Hillspeed’s Kulkarni Concludes Rookie GB3 Season With Top 15 Best At Brands GP

First year GB3 Championship partnered by the BRDC racer Aditya Kulkarni brought the curtain down on his and Hillspeed’s 2024 season with three strong race drives at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend, 28th/29th September, to end the campaign in positive style.

Making marked improvements throughout the second half of the GB3 season, Harrow racing driver Kulkarni continued in that vein at the Kent venue and put together a hat-trick of good results with a best of 15th place coming during the final race on Sunday afternoon.

Ending his rookie season in the UK’s top single-seater championship equal 18th in the driver standings, Kulkarni’s development with Markham Vale squad Hillspeed has undoubtedly stepped-up a notch in recent weeks as pace and racecraft have been boosted.

Skies were bright and the circuit dry for qualifying on Saturday where Kulkarni ended the session an unfortunate 20th on the times. Just outside the top 10 midway through, with just under five minutes to run he headed out from the pits for his final push on new tyres but a spin on Cooper Straight put an end to his involvement there and then – undoubtedly costing him certain improvement.

Determined to make progress in round 22 later in the day, the Hillspeed racer did just that and performed well. Following a good launch, he looked to make gains at Paddock Hill Bend on the outside but had to tuck back in up the hill to Druids. Looking again on the run into Surtees, Kulkarni wasn’t able to find the gap needed and so remained in position until the end of the opening tour.

Moving into 19th when a rival pitted, on lap two he was able to slice past two more cars which had tangled at the Surtees left-hander. Now in 17th place, he was on the tail of the cars immediately ahead and pressured Seb Murray as he sought a way past. Then, on the penultimate tour, a heavy excursion into the barriers for Gerrard Xie elevated Kulkarni into 16th where he stayed to the flag.

Starting round 23 on Sunday morning from row 10 of the grid again, Kulkarni experienced some wheelspin off the line but he moved up a position at Surtees at the expense of Colin Queen. When another car pitted at the end of the opening lap, the Hillspeed racer moved up into 18th position and on lap two at Druids he leapt into the top 15 when three rivals tangled under braking.

Following the required Safety Car period the action resumed on the sixth tour and Kulkarni slipped to 16th place at Druids after a challenge from Will MacIntyre – one of the drivers involved in the lap two collision. Remaining in position to the 14th and final tour, Kulkarni’s stellar defence was finally penetrated by the recovering Queen and so he finished the race in 17th spot.

For the final race of his rookie year in GB3, Kulkarni had another uphill challenge from 20th on the grid but he made an excellent start and immediately gained one place off the line, before then being baulked as he looked to take another.

When a rival came to grief at Druids due to a spin, Kulkarni made the most of the tightly packed action and emerged in 16th position prior to the deployment of the Safety Car. When racing got back underway on lap four he pressured Tom Mills and duly went by to climb into the top 15, and over the remaining laps there was nothing to split an intense five-car battle.

With only a couple of tenths of a second between each car, the slightest error would prove costly on the 2.43-mile GP Circuit but Kulkarni continued to pump in good times and kept everything neat and tidy to secure his best result of the final weekend in 15th spot. At the flag after 17 laps, Kulkarni was just 0.2 seconds shy of Queen and had a best lap within 0.9 seconds of the fastest of the race.

Richard Ollerenshaw – Hillspeed Team Principal:
“Adi has been very good this weekend, particularly in the races – he’s actually impressed me a heck of a lot. Qualifying went horribly wrong through just a very small mistake, he would certainly have qualified higher had he got the last run in, but considering how difficult overtaking is on this track his performances in the races were very good.

“Just like Donington last time out, and Silverstone before that, Adi has made a huge step forward. He’s continued to work hard on his fitness, and has had to dovetail that with increasing educational commitments as well. We knew it would be a tough season, it’s a huge mountain to climb from GB4 to GB3, but he’s developed his potential impressively during the second half of the year which is testament to all the work Adi’s been putting in and the efforts of everyone at the team.”

Hillspeed now heads through a busy autumn and winter of testing ahead of the introduction of the brand new GB3 car, with plans to also return to action in the GB4 Championship in 2025. To find out more about the opportunities available, contact Richard Ollerenshaw on +44 (0)7966 650400 or by email to info@hillspeed.co.uk

2024 GB3 Championship Driver Standings
=18th Aditya Kulkarni / Sebastian Murray, 111pts
=29th Marcus Luzio / Tom Mills, 17pts

2024 GB3 Championship Team Standings
8th Hillspeed, 128pts