Browning takes GB3 spoils at home by ten seconds

Luke Browning dominated the first race of the 2022 GB3 Championship at Oulton Park from pole on Saturday afternoon.

Tom Lebbon received a five-place grid penalty after qualifying for impeding Zak Taylor, while Joel Granfors received the same punishment for a collision with Branden Oxley, dropping from second to seventh.

Lebbon’s travails continued immediately as he got a slow start which scrambled the yellow flags on the start line, but worse was to come.

Callum Voisin and Javier Sagrera made contact exiting the Shell Oils hairpin, Sagrera seeming to squeeze his Carlin team-mate towards the grass and breaking his own suspension in the process.

Voisin, with front wing damage and possible bent suspension, then clipped Alex Connor at the Hislop’s chicane later in the lap, pitting for a new front wing at the first opportunity.

Luke Browning, Roberto Faria and Matthew Rees ran in the top three at the end of the second lap, with Browning beginning to pull away from the sole intact Carlin and the JHR Developments car of British F4 champion Rees.

Tommy Smith received a warning for exceeding track limits on Lap 5, while team-mate Marcos Flack applied the pressure to the Chris Dittmann Racing car of Oxley.

Rees began to really apply the pressure to Faria on Lap 6, but was unable to have a look into Old Hall corner, and found opportunities hard to come by around the narrow Oulton Park International layout.

Browning had extended his lead to almost eight seconds by the end of Lap 8, while Faria still had his hands full, while Nick Gilkes slipped behind Lebbon and Connor who began to recover from the earlier contact with Voisin.

Lebbon, Connor and Gilkes then got past Smith, who ran wide on the exit of Shell Oils and slipped to 17th place.

Luke Browning took the win by almost ten seconds, ahead of Faria, Rees, McKenzy Cresswell, John Bennett, Granfors, who slipped behind Bennett with a car issue on the last lap, Zak Taylor, Branden Oxley, Marcos Flack and David Morales.

GB3 Oulton Park Race 1 Results: