Season Best GB3 Top 10 For Kulkarni On Zandvoort Debut
Markham Vale’s Hillspeed celebrated a season-best result for first year GB3 Championship partnered by the BRDC racer Aditya Kulkarni at Circuit Zandvoort in The Netherlands on Sunday, 14th July, with a well-deserved top 10 finish in the second of three races at the home of the Dutch Grand Prix.
On a weekend where unpredictable wet weather in pre-event testing provided an additional challenge for the Harrow driver on his maiden appearance at the famous track, Kulkarni made good progress across the four days at Zandvoort – with round 14 the absolute highlight.
Bringing the curtain down well on GB3’s mid-season mini tour of Europe, which included trips to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and Budapest’s Hungaroring, Hillspeed and Kulkarni carry strong positivity into the next event at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit just a couple of weeks from now.
From his steep learning curve in testing on Thursday, 11th July, and Friday, 12th July, Kulkarni headed into the all-important qualifying run on Saturday, 13th July, and emerged from that session with 20th on the grid for each of the first two races.
Round 13 on Saturday afternoon was an eventful encounter, in challenging damp conditions, and the action was pretty hot from the outset on a busy first lap, where the Hillspeed racer moved up to 16th position as others came to grief. Into the top 15 by lap three, with rain having returned to add further spice, Kulkarni continued strongly prior to a Safety Car period due to a car in the gravel.
When the action resumed several laps later he remained in 15th position but was soon edged back a place by the recovering Gerrard Xie. More drama occurred on lap nine, enabling Kulkarni to leap into 14th place, and he stayed there to the chequered flag to cap a solid performance.
Sunday morning’s round 14 was unfortunately red flagged almost as soon as it began, as a result of a multi-car tangle on the grid. When the race re-started, with the same grid order minus the four cars involved in the previous incident, Kulkarni launched from 16th on the grid and stayed there prior to the appearance of the Safety Car for the beginning of lap three.
Running an enhanced 14th at the resumption on lap five, two rivals having encountered trouble, Kulkarni got away well and gained another place into the sixth tour when John Bennett pitted. Into the top 12 the next time around, he remained there to the flag on lap nine but post-race the No.15 Hillspeed entry was elevated into 10th following penalties for two other competitors.
Starting round 15 from 20th on the grid, the final contest was the least fruitful for Kulkarni from a pure racing standpoint, but he still came away with 14th place. Gaining three positions and running in 17th place onto the penultimate tour, he was passed by Xie with just over a lap to go to finish 18th. Post-race, however, two disqualifications and penalties for two others lifted Kulkarni to 14th.
Richard Ollerenshaw – Hillspeed Team Principal:
“We’ve had a good weekend at Zandvoort – great to get Adi into the top 10 for the first time in his rookie season in GB3 and plenty more learning done and experience gained. The weather in testing made things a bit trickier in terms of learning the track and getting up-to-speed ahead of qualifying, but we’re pleased with how Adi went about the weekend.
“Race two was the clear highlight but all three races marked a good improvement on qualifying, so we come away from Zandvoort having enjoyed the three European events. Now we’re looking forward to being back at Silverstone, a track Adi has already raced at this season of course, so hopes are high.”
Rounds 16, 17 and 18 of the GB3 season will take place at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit a fortnight from now, over the weekend 27th/28th July.
2024 GB3 Championship Driver Standings (after Rd15)
=20th Aditya Kulkarni / Flynn Jackes, 63pts; 24th Marcus Luzio, 13pts
2024 GB3 Championship Team Standings (after Rd15)
8th Hillspeed, 76pts
