Photos: Jakob Ebrey Photography
The GB3 title decider takes place this weekend at Donington Park, with five drivers still in contention. Formula Scout spoke to each of them during pre-event testing ahead of an expected wet-weather finale
1st Callum Voisin Carlin 406 pts
Wins: 1 Poles: 4 Fastest laps: 1 Podiums: 9
After starring as single-seater rookie last year, Voisin was aiming for more consistency in his sophomore GB3 season and that is exactly what he’s delivered. Despite only winning once, he has been on the podium more than anyone else, been the strongest qualifier and has led the standings since round five at Silverstone in July.
A qualifying incident last weekend at Zandvoort put him on the backfoot, but solid recovery drives in all three races helped him to a 13-point advantage heading into the decider.
“We made the best out of a bad situation,” he reflected on Zandvoort. “We made up positions when we had to, and that’s all you can really ask for. To only concede one point [to Joseph Loake] was a miracle.
“All eyes on this weekend and who knows what the weather will be like. From my side it’s the same as every weekend. I’m not trying to think about it too much.”
2nd Joseph Loake JHR Developments 393 pts
Wins: 4 Poles: 3 Fastest laps: 3 Podiums: 8
Loake made an immediate impact after stepping up from British Formula 4, taking a double pole on his debut and three wins from his first five starts. A tough couple of rounds followed before a crucial return to form at Brands Hatch.
He closed to within three points of Voisin during race two at Zandvoort only to lose out in a heavily-shortened reversed-grid contest, but still arrives at Donington firmly in contention.
“Zandvoort was not ideal in terms of the reversed-grid race, I didn’t get a chance to really fight my way through,” he said. “It was an okay weekend, we still gained a point to Callum.
“Looking forward to it, let’s see what we can do. It’s going to be hard to claw the points back but I see no reason why we can’t. What we’re all after is to put it on pole and win both races [one and two]. If I can do that then I put myself in a good place for the championship. It comes down to whoever is the best this weekend.”
3rd Alex Dunne Hitech GP 389 pts
Wins: 4 Poles: 1 Fastest laps: 6 Podiums: 5
Dunne began as one of the title favourites, but a tricky opening round was followed by a retirement at Silverstone when in contention for victory. His season was kick-started at Spa-Francorchamps, passing Voisin twice to claim a double triumph.
A first-corner clash at Brands Hatch while trying to recover from a difficult qualifying left the Irishman needing to produce something special at Zandvoort and, with two dominant wins, he did just that. Curiously, it means all of Dunne’s victories have come at the overseas rounds.
If he can reproduce that form on British soil this weekend, then he will have a great chance to seal a second single-seater title in as many years.
“I think we’ve had good pace on the English tracks but we’ve sometimes had a bit of bad luck,” he said. “For whatever reason I’ve shined a bit more on the European tracks. When I was [at Donington] in British F4 I had two wins, so hopefully I can do the same again in GB3.
“I’m going to try my best to win the championship. So far [testing] hasn’t been too bad. I’m just going to try to do the same as Zandvoort. I’m not going to be thinking about the championship. I’m just going to try to finish as high up as I possibly can like always, and with that hopefully the championship will follow.”
4th McKenzy Cresswell Elite Motorsport 351 pts
Wins: 1 Poles: 1 Fastest laps: 2 Podiums: 8
A broken anti-roll bar in qualifying led to a disastrous opening round for Cresswell at Oulton Park, and he has been playing catch-up ever since.
A maiden win at Silverstone in July proved a turning point, beginning a run of six podiums from the last eight races, scoring more points than anybody else over that period. He battled illness to take two second places at Zandvoort, but will need his rivals to all hit trouble to have a realistic chance of overcoming a 54-point deficit this weekend.
“We’ve had pace since round one, we’ve just had a lot of bad luck throughout the year,” he said. “The second half of the year we’ve just got our heads down and got good results. That’s what I want to continue this weekend, always being in the top three. Just do the best job we can and see where we end up.
“It’s a long-shot to win the title but top three is definitely possible. It’s going to be very tight, it’s a short lap. The changing conditions will make it quite interesting, I think we will be okay regardless.”
5th Matthew Rees JHR Developments 309 pts
Wins: 1 Poles: 3 Fastest laps: 2 Podiums: 5
Trailing by 97 points, it would take something extraordinary for Rees to snatch the title. Despite being the most consistent qualifier over the season – only missing the top six once – and taking a win at Silverstone, incidents have proved costly, especially his double retirement at Spa.
“Theoretically yes but in actuality, no,” Rees said when asked if he could win the title. “We’ll just treat this as a normal weekend, we’ll just try the best we can to get the best result.”