Three dramatic races at Zandvoort has handed the points lead back to Tymek Kucharczyk in the GB3 Championship. A victory and second place at the Dutch circuit on the North Sea coast, has given the Polish driver a decent haul of points during two days of exciting on-track drama.
The weekend away in the Netherlands began with another superb qualifying performance for Tymek which netted him his eighth consecutive front-row start (not including reserve grid races). But conditions for race one on Saturday were extremely challenging, with rain falling while everyone was circulating on slick tyres. Tymek slotted into second place at the first corner and held on – despite a brief Safety Car – to take the runners-up spot at the flag.
On Sunday morning, Tymek took the lead going into the first corner Tarzan. But behind him there was an unfortunate startline incident that involved a number of cars including Will Macintyre and Gerrard Xie. The two Hitech machines were eliminated on the spot and the clear-up operation necessitated a red-flag stoppage.
At the restart, Tymek took the lead once more and held on for the nine-lap encounter to score his fourth GB3 victory of the year. “Wow, what a race,” said Tymek as he returned to the top of the drivers’ championship. “I made two great starts and made it stick which is good for my championship fight. I’m really happy, the pace has been awesome and I’m thankful for Hitech for making the car super quick today.”
In the final race of the weekend, Tymek was embroiled in a thrilling duel around Zandvoort’s dunes. After starting 12th on the reverse grid race, he battled his way back into contention – and survived a quick scare when he ran wide – to finish tenth at the chequered flag. Further up the road, Will took his second fifth place of the weekend, which was some consolation for his earlier DNF in race two.
“I made a good start and also was able to make a few decent overtaking moves around the outside of the first corner,” said Will. “It was a good race and a fair amount of points to put myself back in the championship hunt. This weekend has been notable for various incidents that are out of a drivers’ control, but looking at the points it remains a good close fight at the front and that battle will continue in the final rounds.”
Following the race’s official classification, Tymek holds a 20-point lead in the GB3 Championship with Will just two points off second place overall. Gerrard was unfortunate to pick-up a grid penalty for the final race following the morning’s startline incident, but will regroup with the team ahead of the action continuing in a fortnight’s time when Hitech heads to its home race at Silverstone on August 27-28th.
Hitech is now 38 points clear at the top of the Teams’ Standings.
