After a month away, the GB3 Championship returns with two rounds in two weekends, starting off with a return to the home of Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
GB3 first raced at the 2.722 mile Hungaroring in 2024. Last year, Rodin teammates Gianmarco Pradel and eventual champion Alex Ninovic won races one and two of the weekend respectively, the latter achieving a grand slam. Reza Seewooruthun took victory in the reverse-grid race.
Back in May, Spa-Francorchamps saw history made as Abbi Pulling became the first woman to win in GB3 under its current guise. Previously, Jamie Chadwick won at Brands Hatch in 2018 when the championship was known as British Formula 3.
Race one was originally scheduled to start at 11am on the Saturday, but was ultimately postponed to the afternoon due to the heavy rain.
From pole position, Pulling was able to fend off Maxim Rehm and Nikita Bedrin into La Source, who went three-wide into the corner as Deagen Fairclough dived down the inside of the pair. The safety car was deployed a single time during the race, coming out on lap three for a beached Peter Bouzinelos in the gravel at Les Combes.
Racing resumed two laps later and Pulling comfortably maintained her lead as Rehm and Bedrin battled behind. In the end, Bedrin finished second and Rehm finished third. After the podium celebrations, however, Rehm was demoted three places in the final classification for colliding with Fairclough at Les Combes on the opening lap when he rejoined the track after going wide. Martin Molnár inherited the position.
Race two was held on Sunday morning, occupying the cancelled race three’s slot in the schedule. Bedrin had a strong start from pole as the rest of the top five battled through the first sector and continually built build a gap at the front for the whole race, eventually crossing the chequered flag over six seconds ahead of Rehm. Molnár completed the podium after an early battle with Fairclough.
There are multiple changes to the grid for this weekend. Jin Nakamura has departed from Hitech’s GB3 squad to focus on his F3 campaign with the team and has been replaced by Spanish F4 driver Jacob Micallef. The 16-year-old competes with Campos Racing and is currently 12th in the standings with a best finish of sixth.
Nitrous Competition ADM Racing and Jason Pribyl will not be present this weekend or at next weekend’s round at the Red Bull Ring for undisclosed reasons. Neither Alex Kattoulas, who was absent from the Spa round, nor Jack Taylor from Fortec Motorsports are in Hungary this weekend, meaning the team will not be competing.
Lastly, Elite Motorsport’s Kirill Kutskov is also absent.
In testing yesterday, Fairclough topped the first two sessions and Molnár went fastest in the final session. On combined times, Fairclough took top honours with a 1:36.244, followed by Bedrin and Molnár.
Where everyone stands:
On 140 points, Bedrin still sits at the top of the drivers’ championship, 27 points ahead of Maxim Rehm. VRD Racing are tied with Rodin Motorsport for the lead on 217 points, but are classified in first thanks to Bedrin’s three wins so far. In third place are Hitech, who are 59 points back.
- Nikita Bedrin (VRD), 140
- Maxim Rehm (Rodin), 113
- Jin Nakamura (Hitech), 96
- Martin Molnár (Rodin), 81
- Lucas Fluxá (Xcel), 79
- Abbi Pulling (Rodin), 63
- Patricio Gonzalez (VRD), 57
- Rowan Campbell-Pilling (Xcel), 54
- Rodrigo Gonzalez (VRD), 51
- Flynn Jackes (Elite), 49
- Deagen Fairclough (Hitech), 42
- Kyuho Lee (Elite), 41
- Kirill Kutskov (Elite), 40
- Lewis Gilbert (Arden), 36
- Alexandros Kattoulas (Fortec), 33
- VRD Racing, 217
- Rodin Motorsport, 217
- Hitech, 158
- Xcel Motorsport, 135
- Elite Motorsport, 117
- Arden Motorsport, 66
- Fortec Motorsports, 61
- Hillspeed, 55
- Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing, 10
The weekend’s schedule
Qualifying will happen back-to-back tomorrow morning, starting at 09:00 local time, with race one at 13:30. On Sunday, race two will start at 11:10 and race three will start at 18:10.
All sessions will have live timing on the GB3 website and cronococa.com. All three races can be seen live on the MSV TV YouTube channel.
Main Image Credit: Josh Robinson
