Granfors ignites GB3 title race with Silverstone Race 1 win

Joel Granfors closed the gap to Luke Browning in the GB3 Championship title race with a win in Race 1 at Silverstone on Saturday afternoon.

All three Hitech GP cars were disqualified from Qualifying for a technical infringement, meaning Championship leader Browning started all three races from the back.

Granfors and Callum Voisin went side-by-side through Maggotts and Becketts, while Bryce Aron was launched over the exit kerb at Abbey as he got past Mikkel Grundtvig.

Browning made up an incredible ten positions on the opening lap, sitting in P11 halfway through Lap 2 from P23 on the grid.

Zak Taylor went around the outside of Cian Shields at Brooklands and finished it off into Luffield, but Shields kept it pinned as he ran wide through Copse and built the gap by running off-track.

Meanwhile, Granfors was making hay despite the drops of rain in the air, opening the gap to 2.7 seconds back to Javier Sagrera while Browning had made his way back up to P10, which would pay out 11 points to Granfors’ 35 and keep him 6.5 points ahead.

Roberto Faria took his Carlin into fourth by getting down the inside of John Bennett, who enjoyed his best Qualifying result of the season, at Brooklands on Lap 7.

Max Esterson was battling away with Browning to hold onto ninth place, and ran slightly wide exiting Copse but was able to hold on for several laps.

Marcos Flack picked up a five-second penalty for track limits, as Faria went side-by-side with team-mate Sagrera for over half a lap, running wide at Copse to keep third place.

Granfors brought it home for only his second win of the season, ahead of Voisin and Roberto Faria.

Javier Sagrera and John Bennett completed the top five.

GB3 Championship Silverstone Race 1 Results: