All eyes are on Oulton Park this Easter as Hitech GP get their GB3 Championship campaign underway at the picturesque Cheshire circuit. Tymek Kucharczyk, Will Macintyre and Gerrard Xie will be looking for a strong start to 2024 in the highly-anticipated season-opener.
Hitech GP’s three young chargers begin the year at Oulton Park’s 2.77-mile International configuration this coming weekend, having spent the past few weeks preparing in the team’s state-of-the-art simulator and training with Hitech Performance in the on-site gym located at their Silverstone HQ.
Poland’s Tymek Kucharczyk comes into his second season of GB3 and is determined to build on his seventh place overall in 2023, having made the switch to Hitech GP over the winter. “I had a few races last year where we didn’t quite put it together when it mattered, but after working hard with the team I feel stronger mentally and physically prepared ahead of the new season,” says Tymek. “In testing we’ve been working a lot with the new tyres to help us achieve the optimum lap and I’m happy with the progress we’ve made as a team.”
London-based Chinese racer Gerrard Xie enters the new season on a high, having won the final round of last year and he’s looking forward to continuing that good form into 2024. “Testing was really positive and the pace was there,” said Gerrard. “I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel at Oulton Park this weekend and will be looking to start the season on a high note.”
Making the transition from Hitech’s British Formula 4 outfit, 16-year-old Will says it’s difficult to predict how the competition will fare with the mix of rookies and seasoned campaigners on the grid. “After two official test days, it’s still difficult to say where we’ll be until after the first qualifying session,” says Will. “But I’m feeling pretty buoyant about making the step up to GB3 at this circuit as I have experience of racing here in the past.”
Oulton Park is a drivers’ favourite but is notoriously difficult to overtake thanks to its narrow layout and the lack of run-off means that mistakes are easily made. As a result, there will be an extra emphasis on the all-important 20-minute qualifying session on Saturday morning (starting at 11.10am).
“Qualifying will be the defining moment of the weekend,” adds Will. “The level of this year’s grid is super high with a number of third-year drivers returning this season. There’s a lot of experience and talent, so I’m expecting the racing to be super close. We could see 0.1s between pole and P6 on the grid, so just the smallest mistake, whether it’s a missed shift or locked-up wheel will cost you time.”
The opening race of the new GB3 Championship gets underway on Saturday (March 30th) at 3pm local time, followed by race two on Easter Monday (9.30am) and the reverse grid finale at 1.45pm.
