Season-Best Top Four Result For Impressive Xie At Spa
Hillspeed’s Gerrard Xie delivered his best GB3 Championship partnered by the BRDC performance yet at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium over the weekend, 3rd/4th June, with fifth place in race one followed by a fabulous fourth in race two.
Showing impressive speed from the outset in pre-event practice, and then producing a season-best ninth fastest time in qualifying, the reigning F4 Chinese Champion was very impressive indeed across the event. In race two, round eight, he was also on course to bag the fastest lap for the Markham Vale squad, until pipped on the final tour by Hitech GP’s race winner Alex Dunne.
Daniel Mavlyutov fared less favourably on his maiden appearance at the world-famous Formula One venue, incidents in all three races making for a long weekend. His best finish of 17th place came by way of a round nine fightback, after contact early on while running in second position.
Super Xie turns heads with season-best showing
Xie, who gained vital extra experience at Spa the weekend prior by racing in EuroFormula, was very competitive from the outset in GB3 practice on Friday, 2nd June, with top 10 times in each of the three sessions. He carried that form through into the evening’s qualifying, lapping ninth fastest with a time of 2m15.483 seconds – just half a second shy of pole position.
Mavlyutov ended the grid-determining run 24th of the 25 runners. His car’s engine did struggle during Friday, but the team didn’t want to lose any vital time on track with such a tight schedule. Therefore, the engine was changed on Saturday morning ahead of race one.
Round seven began on schedule and both Xie and Mavlyutov made good starts, but into the fourth turn – Les Combes – the Turkish racer was caught-up in a multi-car tangle and his race ended on the spot. The incident triggered the appearance of the Safety Car, but racing continued to the end of the tour and Xie was able to slice his way through into a superb seventh place.
At the resumption on lap four, Xie got away well and after a great run along Kemmel Straight he dived out of the tow to grab sixth into Les Combes. With nothing to choose between the lead contenders, Xie impressed – setting fastest lap on lap five – and heavily pressured for fifth before ultimately taking a season-best sixth. Post-race, though, a penalty for a rival elevated Xie to fifth.
Starting an improved eighth for round eight, Xie again starred. Although edged back to ninth on lap one, the GB3 rookie moved back into eighth the next time around out of La Source and swiftly carved his way through into the top six as a couple of rivals ran wide in separate dramas.
Pushing on and taking fifth on lap four, Xie then grabbed fourth place soon after and underlined his and the Hillspeed car’s pace with the fastest lap of 2m16.885 seconds on the fifth tour. Xie remained fourth to the finish on lap nine, ultimately taking the second fastest lap when winner Alex Dunne snatched the quickest of all on the final tour. Another exceptional performance by Xie.
Mavlyutov encountered more misfortune in race two, a good opening lap unfortunately not rewarded when he soon picked up damage and required an unscheduled pit-stop for a new front wing and nose cone. After a rapid turnaround in the pits by the Hillspeed mechanics, he emerged and finished the race in 22nd position.
For round nine on Sunday morning, the reverse grid race, Mavlyutov lined-up on the front row in second place and Xie started in 17th position. Making a good launch, Mavlyutov immediately took the lead on the run to La Source, but was then edged back to second into Les Combes. Out of the right-left, though, multi-car contact resulted in Mavlyutov dropping to the tail of the field.
Team-mate Xie had already been caught-up in dramas himself so with the Safety Car deployed for lap two, with three stricken cars requiring recovery, Xie was 21st and Mavlyutov 22nd. Racing then resumed on lap four and both Hillspeed drivers made great progress, Xie ultimately slicing his way through to 14th spot and Mavlyutov taking a weekend best 17th position.
Richard Ollerenshaw – Hillspeed Team Principal:
“Gerrard has been very impressive this weekend, quick throughout practice and into qualifying and the first two races were exceptional really. This is the sort of performance we know we’re capable of and as he gets more and more experience in GB3, Gerrard is really starting show his talent. He then fought through well in race three after early dramas put him at the back, all round a great weekend.
“We’re all disappointed for Daniel as his weekend just didn’t come together unfortunately – contact in race one and retirement, a new nose and front wing in race two and then another incident in race three. He fought back well though in the last one. The experience he gained will be very beneficial as the season moves forward, and hopefully a better weekend lays in store for him at Snetterton.”
There are just two weeks to wait until the fourth event of the GB3 Championship season takes place, back on UK soil at Snetterton 300 Circuit in Norfolk, over the weekend 17th/18th June.
GB3 Championship Driver Standings (after Rd9)
13th Gerrard Xie, 72pts; 21st Daniel Mavlyutov, 39pts
GB3 Championship – Team Standings (after Rd9)
8th Hillspeed, 111pts
