After scoring 97 of a possible 102 points in Austria, Nikita Bedrin has increased his gap at the top of the drivers’ standings to a monumental 106 points. His team VRD Racing have also retaken the lead in the teams’ standings and are now on 490 points, 47 ahead of Rodin Motorsport.
Martin Molnár qualified on pole for race one but lost the lead to Maxim Rehm into the first corner and soon dropped to third behind Bedrin on the run down to Turn 3. The safety car was then deployed on the next lap as Lewis Gilbert and Peter Bouzinelos came to blows at the same corner and got beached in the gravel.
The race restarted two laps later and Bedrin immediately began pressuring Rehm for the lead. On lap eight, Molnár dove down the inside of Lucas Fluxá for third at Turn 4 whilst just behind them, Dante Vinci collided with Rodrigo Gonzalez and sent the Mexican driver into the barrier. The safety car was again deployed and Vinci, like Gilbert, was handed a three-place grid penalty.
Racing resumed at the end of lap 10 and a fierce battle for third quickly erupted as Molnár and ran side-by-side through Turn 1, allowing Deagen Fairclough to momentarily make it three-wide up the hill. A dive from Rowan Campbell-Pilling forced Molnár wide at the top, allowing Fairclough to finally take third through Turn 4 ahead of Fluxá.
On lap 13, the penultimate lap, Bedrin went around the outside of Rehm – who received a five-second penalty for track limits – at Turn 6 to take the win. Rehm dropped to sixth and Fluxá inherited second, with Fairclough rounding off the podium.
After the race, Rehm and Fairclough were handed one-position penalties for “weaving after the gantry, the point instructed by the Race Director from which weaving must cease at a safety car restart.” This promoted Molnár to third.
A comparatively calmer affair on Sunday morning saw Bedrin face little opposition on his way to victory from pole position. Molnár, who started second, was overtaken by Fluxá and Campbell-Pilling on the opening lap. On lap 14, a Turn 3 dive by Rehm on Molnár for fourth ultimately proved to be a podium-deciding move, as Campbell-Pilling’s 15-seconds worth of track limits penalties dropped the Xcel Motorsport driver, who was running third, to eighth.
The reverse-grid race experienced an aborted start as Fairclough, who received a total of 45-seconds worth of track limits penalties in race two, broke down on the grid at the end of the formation lap and had to be pushed into the pit lane.
With the race now reduced to 22 minutes, Patricio Gonzalez overtook his brother off the front row, who had to defend against Abbi Pulling into Turn 1. Her race ultimately ended at the top of the hill as Rehm spun Fluxá into her path, collecting Campbell-Pilling in the process. The trio ended up in the barrier, bringing out the safety car.
A second safety car then came on lap seven as Gilbert got beached in the Turn 4 gravel. The race resumed two laps later and the Gonzalez brothers continued to hold first and second. This was, however, until lap 11 when Rodrigo tagged Kyuho Lee’s right-rear tyre as the Elite Motorsport driver was overtaking around the outside of Turn 4. Lee’s suspension immediately broke and forced him to pull off at Turn 6, whilst Rodrigo fell down the order to ultimately finish 13th.
In the end, Patricio took both his maiden GB3 podium and career single-seater victory. He finished ahead of Bedrin and Wilson, who also took his first podium in the championship.
The top 15 in the drivers’ standings
- Nikita Bedrin (VRD), 319
- Lucas Fluxá (Xcel), 213
- Martin Molnár (Rodin), 206
- Maxim Rehm (Rodin), 193
- Patricio Gonzalez (VRD), 146
- Flynn Jackes (Elite), 124
- Abbi Pulling (Rodin), 114
- Kyuho Lee (Elite), 108
- Rowan Campbell-Pilling (Xcel), 105
- Deagen Fairclough (Hitech), 102
- Jin Nakamura (Hitech), 96
- Dante Vinci (Hillspeed), 92
- Rodrigo Gonzalez (VRD), 89
- Ricardo Baptista (Xcel), 88
- Fu Yuhao (Hitech), 86
The teams’ standings
- VRD Racing, 490
- Rodin Motorsport, 443
- Xcel Motorsport, 344
- Hitech, 314
- Elite Motorsport, 259
- Hillspeed, 171
- Arden Motorsport, 143
- Fortec Motorsports, 61
- Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing, 10
Main Image Credit: Red Bull Ring
