VRD Racing's Nikita Bedrin is the 2026 GB3 champion after fighting back to victory in the first race of the season finale weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The 20-year-old lost the lead on the first lap, but caught and passed Rowan Campbell-Pilling after a safety car restart with a daring move around the outside of turn one on lap 10 to claim his seventh win of the year, wrapping up the title in fine style.
Bedrin started from pole, but Campbell-Pilling shot through the pack from fifth on the grid to the lead on the run to turn one. The champion elect had to settle for second place in the early stages, but the race was nullified behind the safety car after two separate incidents through the opening corners, with Arden's Leon Wilson stranded in the gravel at turn two.
The race resumed on lap five, and Campbell-Pilling made an excellent restart to build a lead of three quarters of a second on the first lap after the resumption. But that was as big as the lead would get, as Bedrin began to make inroads.
For a couple of laps he was able to get right behind the Xcel car on the approach to turn one, and it was on lap 10 when Bedrin made the race winning move. He swooped around the outside of turn one to take the inside line through turn two, and defended when he needed to on the approach to turn four.
From there he extended his lead to almost a second, crossing the line five laps later to secure the latest victory of his spectacular 2026 season. Campbell-Pilling had to settle for second ahead of teammate Lucas Fluxa, who may have missed out on the title but has at least moved into second place in the standings after his eighth podium of the year. The Spaniard followed his teammate with a rocket start, as he went from seventh to third in the opening seconds of the contest.
Elite's Flynn Jackes was fourth having started eighth, while newcomer Lewis Wherrell dropped from second on the grid to fifth at the chequered flag for JHR Developments.
Kyuho Lee also dropped down the order at the start and took sixth having started third.
Wherrell's teammate and fellow newcomer Thomas Ingram Hill was seventh ahead of a combative Abbi Pulling, while Hitech's Deagen Fairclough had a challenging race, seeing his title chances ended while also picking up a five second track limits penalty which dropped him to ninth.
GB4 runner-up Fred Green completed the top-10 in GB3's first ever race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The final two races of the year are due to start at 11.10 and 14.50 respectively on Sunday, with the remaining scores, including the teams championship, still to be settled.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, provisional race one result:
1. Nikita Bedrin, VRD Racing, 15 laps
2. Rowan Campbell-Pilling, Xcel Motorsport, +0.975s
3. Lucas Fluxa, Xcel Motorsport, +1.427s
4. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +6.239s
5. Lewis Wherrell, JHR Developments, +7.375s
6. Kyuho Lee, Elite Motorsport, +8.030s
7. Thomas Ingram Hill, JHR Developments, +12.255s
8. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +12.662s
9. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech, +14.140s
10. Fred Green, Elite Motorsport, +17.554s
11. Dante Vinci, Hillspeed, +18.508s
12. Martin Molnar, Rodin Motorsport, +18.901s
13. Patricio Gonzalez, VRD Racing, +21.671s
14. Theo Palmer, Hitech, +22.098s
15. Ary Bansal, TJ Speed Motorsports, +22.543s
16. Rodrigo Gonzalez, VRD Racing, +22.991s
17. Jason Pribyl, Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing, +24.213s
18. Maxim Rehm, Rodin Motorsport, +25.468s
19. Yuhao Fu, Hitech, +25.872s
20. Matan Achituv, Arden Motorsport, +28.207s
21. Ricardo Baptista, Xcel Motorsport, +36.556s
DNF. Peter Bouzinelos, Hillspeed, 14 laps
DNF. Aurelia Nobels, Hillspeed, 7 laps
DNF. Leon Wilson, Arden Motorsport, 1 lap
DNS. Arjen Kraling, TJ Speed Motorsports