Hitech GP's Luke Browning fought back to claim victory in the first race of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps this afternoon (Saturday).
Browning started from pole, but lost the lead to championship rival Joel Granfors on the first lap at Les Combes. But after an early safety car for a first lap incident, Browning fought back at the same corner and then ran away from the field, at times lapping over a second faster than the rest of the pack.
The championship leader won by over six seconds from Granfors, who had to fend off the attentions of Browning's teammate Cian Shields, who claimed third place on the road, only to lose it immediately after the race due to a five second track limits penalty, promoting Chris Dittmann Racing's Branden Oxley to the podium.
Oxley had started seventh on the grid, but carved his way up the order in the early stages, and ran inside the podium positions at one stage before losing out to Shields, but took advantage of the Hitech driver's penalty to take his second GB3 rostrum.
Douglas Motorsport's Max Esterson ran in the podium positions early in the race, but dropped to sixth after the restart. He fought his way past Carlin's Javier Sagrera on lap six and took fourth ahead of Elite's Tom Lebbon, who found his way past the Spaniard at Les Combes the next time around, but did so by going across the run off area.
Sagrera therefore had to settle for sixth while Shields' penalty dropped him to seventh ahead of Carlin's Callum Voisin, who climbed 10 places from 18th on the grid to eighth at the end of the eight lap contest.
Voisin finished just a tenth clear of Hitech GP's Bryce Aron, who dropped from fifth on the grid to ninth, and had contact with Chris Dittmann Racing's McKenzy Cresswell in the process at the restart, with Cresswell forced to pit for damage.
Douglas Motorsport's Marcos Flack completed the top-10, finishing less than a second behind Aron, having started 15th.
Browning made a good start from pole to lead the pack down to La Source on the first lap. As the front-runners accelerated out of the hairpin and down to Eau Rouge, there was chaos behind.
JHR's Matthew Rees ran wide exiting La Source, and as he came back, on he squeezed Arden's Alex Connor into fellow JHR-runner James Hedley. Hedley in turn made contact with Nico Christodoulou, lifting the JHR car into the air briefly and spinning around, onto the run off area on the outside, with Voisin also delayed. Hedley and Christodoulou were out on the spot, while Connor was forced to pit to repair damage. That incident is one of several currently under investigation.
While all that was unfolding, Granfors had taken advantage of Browning's slipstream and made the move for the lead stick, just as the safety car was deployed to recover the damaged cars.
After a couple of laps, the race resumed and Browning wasted no time with a mirror image move at Les Combes. From there, he romped away to his fourth win of the year, and extended his championship advantage as a result.
He'll have the chance to stretch it further from pole position in race two, which is due to start at 19.50 local time this evening.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Spa-Francorchamps,
provisional race one result:
1. Luke Browning, Hitech GP, 8 laps
2. Joel Granfors, Fortec Motorsport, +6.095s
3. Branden Oxley, Chris Dittmann Racing, +9.347s
4. Max Esterson, Douglas Motorsport, +9.584s
5. Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +9.986s
6. Javier Sagrera, Carlin, +10.822s
7. Cian Shields, Hitech GP, +11.846s
8. Callum Voisin, Carlin, +12.751s
9. Bryce Aron, Hitech GP, +12.891s
10. Marcos Flack, Douglas Motorsport, +13.793s
11. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, +14.479s
12. Roberto Faria, Carlin, +16.591s
13. Nick Gilkes, Hillspeed, +17.869s
14. David Morales, Arden Motorsport, +20.862s
15. Tommy Smith, Douglas Motorsport, +21.628s
16. Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsport, +25.412s
17. Zak Taylor, Fortec Motorsport, +28.446s
18. John Bennett, Elite Motorsport, +1m05.715s
19. McKenzy Cresswell, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1m25.058s
20. Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, +1 lap
DNF. James Hedley, JHR Developments, 0 laps
DNF. Nico Christodoulou, Arden Motorsport, 0 laps