Gonzalez brothers lock out GB3 Race 3 front row at Red Bull Ring

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Rodrigo Gonzalez will start the final GB3 Championship race at the Red Bull Ring from pole position as VRD Racing locks out the front row.

The Mexican recorded the 12th-fastest combined Qualifying time, which placed him at the head of the partially reversed grid. His brother and team-mate Patricio Gonzalez will start alongside him in second.

Neither driver has previously reached the GB3 podium. Therefore, Sunday afternoon’s reverse-grid contest presents both brothers with their strongest opportunity to secure a first top-three result in the championship.

Gonzalez brothers lead VRD front-row lockout

Rodrigo Gonzalez will start from pole after finishing 12th in the combined Qualifying classification.

The VRD Racing driver endured a difficult opening race after spinning at Turn 3 and causing the second Safety Car period. However, he recovered in Race 2 and completed a clean drive to seventh.

Patricio Gonzalez starts second after producing two strong points finishes earlier in the weekend. He claimed fifth in both Race 1 and Race 2, resisting sustained pressure from Abbi Pulling during Sunday morning’s contest.

The front-row lockout gives VRD Racing control of the start. However, the two brothers must balance their pursuit of a maiden podium with the need to avoid costing each other positions during the opening corners.

Pulling targets second podium from third

Pulling will start directly behind the Gonzalez brothers in third for Rodin Motorsport.

The British driver claimed her first GB3 podium at Spa-Francorchamps and showed competitive pace throughout the Red Bull Ring weekend. She topped Friday’s final testing session before finishing eighth in Race 1 and sixth in Race 2.

Pulling will share the second row with Elite Motorsport’s Kyuho Lee. The South Korean finished sixth in the amended Race 1 classification before adding ninth in Race 2 despite receiving a five-second track-limits penalty.

Both drivers will aim to capitalise if the VRD pair battle for the lead. Furthermore, the long straights and heavy braking zones should create several opportunities to attack during the opening laps.

Wilson drops three places after Race 2 incident

Leon Wilson will start fifth for Arden Motorsport after receiving a three-place grid penalty.

The British driver should have started alongside Rodrigo Gonzalez on the front row. However, officials penalised him for crowding another competitor during Race 2, dropping him behind Pulling and Lee.

Wilson had climbed from 14th to ninth during Saturday’s opening race. Track-limits infringements then derailed his second contest and left him 19th after officials added time for his failure to serve a drive-through penalty.

Despite those setbacks, fifth place still gives Wilson an opportunity to challenge near the front. He will start alongside Hillspeed’s Dante Vinci on the third row.

Fairclough and Campbell-Pilling occupy fourth row

Deagen Fairclough will start seventh for Hitech after a challenging opening two races.

The British driver initially earned a podium in Race 1 before a post-race penalty returned him to fourth. He then crossed the line sixth in Race 2, but repeated track-limits violations and an unserved drive-through penalty dropped him to 17th.

Rowan Campbell-Pilling starts eighth alongside Fairclough. The Xcel Motorsport driver crossed the line third in Race 2 but fell to eighth after receiving 15 seconds in track-limits penalties.

Both drivers have shown the pace to challenge at the front this weekend. However, they must avoid further penalties if they want to turn their reverse-grid starting positions into strong results.

Fluxá and Rehm complete the top 10

Lucas Fluxá will start ninth after earning podium finishes in both of the weekend’s opening races.

The Spaniard finished second behind Nikita Bedrin in Race 1 and repeated that result on Sunday morning. His latest podium continued a strong run of form that also included two top-three finishes at the Hungaroring.

Championship contender Maxim Rehm completes the top 10 for Rodin Motorsport. The German led most of Race 1 before Bedrin passed him late on, while subsequent penalties dropped him to seventh.

Rehm recovered with third in Race 2 after passing team-mate Martin Molnar. However, he must now fight through the field if he wants to limit the points gained by championship leader Bedrin.

Molnar and Bedrin start from sixth row

Molnar and Bedrin will occupy the sixth row after securing the two pole positions during Saturday morning’s Qualifying sessions.

Molnar starts 11th after claiming Race 1 pole and finishing third in the amended classification. He then took fourth in Race 2 after losing positions to Fluxá and Campbell-Pilling on the opening lap before battling Rehm late in the race.

Bedrin begins the finale from 12th after winning both of the weekend’s opening contests. The VRD Racing driver passed Rehm late in Race 1 before controlling Race 2 from pole to claim his sixth victory of the campaign.

The reverse-grid format places the championship leader behind several of his closest rivals. Nevertheless, Bedrin has already demonstrated strong overtaking pace around the Red Bull Ring and will target further points from the sixth row.

Race 3 begins at 14:15 local time on Sunday.