Hillspeed Wins Final Race Of GB3 Season At Donington With Faultless Maiden Victory For Xie
For the second year in succession, Hillspeed claimed a superb victory in the final race of the GB3 Championship partnered by the BRDC season at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday, 22nd October, thanks to a faultless and dominant performance from Gerrard Xie.
Marking a richly deserved maiden win for the Hong Kong racer at the conclusion of his rookie year in the UK’s premier single-seater championship, the victory in round 24 was also Markham Vale-based Hillspeed’s fifth of the campaign.
Starting third on the grid, Xie made an electrifying launch and after boldly diving to the inside on the run to Redgate corner for the first time, he surged into the lead and immediately began to pull away from the rest of the field.
Opening a superb advantage of 1.7 seconds on lap one alone, by the end of the third tour he was a remarkable 6.3 seconds clear and dominating. All of Xie’s hard work was undone moments later with the appearance of the Safety Car, but at the resumption on lap nine he judged it perfectly and again stormed away, opening a 1.6 second advantage on the re-start lap.
The Safety Car appeared again for lap 11 and with no time for racing to resume as recovery of a stricken car at Craner Curves took place, the race ended under caution with Xie earning a terrific victory for Hillspeed and the Hitech GP Academy and setting the fastest lap of 1m23.729 seconds.
Team-mate Daniel Mavlyutov, a four-time GB3 race winner this year, produced his best finish of the Donington Park weekend with an impressive drive to 14th position in round 23 on Sunday morning, certainly one of his best drives of the year in a non ‘reverse grid’ race. Hillspeed’s total of five race wins this year means the team is tied on most victories for the 2023 GB3 Championship season.
Good pace and performance all weekend from Hillspeed duo
After a strong and competitive day of testing at Donington on Thursday, 19th October, where both Hillspeed drivers were within roughly a second of the outright pace, further planned testing on Friday, 20th October, was cancelled due to extremely heavy and persistent rainfall.
Qualifying followed on Saturday, 21st October, where Mavlyutov – fresh from his fourth win of the year at Zandvoort in The Netherlands last weekend – produced a season-best showing in the wet session with the 16th fastest time, just a second shy of pole, while Xie was 20th.
Round 22 on Saturday afternoon took place on a wet-but-drying track and Mavlyutov’s hopes were dashed at the first corner. As he turned in to the Redgate right-hander, contact on his outside led to a spin into the gravel. Thankfully recovering to the track with the Safety Car deployed, a subsequent pit-stop after the re-start, to have grass removed from his car’s sidepods, meant 20th at the finish.
Xie made it safely through the first corner tangle to gain two places and when the race resumed on lap four he continued in 18th spot. Leaping up into 16th at the end of the sixth tour, after two rivals tangled at Goddards, Xie was then edged back to 17th before the Safety Car re-appeared on lap eight – and that’s how the race concluded, under caution on lap 10.
Sunday morning’s race took place on a damp and drying track with Mavlyutov again lining-up in 16th position while Xie was directly behind in 18th spot. Both made it safely through the first corner, Mavlyutov still the leading Hillspeed driver, and the Turkish racer actually moved up into 14th place before the end of the tour while Xie was unfortunately shuffled back to 20th spot.
After being edged back to 15th on lap two, Mavlyutov remained there to the 13th and final lap when he moved into 14th again to cap an excellent drive. Xie’s race continued to ebb and flow and onto the last lap he was in the fight for 17th. Challenging for the place out of Melbourne Hairpin, he was put wide onto the grass and so ended the race in 19th position.
While Xie charged to his terrific maiden win in the season finale later in the day, Mavlyutov hoped for another good result from seventh on the grid but lap one dramas dropped him down to 20th spot. He worked his way back into 16th before the first Safety Car, ultimately slipping back to 19th.
Gerrard Xie – Rd24 Winner:
“Obviously we got a good start off the line, we managed the race really and tried to keep pulling away. It’s been a good learning season, we’ve had ups and downs, but it’s great to take the first win. Thanks to all the guys at the team.”
Richard Ollerenshaw – Hillspeed Team Principal:
“What a way to end the GB3 season, we’re delighted for Gerrard to get his first win. He dominated the race with an exceptional start, faultless driving, and he handled the re-start perfectly. We had hoped for a one-two, which eluded us at Zandvoort, but we’re still very happy. Not only is it Gerrard’s first but also our fifth win of the season, meaning Hillspeed is tied for most wins this year.
“Daniel’s performance in qualifying was the best we’ve seen from him and his result in race two was strong. He’s been gaining more and more confidence, helped by those four reverse grid wins, and it has been a positive year. Now, the team is straight into winter testing as we head to Snetterton and Oulton Park this week. We’ll be testing throughout October, November and December – a busy few months ahead.”
