The 2024 GB3 Championship was a motor racing championship for open wheel, formula racing cars held across Europe. The 2024 season was the ninth organised by the British Racing Drivers' Club in the United Kingdom, and the fourth season under the GB3 moniker after rebranding from the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship in mid-2021. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded drivers. The season was run over eight triple-header rounds, starting in March and running over eight race weekends until September. [1]
Both championships were decided at the final race: Louis Sharp won the Drivers' Championship ahead of John Bennett and Tymek Kucharczyk, while his team, Rodin Motorsport, won its first Teams' Championship
All teams were British-registered. [2]
Team | No. | Driver | Rounds |
---|---|---|---|
VRD by Arden [3] | 2 | James Hedley [4] | 1–2 |
3 | Noah Ping [5] | All | |
17 | Nikita Johnson [6] | 3–8 | |
32 | Shawn Rashid [7] | All | |
Rodin Motorsport [8] | 2 | James Hedley [9] | 4–5 |
7 | Louis Sharp [10] | All | |
18 | Arthur Rogeon [11] | All | |
27 | Freddie Slater [12] | 7 | |
31 | Ugo Ugochukwu [13] | 1–3, 6 | |
35 | Callum Voisin [14] | 8 | |
Chris Dittmann Racing | 2 | James Hedley [15] | 8 |
9 | Jacob Douglas [16] | 6–7 | |
19 | Kanato Le [17] | 3 | |
34 | Martinius Stenshorne [18] | 2 | |
43 | Tom Mills [19] | 8 | |
55 | Flynn Jackes [20] | 1–7 | |
77 | Rishab Jain [21] | 1 | |
Javier Sagrera [22] | 4 | ||
91 | Sebastian Murray [23] | All | |
Hillspeed | 6 | Marcus Luzio [24] | 3, 6 |
15 | Aditya Kulkarni [25] | All | |
JHR Developments | 10 | Patrick Heuzenroeder [26] | All |
11 | John Bennett [27] | All | |
12 | Josh Irfan [28] | All | |
Elite Motorsport | 16 | McKenzy Cresswell [29] | All |
20 | Jarrod Waberski [30] | All | |
33 | Hugo Schwarze [31] | All | |
Hitech Pulse-Eight | 21 | William Macintyre [32] | All |
22 | Tymek Kucharczyk [33] | All | |
23 | Gerrard Xie [34] | All | |
Fortec Motorsports | 41 | Edward Pearson [35] | 1–7 |
42 | James Wharton [36] | 2, 6 | |
51 | Alexandros Kattoulas [37] | 7 | |
62 | Colin Queen [38] | All | |
Arden Motorsport | 88 | Max Taylor [39] | 7 |
The provisional calendar was announced on 22 November 2023. After the series was awarded FIA international status in 2022, another international event was added in 2023, with the championship's debut at the Hungaroring replacing the round at Snetterton. [42]
Round | Circuit | Date | Supporting | Map of circuit locations | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | R1 | Oulton Park (International Circuit, Cheshire) | 30 March | British GT Championship | |
R2 | 1 April | ||||
R3 | |||||
2 | R4 | Silverstone Circuit (Grand Prix Circuit, Northamptonshire) | 27 April | British GT Championship | |
R5 | 28 April | ||||
R6 | |||||
3 | R7 | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (Spa, Belgium) | 1 June | Spa Euro Race | |
R8 | |||||
R9 | 2 June | ||||
4 | R10 | Hungaroring (Mogyoród, Hungary) | 22 June | International GT Open | |
R11 | 23 June | ||||
R12 | |||||
5 | R13 | Circuit Zandvoort (Zandvoort, Netherlands) | 13 July | Zandvoort Summer Trophy | |
R14 | 14 July | ||||
R15 | |||||
6 | R16 | Silverstone Circuit (Grand Prix Circuit, Northamptonshire) | 27 July | MSVR race weekend | |
R17 | 28 July | ||||
R18 | |||||
7 | R19 | Donington Park (Grand Prix Circuit, Leicestershire) | 7 September | British GT Championship | |
R20 | 8 September | ||||
R21 | |||||
8 | R22 | Brands Hatch (Grand Prix Circuit, Kent) | 28 September | British GT Championship | |
R23 | 29 September | ||||
R24 |
The 2024 GB3 Championship began across Easter weekend at Oulton Park with Rodin’s Louis Sharp taking a pair of pole positions. [43] The first race of the season was decided at the start, with Sharp defending his lead from JHR’s John Bennett. The pair ran line astern from this point on, while Sharp’s teammate Ugo Ugochukwu completed the podium. [44] Race two started behind the safety car as it was very wet. Sharp led the opening part of the race, until a restart after a three-car collision when Bennett took the lead. Sharp dropped back and had to defend from Hitech’s Tymek Kucharczyk, before the latter ran off track. This saw Elite’s McKenzy Cresswell claim third. [45] The reverse-grid final race looked set to be won by Rodin’s Arthur Rogeon, who had moved from fourth to the lead at the start, but the Frenchman’s car suffered a gearbox issue on the final lap. This handed Hitech’s William Macintyre the win ahead of Elite’s Jarrod Waberski and Ugochukwu. Sharp came fifth to leave Cheshire leading the standings, 15 points ahead of Ugochukwu. [46]
