Top Six Best For Hillspeed During Donington GB3 Finale
Ireland’s Jonathan Browne raced to a weekend best result of sixth position during the final race of the GB3 Championship season at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday, 17th October, to cap a very competitive three event outing in the series with Markham Vale team Hillspeed.
As well as marking the last race meeting of the year for the UK’s premier single-seater category, the visit to Hillspeed’s home track also denoted the GB3 debut for Filipino-born Australian Flynn Jackes who delivered some very impressive speed and racecraft – taking a best result of 15th in round 24.
Browne, a podium finisher in GB3, started off the Donington weekend with a top 15 result in round 22 on Saturday, 16th October, before an unfortunate retirement in round 23 on Sunday. Bouncing back well in the finale, his drive to sixth place was a strong way to wrap-up 2021.
Car racing debutant Jackes, from Australia’s Gold Coast, improved his pace throughout the entire event and raced very competitively. Finishing 17th in race one and then 19th in a rain-affected second contest, a gutsy and determined drive in round 24 netted a weekend best top 15 finish.
Competitive conclusion to 2021 season for Hillspeed
Qualifying on Saturday was incredibly close, with Browne posting the 13th fastest time – just 0.6 seconds shy of pole position – and Jackes lapping 16th quickest on his debut, only 0.4 seconds away from his team-mate. Both set their best laps inside the final two minutes of the session, but the opportunity to improve further didn’t present itself when red flags brought an early end to the run.
Race one later in the day got underway smoothly for the Hillspeed duo, although the same couldn’t be said for some others with a multi-car accident at McLeans and another incident at the Melbourne Hairpin. Unsurprisingly the Safety Car was required, with racing resuming on lap four.
Browne held an elevated 11th position and circulated very competitively, sandwiched between two rivals, with nothing to choose in terms of pace. Keeping vastly experienced multiple category race winner Ayrton Simmons at bay until lap nine, Browne slipped back to 12th place and looked set to stay there to the end. Frustratingly, a moment on the 12th and final tour dropped him to 15th spot.
Jackes held 15th following the early Safety Car but was shuffled back to 18th over the next couple of laps as out-of-position championship front-runners made their way through the order. Unfazed, the GB3 rookie reeled off some outstanding laps and by the end of the seventh tour he was into 16th place and circulating a full second faster than Mikkel Grundtvig ahead.
While a slight moment on lap eight impeded his progress and dropped him back to 17th position, Jackes pushed hard to the chequered flag on lap 12 and came away from his first GB3 encounter with a best lap time of 1m25.354 seconds – incredibly just 0.2 seconds shy of podium pace.
Sunday morning brought rain to Donington Park and, as a result, a very wet track for race two of the weekend. Due to the amount of spray, and the fact there had been no prior wet-weather running, officials begin the race behind the Safety Car with Browne 14th and Jackes 18th.
Racing proper began on lap three and although losing a couple of places early on, Browne did move back up into 14th position on the fourth tour. Unfortunately, though, his race was run just a lap later when he had to retire to the pits due to a broken rear damper.
Marking Jackes’ first experience of the GB3 car in the rain, he lapped strongly and during the first half of the race he moved into the top 16. Slipping back a couple of places during the latter stages, Jackes finished in 19th spot due to a luckless 10 second time penalty which was applied after unknowingly making an error in re-assuming his starting position following a formation lap spin.
For round 24, which took place on an almost fully dry track after the earlier rain, Jackes lined-up sixth on the reverse grid with Browne starting ninth. When the lights went out the 21-year-old Irishman launched superbly and stormed into the top six by the time the field rounded Redgate. Taking fifth position at Melbourne Hairpin, the Hillspeed driver then pressured for fourth place.
After running wide over the gravel at the entrance to the chicane on lap four, Browne slipped to seventh but did climb back into the top six on the seventh tour out of the Old Hairpin. Staying there to the finish, Browne was just 0.2 seconds shy of fifth at the chequered flag on lap 12.
Jackes experienced a difficult opening, dropping back to 15th spot, and although edged back to 17th soon after he continued to get stuck in and raced hard. Running with much more experienced drivers, Jackes delivered a strong account of himself as places changed back and forth during the closing stages. In the end, he finished 17th but was elevated to 15th due to penalties for two rivals.
Richard Ollerenshaw – Hillspeed Team Principal:
“We had the pace to win the final race, our cars were strong all weekend in dry and wet conditions. Jonathan made a good start to race three, raced well and picked up some places but unfortunately got a bit stuck behind [Reema] Juffali. If he’d been able to clear her quickly it could’ve been a different story as we were quicker than the top three. He did a good overall job again this weekend.
“Flynn put in a huge amount of effort all weekend, he’s a great kid and settled in to how we work. In his first ever car meeting he did a very good job, the learning curve was massive but we were all very impressed. Three starts, three finishes, you can’t ask for more than that.
“He was unlucky in race two, after spinning on the formation lap he dropped to the back but then [Alex] Fores did the same and fell behind Flynn. Fores passed Flynn though, trying to re-take his grid position, so Flynn thought he could do the same. It was very unfortunate, just one of those things.”
Hillspeed now prepares to head into its annual winter testing programme throughout November and into December with its GB3 squad. Drivers interested in finding out more are invited to contact team principal Richard Ollerenshaw on +44 (0)7966 650400 or by email to info@hillspeed.co.uk
