Rodin Carlin’s Callum Voisin has one hand on the GB3 Championship title, after a sensational Saturday for the championship leader at Donington Park.
The British-Swiss driver took a double pole position in qualifying, and converted the first of those into his second victory of the season, extending his championship margin to such an extent, that he could wrap up the title as early as race two tomorrow morning.
Qualifying
Voisin’s fifth and sixth poles of the season wrapped up the first major prize of the weeked, the Jack Cavill Pole Position Cup. In doing so, he became the first driver to claim the award twice, having also triumphed last year.
It was a close call though, as his best time of 1m32.439s, set with five minutes remaining in greasy conditions, was just 0.013s faster than JHR Developments’ title outsider Matthew Rees.
Another title challenger, Hitech’s Alex Dunne, was third quickest, just 0.002s ahead of teammate Souta Arao, with James Hedley (Arden VRD) and Max Esterson (Fortec) completing the top-six.
Voisin’s other rivals for the title, McKenzy Cresswell (Elite) and Joseph Loake (JHR), were seventh and eighth, with the top-eight covered by just 0.287s.
Race one
Having earned the prize for the most pole positions, Voisin then edged closer to the main championship title with a controlled drive in the first race.
He made a blinding start from pole position, pulling out a big gap on the run to Redgate corner on the first lap, but behind him, there was drama between the title contenders. Loake and Cresswell were involved in a four car incident at the first corner, which ended Cresswell’s chances and dropped Loake down the order to 13th, though he was able to recover to 10th at the race’s end.
After an early safety car to clear the drama, Voisin pulled out a comfortable margin to Rees and Dunne, before the safety car returned at the end of lap seven following an incident between Oliver Stewart and Noah Ping.
The race finished under neutralised conditions, with Voisin extending his championship lead to 28 points, and only needing to extend that by another eight to win the title on Sunday morning.
Behind podium finishers Rees and Dunne came Hedley, Arao and Fortec’s Max Esterson. Dunne is now Voisin’s nearest championship challenger, while Loake is 37-points in arrears and needing to reduce that gap to below 35 to take the title fight down to the reverse grid contest on Sunday afternoon.
Callum Voisin said: "I don’t really know what happened, I haven’t had that many wins this year so to add another one to the tally especially at this stage in the year where the championship is very close is exactly what we needed. I want to see the highlights, I don’t know what happened!
"To be honest, it’s very tricky conditions out there, it’s not really wet, it’s not really dry, it’s in that kind of greasy middle. It means the tyres don’t really work in either condition, so I was trying to move off line to cool off the tyres as much as possible. It didn’t really make that much of a difference but the pace seemed good compared to the others. Considering there was so many yellow flags out there I was making sure I was slowing down. I'm very happy, tricky conditions, let’s see what tomorrow brings, it's supposed to be dry. A double pole and a win is a good day at the office."
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park qualifying top-six result:
1. Callum Voisin, Rodin Carlin, 1m32.439s
2. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, +0.013
3. Alex Dunne, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.167
4. Souta Arao, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.169
5. James Hedley. Arden VRD, +0.199
6. Max Esterson, Fortec Motorsport, +0.242
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Donington Park, race one top-six result:
1. Callum Voisin, Rodin Carlin, 10 laps
2. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, +0.356
3. Alex Dunne, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +1.678
4. James Hedley, Arden VRD, +2.866
5. Souta Arao, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +3.407
6. Max Esterson, Fortec Motorsport, +3.856
GB3 Championship, driver’s championship standings after race 22 of 24:
1. Callum Voisin, Rodin Carlin,441pts
2. Alex Dunne, Hitech Pulse-Eight, 413pts
3. Joseph Loake, JHR Developments, 404pts
4. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, 351pts
5. Matthew Rees, JHR Developments, 338pts
6. James Hedley, Arden VRD, 318pts
GB3 Championship, team’s championship standings after race 22 of 24:
1. JHR Developments, 793pts
2. Rodin Carlin, 701pts
3. Arden VRD, 657pts
4. Hitech Pulse-Eight, 633pts
5. Elite Motorsport, 546pts
6. Fortec Motorsport, 458pts
Image: The Rodin Carlin leads the field down to Redgate on lap one - credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