Round two saw Kucharczyk take both pole positions around Silverstone. [47] He kept his lead at the start of the first race, while Cresswell was able to take second from Macintyre into Copse. Kucharczyk managed his lead from then on and built a 7.8-second gap to Cresswell to take an unchallenged victory. Cresswell came second as Macintyre had to defend from Sharp. The Australian tried a move on lap three, but that dropped him into the clutches of Ugochukwu behind him. The pair ran side by side before Sharp came out on top again, after which the order stabilised. [48] The rest of the weekend was disrupted by heavy rain, which saw race two postponed to Sunday afternoon and race three cancelled. Macintyre started race two second on the drier side of a damp track, which helped him take the lead. Ugochukwu moved from fifth to second, while poleman Kucharczyk dropped to third. Ugochukwu kept close to Macintyre, but was unable to challenge him. Sharp came fifth and now led Ugochukwu by 9 points. [49]
GB3’s continental leg began at Spa with Kucharczyk and Bennett sharing pole positions. [50] The pair started the first race alongside each other, with the Pole coming out ahead at Les Combes. He built a gap to the field and managed the race from that point on. Championship leaders Sharp and Ugochukwu started third and fourth and also battled at the start, with Sharp coming out on top to complete the podium. [51] Race two began similarly, with polesitter Bennett keeping the lead through the first laps, but Kucharczyk managed to stay with him and take first place on lap three. Bennett had no opportunity to fight back as the race finished under yellow, while Sharp took another third place. [52] Race three began with the top three side by side on the Kemmel Straight, before two of them collided and Hitech’s Gerrard Xie took the lead. After the ensuing safety car, Macintyre moved past Xie to take first place. Sharp retired after colliding with VRD Arden’s Noah Ping as they fought for third, allowing Kucharczyk to take the championship lead by nine points. [53]
Round four saw GB3 make its debut at the Hungaroring, where Xie took both pole positions. [54] The series’ first race in Hungary saw the pole sitter defend from Kucharczyk at the start, before the latter then had to fend off Bennett a corner later. A largely uneventful race saw Xie soak up the pressure from behind to take the win. [55] The second race saw Xie make the same defensive move on Kucharczyk, but the man on the move was Sharp, who started fifth and had made his way into second by turn four. Xie then suffered a car issue, handing Sharp the race lead which he controlled from then on. Kucharczyk came home second ahead of Macintyre before being disqualified post-race, which promoted Cresswell onto the podium. [56] Rogeon started the third race from the reverse-grid front row and quickly took the lead from JHR’s Josh Irfan, while Waberski fended off Sharp to maintain third. Kucharczyk failed to score again after sustaining a broken front wing and dropped to third in the standings, with Sharp now leading Macintyre by two points. [57]
The second half of the season started at Zandvoort with Bennett claiming a double pole position. [58] After he held Kucharczyk off at the start of the first race, rain began to fall. Leader Bennett handled the slippery conditions best, building up a lead and taking the win of the race. Rodin’s James Hedley completed the podium. [59] Race two began with a multi-car collision at the start that caused a red flag. Bennett lost the lead to Kucharczyk and Sharp on the restart, but kept close to the Kiwi. When he tried to retake second place, the pair collided, with Sharp retiring and Bennett pitting with damage. Kucharczyk took the win, with Hedley and Cresswell promoted onto the podium. [60] Race three saw VRD Arden’s Nikita Johnson initially lose the lead to JHR’s Patrick Heuzenroeder before he took it back two corners later. Cresswell also slipped through, demoting the Australian to third place. Johnson held on to win his first GB3 race, while Kucharczyk in tenth left the Netherlands as the new championship leader, 18 points ahead of Sharp. [61]
