Penultimate GB3 event of season beckons for Elite 16.08.2021: “Lady luck” deserts Norfolk team in latest Silverstone races Elite Motorsport will head to the penultimate GB3 Championship event of the season at Oulton Park next month placed fifth in the Teams’ classification and with Tom Lebbon, Javier Sagrera

“Lady luck” deserts Norfolk team in latest Silverstone races



Elite Motorsport will head to the penultimate GB3 Championship event of the season at Oulton Park next month placed fifth in the Teams’ classification and with Tom Lebbon, Javier Sagrera Pont and José Garfias ninth, 10th and 16th in the Driver’s standings.
 


Rounds 16/17/18 were staged on the 3.661-mile Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone last weekend (14-15 Aug) where the Norfolk team bagged three-top-10 finishes in a difficult weekend made tougher when Garfias withdrew from the event on Saturday morning with health issues.
 


Qualifying proved to be a bit of a lottery. The session started on a damp track with drizzle in the air but the rain intensified as the time trails went on, cars using slick tyres to begin with and then wets during the session. Lebbon, denied fastest time in Friday testing by 0.017secs, set the seventh and ninth quickest times. Garfias posted the 15th and 14th fastest times, prior to him withdrawing, while Sagrera Pont suffered from having his quickest laps deleted due to track limit infringements leaving him a frustrated 17th for Races 1 and 2.
 


Lebbon pitted under Safety Car conditions on the second lap of Race 1 following contact with another car. He re-joined P16 but sliced up to P10 on the first lap when racing resumed, coming home ninth but was later given a 10secs penalty for causing a collision. Tom looked set for seventh in Race 2 but tangled with another car on the final lap and then despite dropping three places on the opening lap, posted fifth place in the final classification for Race 3 on Sunday afternoon.
 


Sagrera Pont recovered well from his lowly grid position to record ninth in the Race 1 classification and did even better in Race 2, achieving a seventh place finish – just half a second off P6 – from a 16th place starting spot. Javier rounded off the weekend with 12th. The three Oulton races will be held on 11-12 September.
* All cars in series are the Tatuus BF3-020 powered by a two-litre, 230bhp bespoke Mountune engine.


 


José Garfias (MEX)
Age: 16
Born/Lives: San Luis Potosí, Mexico
Car No: 99

Latest Championship Position/Points: 16th, (117-points)




Tom Lebbon (GB)
Age: 16
Born/Lives: Bury St Edmunds, England
Car No: 34

Qualifying Position: 7th
Race 1 Result: 14th

Start Race 2 Position (based on driver's second fastest qualifying lap): 9th
Race 2 Result: 15th

Start Race 3 Position (reverse of Race 1 finishers): 7th
Race 3 Result: 5th

Latest Championship Position/Points: 9th, (215-points)




Javier Sagrera Pont (SP)
Age: 17
Born: Girona, Spain
Lives: Torroella de Montgrí, Spain
Car No: 3

Qualifying Position: 17th
Race 1 Result: 9th

Start Race 2 Position (based on driver's second fastest qualifying lap): 16th
Race 2 Result: 7th

Start Race 3 Position (reverse of Race 1 finishers): 16th
Race 3 Result: 12th

Latest Championship Position/Points: 10th, (206-points)




 




Eddie Ives, Team Owner & Manager “It’s been a hectic few weeks in GB3 and so it’ll be good to have a short break before Oulton – especially after the Silverstone weekend.

 
“Testing had gone really well for us prior to the [Silverstone] races but then in qualifying, Javier lost his quick laps while Tom suffered in the races apart from Race 3. On top of that, José withdrew after quali feeling unwell, so all-in-all it was a character-building event. But we’ll come back stronger and we’ll all learn from went on.
 


“MSV announced at Silverstone that it will introduce a raft of major upgrades to the GB3 Championship car for the 2022 season onwards to enhance both the performance and its safety standards. As a team we have been impressed with the package MSV have put together and look forward to getting the kits to upgrade our cars.”




- Martyn Pass, photos Elite Motorsport