John Bennett returned to his front-running form by scoring a brilliant brace of podium finishes as the GB3 Championship travelled to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium this past weekend (1/2 June).
The Salisbury-based racer made his way into Europe for the third meeting of the GB3 season with one race victory and two podium finishes already under his belt from the season opener at Oulton Park - tallies he hoped to add to in Belgium.
The JHR Developments driver showed promising early signs out on the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit used for the F1 Belgian Grand Prix, with consistent pace towards the pointy end of the field in a mixture of wet and dry conditions across testing.
Diving into qualifying, Bennett then lit up the times on several occasions with an impressive session. Twice he went to the top of the timesheets and a late flyer of 2m14.652s would be a mere 0.05s shy of a double pole position, although his second best lap would be enough to claim race two pole.
The J5C Management Limited, StreetSharp Ltd, The Accounting Centre Ltd, Khan Thornton Ltd, Lonetree Limited, Lewco Holdings Limited and Project Divebomb backed driver started the first of three races from the front row of the grid on Saturday morning, under grey skies and on a damp surface.
After a great start, Bennett slotted his way into second place as he gave chase to front-row rival Tymek Kucharczyk on the opening lap. The young Brit pursued the Polish ace throughout the 20-minute encounter, and stayed within three seconds of him all the way until the chequered flag.
A second chance of success came later in the day, as Bennett started the #11 JHR Developments Tatuus from pole. A strong start and defensive effort on the opening lap deflected the slipstream advantage of his nearest rival, Kucharczyk, and the two locked themselves into battle.
The slipstream was soon too much to contend with as Bennett slipped to second place, but primed for a fightback shortly after. He was denied the chance to do so as two lengthy safety car interruptions drastically limited the amount of running available - Bennett again claiming a well-deserved trophy for second place.
The reverse grid system for race three put Bennett in a starting spot of 11th the following day. His chances of making it a hat-trick of podiums in a frenetic race were undone early on after being sent into the gravel at Les Combes
His Saturday podium double was the real headline of the weekend and Bennett has thrust his way back into GB3 title contention, moving into the top five and within just 25 points of the series lead after three of eight meetings.
John Bennett: “It was a much stronger weekend for us as a team and that was exactly where we wanted to be. It's a great circuit to race at, and to come away with a pole and two podiums is a massive positive for our championship challenge.
"The car was hooked up from the start of qualifying and we got a great result. Round here, the slipstream is very important in the races and it came down to me and Tymek in both on Saturday. I couldn't quite hang on in race two, but we had the pace and came away with two great results which was the main thing.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how we get on at Hungary which is a new experience for us all in GB3. I think we have the pace and the car underneath us, so I'm optimistic about what we can achieve.”
The 2024 GB3 Championship season continues into the second of its three-part European leg, next heading to a new venue of the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary, over the weekend of 22/23 June.
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.
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