Strong Weekend From Kulkarni At Donington GP Delivers Second Top 10 Finish Of Season
Hillspeed enjoyed a strong return to the team’s home track, Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit, over the weekend, 7th/8th September, where first year GB3 Championship partnered by the BRDC racer Aditya Kulkarni secured the second top 10 result of his rookie season.
Impressing team principal Richard Ollerenshaw with recent steps forward, not least hard work done over the past couple of months with overall fitness, Harrow teenager Kulkarni was in good form all weekend and started off well with, arguably, his most competitive qualifying session of the season.
Building on the 14th fastest time – little more than a second shy of pole position – with three great races, Kulkarni wrapped-up the penultimate event of the campaign with a terrific drive in round 21 where he finished inside the top 10, with pace just 0.5 seconds away from the fastest lap.
Only enjoying the benefit of the pre-event test sessions on Friday, 6th September, having had to miss the previous day’s running at Donington due to a mathematics exam, Kulkarni was on the back foot compared to his rivals but in a damp qualifying he produced an excellent showing.
Achieving 14th on the grid for race one, and 15th for race two, the GB3 rookie was actually 0.2 seconds up on his quickest time when Saturday morning’s grid-determining session ended early due to a red flag stoppage – which might have placed him in the top 12.
The track surface was still damp and slippery in places for round 19 later in the day and Kulkarni put together a good start to climb into the top 12. He lost a couple of positions before the end of the opening lap and remained there until lap five when a rival ran wide out of the Old Hairpin, enabling Kulkarni to pounce for 13th place.
Experiencing his own trouble on lap seven, slipping to 16th position, Kulkarni closed back in on the cars ahead and by lap 12 he was within just half a second. Although losing a place on lap 12, when Shawn Rashid crashed out on the 14th and final tour Kulkarni moved up to finish 16th.
Sunday morning began with a wet track and rainy skies and for round 21 Kulkarni lined-up 15th on the grid, thanks to his second best time from qualifying. Holding position at the start, the Hillspeed driver smartly moved up into 13th place on the run through Craner Curves to the Old Hairpin. Edged back a spot into Melbourne Hairpin, Kulkarni responded into Goddards to reassume 13th position.
With the action very close, on lap two at the foot of the Craners he was again shuffled back to 14th but he repelled the challenge of Hugo Schwarze past Starkeys Bridge. Remaining there lap after lap, on the 11th tour Kulkarni was passed by Schwarze but it didn’t matter as the latter had a five second track limits time penalty and so at the finish, two laps later, Kulkarni was classified in 14th.
For round 21 the track was fully dry and the Leicestershire skies bright. From 14th on the grid, Kulkarni made an excellent start and positioned himself impressively through the first half of the lap, climbing into the top 12 and then sealing 11th place as the field exited Coppice.
Running close behind Hillspeed alumnus Gerrard Xie, Kulkarni stayed in touch and also kept a good gap to the cars behind. Consolidating the position to the finish on lap 17, he took the flag in 11th place but a time penalty for a rival elevated him into a richly deserved top 10 result. Notably, his best lap of 1m24.502 seconds was just half a second shy of the fastest of the race.
Richard Ollerenshaw – Hillspeed Team Principal:
“Over the summer break, the work Adi has done on his fitness has made a massive difference and we’re really starting to see the fruits of that. The physicality of the GB3 car, compared to GB4, is a big step but Adi has worked incredibly hard over the last eight weeks to really move things forward and it’s great to see.
“We gave up a little bit too much in race one at Melbourne Hairpin, but we looked at video and the data and race two was a good improvement, race three even better. Everyone in the team has come away from Donington suitably buoyed with the progress, Adi is gaining confidence all the time in the car and the set-up so we’re looking forward to the finale at Brands GP later this month.”
Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in Kent will host the conclusion to the GB3 season, rounds 22, 23 and 24, three weeks from now over the weekend 28th/29th September.
2024 GB3 Championship Driver Standings (after Rd21)
19th Aditya Kulkarni, 96pts; 28th Marcus Luzio, 17pts
2024 GB3 Championship Team Standings (after Rd21)
8th Hillspeed, 113pts
