Fortec Motorsports continued its GB3 Championship campaign at the weekend (July 26-28), making a return to Silverstone and showing strong race pace with a three-car line-up of Ed Pearson, James Wharton, and Colin Queen.
After Thursday and Friday testing sessions were complete it was time for the drivers to jump in their cars for qualifying on Saturday morning. After the 20-minute session, Colin finished in 15th, whilst Ed was 16th, and series returnee James finished 17th.
Both Colin and James had a good start to the opening race, making up positions before an early Safety Car was called to recover a car from the gravel. On just his second appearance in GB3, James put in a good performance to finish 11th and gaining six places. Colin was able to maximise the car after having a tricky qualifying, also making up six positions to ninth, while Ed reached the chequered flag 21st after having a problem with his left rear tyre.
On Sunday morning the cars lined up on the grid for the penultimate race of the weekend and the drivers were battling to make progress through the field. James was first in the team to reach the chequered flag in 15th place, whilst Ed was a couple cars behind in 17th, and Colin in 23rd due contact with another car causing him to go into the gravel on the last few laps.
In the closing race of the weekend Ed had good launch off the line but was tapped going through Becketts leaving him with damage. That left him at the back of the pack, and he finished 19th, whilst James fought his way through from 17th to finish 15th. Colin showed good tyre management and was able to keep up with the cars ahead but found it tricky to overtake and reached the flag in 13th.
Overall, the team continued to show promise and deliver good race pace for the drivers, with everyone looking forward to the next rounds of the GB3 Championship which will take place at Donington Park over the weekend of September 5-8.
Edward Pearson, #41
Race 1: Start – 16, Result – 21
Race 2: Start – 17, Result – 17
Race 3: Start – 16, Result – 19
Championship: 18 (87 points)
“Overall, it’s not the weekend we wanted at Silverstone but there are lots of positives to take away into the summer break. In race one I had a technical issue on the left rear tyre, so I still finished the race but didn’t get the results we were looking for. In race two I struggled but made my way through the field and in the last race I had a good initial start but got tapped going into Becketts and fell to the back of the field with damage. It was an uphill battle from there but we’ll focus now on the next round.”
James Wharton, #42
Race 1: Start – 17, Result – 11
Race 2: Start – 18, Result – 15
Race 3: Start – 17, Result – 15
Championship: 23 (30 points)
“In practice, we looked a lot more competitive than in April, which was good, but then in qualifying the front wing broke in the first run. That meant we weren’t where we should have been, but we fought back quite well in the races. In the last race my rear right tyre was coming loose so I couldn’t really go forward, but other than that, I think I showed good pace this weekend. We’ve made a big step forward from last time, so I can be happy with that. I think I did really good on the starts as well, which is something that I wasn’t expecting, so I was really happy with that.”
Colin Queen, #62
Race 1: Start – 15, Result – 9
Race 2: Start – 15, Result – 23
Race 3: Start – 15, Result – 13
Championship: 14 (139 points)
“Qualifying was a good effort and on the first set of tyres we were P7, but we bolted on the new set, and it just didn’t really pan out. I completely missed the window, so P15 wasn’t really where we want to start for both races. I managed to make it up in the first race to get P9, which was nice. After the Safety Car we only had a few laps which hindered our ability to make progress. My tyre management was good in the last race, and I was able to stay with everyone but really, there wasn’t an opportunity to make a move once everyone settled in, even though I knew I was quicker than the cars in front.
“Our race pace is really good, and it’s always has been this year. I’ve learned a lot; it’s just dialling in qualifying. Once we do that, I think we will show a lot of people what we’re capable of and surprise them. We showed a bit of that at Zandvoort, we are really strong in the races, we just need to maximise qualifying. It definitely hasn’t been our strong suit this year, but I bet at the end of the season, we’ll get there.”
