Race Report – Round 7
All three of our drivers took a podium apiece at Donington Park in the latest three rounds of the GB3 Championship. Gerrard Xie was runner-up on Saturday, Tymek Kucharczyk finished second on Sunday morning while Will Macintyre delivered a strong performance to secure third place in the reverse grid race.
The weekend at the East Midlands circuit started out damp and conditions were less than ideal when the first race got underway – although it was easy to make a mistake as it was still slippery just off the racing line. Away from the start, Tymek slotted into second one place ahead of Gerrard. Throughout the course of the 14-lap encounter, the Polish driver kept the pressure on the race leader – and championship rival – Louis Sharp.
For lap after lap, Tymek set the fastest lap of the race in his bid to challenge for overall honours. But unfortunately, he made a small mistake heading into the Old Hairpin on the final lap and lost two positions. That promoted Hitech team-mate Gerrard into the second place at the flag.
“It was a tough race, the conditions were pretty slippery but it was fun, and we managed it well,” said Gerrard. “At the start we tried to keep up with Tymek and Louis but I cooked my front tyres a bit too much, so in the second half of the race I was just managing them.”
More rain hit the Castle Donington venue on Sunday morning and the field opted for wet-weather tyres when the next 14-lap encounter got underway. Once again, Tymek and Gerrard ran second and third off the start, although the Chinese driver dropped to fourth on lap three. Gerrard was then given a five-second time penalty for track limits and was demoted to sixth at the finish – three places ahead of Will. Once again, Tymek applied the pressure on the race leader, but wasn’t able to find a way past.
“I think in the closing stages we were the quickest car on track, which is a good thing,” said Tymek. “In the end I just didn’t have the time to catch P1 but after my mistake yesterday, today was a much better race.
“I’ve seen a lot of Polish flags around the track which is really, really nice,” he added. “It motivates me to keep on pushing seeing the support like this, I really appreciate it. The championship is still not over and we have a few more races to go.”
Gerrard and Tymek started 10th and 11th respectively in the reverse grid race on Sunday afternoon and came through the order to finish seventh and ninth at the chequered flag. Meanwhile Will started the race in fifth and climbed up to fourth at Redgate on the opening lap. He was promoted to third when Colin Queen was penalised for track limits. Hitech finished the weekend in second place in the Teams’ Championship – just seven points off the lead with the final three rounds of 2024 taking place at Brands Hatch at the end of the month.
