahead of Jamie Caudle to score a crucial win, while fellow title contender Cameron Pratt-Thompson had to settle for fifth.

Having claimed the Am class title, Caudle challenged for the lead in the sequel before dropping to third behind Gamble, as Antrobus clinched the title with his 11th win of the campaign. With Antrobus sitting out the finale, Gamble resisted Darling’s late charge to take victory, while Caudle crashed out of third on the last lap. Darling was subsequently disqualified for causing a collision, thereby promoting Vladislav Tomenchuk to second.

The Ginetta Junior crown had already been wrapped up at the previous event, but that did not prevent some thrilling action taking place at the finale. Jesse Phillips took his first poles in qualifying, but Elite’s Harrison Mackie snatched the lead away from the R Racing driver following an early safety car intervention and pulled away to win by almost 5s, while a frenetic battle raged for the other podium places.

Phillips lost further ground late on after contact with Riley Cranham, who then retired in a separate collision with Lewis Goff, the recently-crowned champion avoiding damage to finish third behind Red Bull Junior Melvin Kalousdian.

Goff slid off the road while leading race two, leaving his team-mates Phillips and Cranham to contest victory - the latter taking the spoils by a small margin. Phillips had to settle for second again in race three, as Goff signed off in style with his 10th win of the year.