Written by Archie O’Reilly
DIVEBOMB-partnered driver John Bennett has described a curtailed second weekend of the 2024 GB3 Championship as “unfortunate” after picking up more points in his championship bid with 10th and eighth-place finishes in the two races that were staged.
The third race - seeing the top 12 qualifiers reversed - was postponed due to excessively wet conditions on Sunday morning, which saw Race Two moved to the afternoon.
“We had a lot of pace in testing, running consistently in the top five across Thursday and Friday,” Bennett said. “I felt strong going into quali and was in the top three until a red flag. Afterwards our wet tyres just overheated in the damp conditions and lost all grip.”
Bennett, who entered the weekend off the back of a second-place finish and maiden GB3 win at Oulton Park, ultimately qualified 10th for the first race, with his second-fastest lap in qualifying good enough for eighth on the grid in the second race. Before a mid-session red flag, he had looked on target to possibly match his double front row start at Oulton.
The two races were ultimately “a struggle with tyre deg” and Bennett - in his second rebound with new team JHR Developments in his third GB3 season - finished both races in the same position that he started.
This leaves Bennett sixth in the standings - led by Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp - but still marks the picking up of points that could prove vital over the course of the season.
Saturday’s Race One, won by Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Tymek Kucharczyk, saw the return of dry conditions. Bennett initially dropped a place off the start after a jump start from Rodin’s Arthur Rogeon, though a penalty for the French driver saw status quo resumed.
The second race, taking place on Sunday afternoon and won by Hitech’s Will Macintyre, saw the return of wet conditions. Bennett made up a position early on and was embroiled in one of the weekend’s best battles with Jarrod Waberski and James Hedley, albeit this closely-contested racing saw Bennett fall back to eighth.
“The weekend became a bit of a lottery on tyre pressures with the greasy quali conditions so it was a shame we couldn’t show our pace after a strong Round One,” Bennett said. “But I’m looking forward to getting back to it at Spa.”
Bennett will still have an opportunity to make amends for having two wins taken away by penalties at Silverstone in 2023 should the third race, for which he should have started third, be run on GB3’s return to the track later in the year. He said it was “a shame” to have the race cancelled but hopes he can “pick up on those lost points” later in the season.
GB3 returns for its next round at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on the first weekend in June.