Cresswell took two pole positions on GB3’s return to Silverstone. [62] Sharp had the better start to the first race and moved into the lead, before Bennett got past both of them into Stowe. Cresswell then collided with championship leader Kucharczyk, forcing the Pole to retire. This saw Waberski get promoted onto the podium, with the top three then staying in their spots for the rest of the race. [63] Race two began in very similar fashion, with Sharp and then also Bennett drawing level with pole sitter Cresswell, but this time, he managed to hold on to the lead. From that point, Cresswell built a gap to the field and led Sharp and Bennett home for his first GB3 win in a year. [64] The reverse-grid third race saw pole sitter Heuzenroeder lose his lead to Rogeon, with the Frenchman then going on to win the race. VRD Arden’s Shawn Rashid also got past Heuzenroeder to claim second, before the Australian lost even more places. Kucharczyk completed the podium, but his bad weekend still saw him fall behind Sharp and Bennett in the standings. [65]
The penultimate round at Donington Park saw leader Sharp take both pole positions. [66] He was not challenged by Kucharczyk and Xie behind him at the start of the first race, but was unable to then build a gap. Kucharczyk chased him all race before running off track on the final lap while pushing. He rejoined fourth, with Xie getting into second and Bennett promoted onto the podium. [67] Race two saw Sharp again control proceedings from pole position, with Kucharczyk again able to stay with but not pass him. Ping took third, benefitting from post-race penalties for both Xie and Rodin’s debutant Freddie Slater. [68] Rogeon took his third reverse-grid victory in race three as he led Cresswell for the whole race. Macintyre was third after passing Fortec’s Colin Queen, while championship contenders Bennett, Sharp and Kucharczyk came fourth, sixth and seventh, respectively. Ahead of the final weekend, Sharp now had a 33-point lead over Bennett, with Kucharczyk a further three points behind and a maximum of 102 points still on offer. [69]
Cresswell and Sharp took the pole positions for the final weekend at Brands Hatch. [70] Cresswell had to fend off Bennett at the start of race one as Kucharczyk and Sharp came together while battling over third. The championship leader dropped to eighth and could only manage to finish seventh, while Cresswell took the win and Bennett and Kucharczyk finished on the podium to close up to Sharp in the standings. [71] The New Zealander bounced back with a lights-to-flag victory in race two, with Bennett second and Kucharczyk third, now mathematically eliminated from championship contention. [72] Johnson started the final race of the year from pole and resisted pressure from 2023 champion Callum Voisin, who made a one-off appearance with Rodin, to take the win. Sharp only needed to finish eleventh to clinch the title. He did one better and ended the race in tenth, not attacking Bennett in ninth to take the championship title. With the help of Voisin's podium, Sharp's team Rodin was also able to take their inaugural teams’ title. [73]
Louis Sharp was the latest in a row of champions confirmed on the final race day of the season as GB3 offered fans another close championship fight. He, Bennett and Kucharczyk all had races where they were clearly the fastest, but Sharp’s low points were not as frequent and also not as pronounced, helping him distance himself from his rivals. Off track, the GB3 Championship continued its evolution away from a mainly British championship to a real alternative to the Formula Regional European Championship and the Eurocup-3. In August of 2024, the organisers revealed the new car to be used in 2025 and beyond, signalling a clear intent to position GB3 as a direct feeder to FIA Formula 3, and continued growth in interest by both drivers and teams supported this claim. [74]
Points were awarded to the top 20 classified finishers in races one and two, with the third race awarding points to only the top 15. Race three, which had its grid formed by reversing the top twelve from the qualifying order, awarded extra points, up until a maximum of twelve, for positions gained from the drivers' respective starting positions. [75]
Races | Position, points per race | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th | 16th | 17th | 18th | 19th | 20th | |
Races 1 & 2 | 35 | 29 | 24 | 21 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Race 3 | 20 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|
Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap 12 ... 12 – positions gained and thus extra points earned during race three. |
Each team counted its two best results of every race.
