Sagrera: “We deserved this podium more than anyone”

Javier Sagrera took his first podium of the 2022 GB3 Championship season in Race 2 at Snetterton on Sunday morning, coming home third behind Luke Browning and Joel Granfors.

The Spaniard joined Carlin from Elite Motorsport in the off-season; today’s result means all three of the Teams’ Champions’ drivers have now secured a podium this year.

Carlin also lead this season’s Teams’ Championship by 16 points from Hitech GP after 11 races.

Sagrera spoke to The Checkered Flag after collecting his first silverware of the season.

“It’s been a very tough season up until now, so I think we deserved that more than anyone,” he said.

He made a stunning start, shooting up from sixth on the grid to third by the end of the first lap.

“A very good race overall, starting from P6 and ending P3 is a really strong result.

“I think the start was key, the start was everything. I just kept the position with quite a lot of pressure from behind.”

We asked him how easy it is to get the Tatuus MSV-022 off the line under pressure.

“It’s quite an easy clutch, very delicate, but it’s just about having a cold mind. Revs are up, tension is high so nailing the start is key.”

Sagrera spent almost the entire race in third place, watching a tight battle between Browning and Granfors for the lead which almost came to blows on several occasions.

“I thought they might touch, or they were close sometimes so I thought contact was possible but in the end it didn’t happen,” he admitted.

Matthew Rees sat just behind Sagrera for the entire race, unable to close the gap around a track drivers have admitted inhibits overtaking.

“It wasn’t really a defence, it was more about keeping my overall pace. Obviously there’s a lot of aero wash from the car so he wasn’t really able to get close and I had a bit of breathing room.

“He was obviously in focus during the race, I didn’t really have the speed to catch those guys, but I can be happy [with P3].”

He will start from P14 in the reverse-grid Race 3 on Sunday afternoon, with team-mates Roberto Faria and Callum Voisin lining up P18 and P22 respectively.

“Normally it’s a very chaotic race, so we’ll try to maximise the result, keep out of trouble and finish the race.”

The GB3 Championship visits the home of the Belgian Grand Prix, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in late July; Sagrera is looking forward to going back after racing there with Elite in what was the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship in July 2021.

“[Spa is a] really cool track, GP tracks are always fun to drive so I’m excited to go there.”