- Fortec Motorsport take third win of the season at Snetterton
- Mikkel Grundtvig takes second win of his campaign for the team
- Joel Granfors takes two podiums in Norfolk to sit second in points
Fortec Motorsport added a third victory of the 2022 GB3 Championship season thanks to Denmark’s Mikkel Grundtvig, as the team travelled to Snetterton’s 300 circuit for the fourth meeting of the year last weekend (25/26 June).
The Daventry team made the trip to Norfolk and the 2.9-mile Snetterton 300 circuit with Swedish driver Joel Granfors holding a one-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship, while the team looked to climb up the Teams’ table from fourth with a trio of strong race results.
Granfors, a race winner already in his rookie season, took the team to the front row of the grid with a fine effort in an ultra-tight qualifying session on Saturday, having been competitive throughout testing in the two days prior to the weekend. Second place for races one and two were the reward, missing out on a third consecutive pole position by a mere 0.094s.
When the lights went out for the first of three races later that afternoon under sunny skies, Granfors survived a scare at the start which he recovered quickly. He only lost one spot to title rival Luke Browning, after which he set about chasing the top two drivers all the way to the chequered flag in a close contest that ended with the top three covered by under a second.
A stunning start for Zak Taylor jumped him up four places from 20th on the grid, but his recovery was stymied by an overheating problem that forced him into the pits – not aided by a lengthy delayed start. Grundtvig made good progress throughout the race, gaining five places in his own comeback trail.
Granfors – who turned 17 in the build-up to the weekend – started race two from the front row once more as highest of the Fortec trio, and a better start gave him the chance to attack Browning for the lead of the race at turn one. The Swedish youngster was rebuffed, but would not give up the chase in a thrilling contest, twice pulling alongside his rival as he kept up the pressure all the way to the chequered flag, sealing another podium with second place.
Race three gave Grundtvig and Taylor their chance to shine after enduring a difficult race in 20th and 17th respectively, the former starting the final race from pole position while former British F4 racer Taylor lined up third on the grid looking for a maiden podium finish.
As he did so at Oulton Park, and twice at Donington last year, Grundtvig made a perfect start from the front of the field and would not be usurped of the top spot throughout the race, brilliantly fending off the attentions of Marcos Flack to take Fortec Motorsport’s third race win of the season.
Taylor followed his team-mate into second place with a blistering start of his own, and began to pressure him after an early safety car interruption. A small mistake sent him wide however on the restart, dropping him to sixth place, while Granfors recovered from 21st on the reverse grid to 15th place by the chequered flag.
Fortec Motorsport climb a spot to third in the Teams’ Championship after a competitive weekend, while Granfors remains the team’s main charge for the Drivers’ Championship as he sits 11 points adrift in second overall. The GB3 Championship next heads across the pond to the fabulous Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, to be contested over the weekend of 23/24 July.
Oliver Dutton, Team Manager said:
“It’s a good way to end a real rollercoaster weekend for us as a team. Mikkel was in the best place to capitalise after a difficult start in qualifying, but he and Zak both showed good pace in the final race and it feels good to come away with a victory. A podium is on the cards for Zak as this weekend has shown. We’re still chasing in the championship but Joel again had the pace all weekend, narrowly missing out on pole position and a win of his own. We’ve come away with three podiums, so now we’ll do our homework to come back strongly at Spa.”
#21 Zak Taylor
“We were unlucky at the start of the weekend with qualifying and then the retirement in race one. That kind of set the tone for my weekend and we were on the back foot for race two but gained a few positions, then in race three it was looking promising but for one small mistake that probably lost us a win.”
#43 Mikkel Grundtvig
“From the restart, I was not nervous but I got my head down and brought it home. I had troubles early in the week in testing and that affected us for qualifying which put us on the back foot until race three. In the last race it was the same but I was able to get a good start and hold on.”
#50 Joel Granfors
“Qualifying went well, and it was so close all the way through. I nearly stalled at the start of race one, but we definitely had the pace for P1 in both races. There was not much I could do in the second race, I think we nearly touched once on the straight but I enjoyed the fight for sure. We’ve scored good points and still have a great chance so we’ll look to Spa now.”