Pos | Team | OUL | SIL1 | SPA | HUN | ZAN | SIL2 | DON | BRH | Pts | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | R13 | R14 | R15 | R16 | R17 | R18 | R19 | R20 | R21 | R22 | R23 | R24 | |||
1 | Rodin Motorsport | 1 | 2 | 38 | 4 | 2 | C | 3 | 3 | 85 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 72 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 933 |
3 | 4 | 58 | 6 | 5 | C | 4 | 4 | Ret | 7 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 74 | 6 | 4 | 66 | 8 | 6 | 31 | |||
2 | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 4 | 5 | 14 | 1 | 1 | C | 1 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 81 | 2 | 1 | 52 | 4 | 5 | 34 | 2 | 2 | 32 | 3 | 3 | 52 | 908 |
6 | 6 | 43 | 3 | 3 | C | 5 | 5 | 48 | 2 | 19 | 17 | 5 | Ret | 92 | 13 | 9 | 64 | 4 | 6 | 74 | 5 | 15 | 7 | |||
3 | Elite Motorsport | 5 | 3 | 21 | 2 | 4 | C | 7 | 12 | 61 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 23 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 729 |
10 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | C | 8 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 105 | 10 | 12 | 42 | 6 | 4 | 111 | 9 | 13 | 121 | 4 | 5 | 111 | |||
4 | JHR Developments | 2 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 8 | C | 2 | 2 | 146 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 45 | 3 | 7 | 45 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 680 |
11 | 9 | 18 | 11 | 10 | C | 11 | 18 | Ret | 8 | 6 | 51 | 15 | 9 | 107 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 15 | 15 | 18 | 13 | 11 | 92 | |||
5 | VRD by Arden | 14 | 12 | 114 | 8 | 7 | C | 6 | 7 | 33 | 13 | 7 | 118 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 115 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 528 |
17 | 16 | 156 | 14 | 13 | C | 9 | Ret | Ret | 15 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 14 | 66 | 10 | 8 | 94 | 14 | 12 | 134 | 10 | 9 | 18 | |||
6 | Fortec Motorsports | 8 | Ret | 9 | 13 | 11 | C | 14 | 10 | 99 | 14 | 13 | 137 | 7 | 4 | DSQ | 9 | 15 | 132 | 19 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 296 |
12 | Ret | 122 | 17 | 16 | C | 18 | 11 | 118 | 20 | 16 | 165 | 17 | 8 | DSQ | 11 | 17 | 152 | 20 | 17 | 201 | ||||||
7 | Chris Dittmann Racing | 15 | 13 | 7 | 9 | 14 | C | 12 | 6 | 59 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 153 | 14 | 13 | 165 | 13 | 19 | 163 | 14 | 13 | 121 | 281 |
16 | 14 | 173 | 19 | 19 | C | 16 | 8 | 106 | 18 | 15 | 19 | Ret | 11 | Ret | 17 | 19 | 176 | 17 | 20 | 191 | 15 | 18 | 132 | |||
8 | Hillspeed | Ret | 11 | Ret | 18 | 21 | C | 19 | 16 | 1210 | 19 | 18 | 144 | 14 | 10 | 146 | 19 | 18 | 202 | 16 | 14 | 104 | 16 | 17 | 155 | 128 |
21 | 17 | 156 | 20 | 20 | Ret | |||||||||||||||||||||
9 | Arden Motorsport | 11 | 11 | 14 | 22 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Pos | Team | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | R13 | R14 | R15 | R16 | R17 | R18 | R19 | R20 | R21 | R22 | R23 | R24 | Pts |
OUL | SIL1 | SPA | HUN | ZAN | SIL2 | DON | BRH |
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