- Daventry team hoping to add to Mikkel Grundtvig’s Oulton Park victory
- Rookies Joel Granfors and Zak Taylor chasing more strong results
- All three races broadcast live from home of British motorsport online
After starting the 2022 GB3 Championship with a sensational victory in the opening round at Oulton Park, Fortec Motorsport have their sights set on the top step again as the series next heads to the iconic Silverstone GP circuit (7/8 May).
The Daventry-based team travel to the iconic 3.66-mile circuit in Northamptonshire – still used by F1 teams for the British Grand Prix – coming off the back of a promising first visit of the season for its three drivers. Mikkel Grundtvig started his second full season with the team in style by rounding off the Oulton Park visit with a convincing lights-to-flag victory, moving his success tally with the team to three wins.
Silverstone has been a happy hunting ground for the team in GB3 over recent years. Four podium finishes went the way of Fortec Motorsport cars in the six races contested at the circuit last year, the team tasting victory as recently as in 2019 also.
Denmark’s Grundtvig brings with him experience of racing at Silverstone in GB3 from last season, while his rookie team-mates will want to hit the ground running on their first weekend around the full circuit after racking up plenty of testing miles.
One of the star performers of the opening weekend was Fortec’s British F4 graduate, Joel Granfors. The 16-year-old from Sweden showed impressive pace throughout the week, topping several sessions in testing and adding a podium finish in only his second GB3 race with the team to sit inside the top five in the Drivers’ Championship.
Fortec’s third driver also shone on his debut in the series. 19-year-old Zak Taylor, making the leap also from F4, grabbed a brace of top-seven results within a competitive field, and the tennager from the Cotswolds will want to get his elbows out as he climbs up the grid.
The visit to Silverstone again consists of three sprint races, with qualifying kicking off the weekend on Saturday at 10:40 to decide the grid before race one begins later that afternoon at 14:52. Sunday’s two races take place at 10:00 and 16:15 respectively, the latter of those featuring a full reverse grid.
All three races will once again be streamed online and free to watch on MSV TV’s YouTube page with live timing for TSL Timing alongside it, and you can keep up to date via Fortec Motorsport’s social media pages.
Oliver Dutton, Team Manager said:
“We’re heading to Silverstone with our heads held high after a good start to the season at Oulton Park. To come away with a win was fantastic and it was important to set the tone for a positive year, but with the pace we had there was potentially even more on the table which we will hope to exploit when we get to Silverstone. We’ve had plenty of good memories from this circuit, so we’ll work hard to ensure that we can leave with even more this weekend.”
21# Zak Taylor
“The first race at Oulton Park was good and showed we could race well, so I hope Silverstone goes well.I’d like to be a bit higher up the field for my second meeting, particularly in qualifying, and that will definitely help us put together three strong results in the races.”
#43 Mikkel Grundtvig
“When we put it all together, we know we can do it, and that showed at Oulton Park with the victory. At Silverstone I hope it will be a similar story, but better! I’d aim again for a good result in race three, but this time we’ll aim for a better qualifying to be up there in races one and two also.”
#50 Joel Granfors
“Compared to how it was at Oulton Park, I think Silverstone should be a lot easier to pass around. I’m looking forward to the weekend and we showed some good pace in testing here before the start of the season, so it should be a good weekend for the team. We could have won at Oulton Park, and I now feel that we can certainly take up the fight to the frontrunners all season.”
