2026 | GB3 | Donington Park | Test | Thursday | Fairclough tops all three sessions

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Hitech’s Deagen Fairclough topped all three Thursday test sessions as preparations began for this weekend’s penultimate round of the 2026 GB3 Championship at Donington Park.

The Silverstone double race winner recorded his best lap during the second of the day’s three sessions, setting a 1m20.966s to finish 0.118s clear of Elite Motorsport’s Flynn Jackes. Xcel Motorsport’s Lucas Fluxa completed the top three, with five different teams represented inside the top five.

Fairclough controls Thursday running

Fairclough carried his strong Silverstone form into Donington by leading every session of the opening test day.

The Hitech driver started with a 1m21.863s during the morning session before finding almost nine tenths in Session 2. His 1m20.966s remained comfortably the quickest lap of the day, while a 1m21.171s also put him back on top during the final session.

Jackes emerged as Fairclough’s nearest challenger after finishing second in both afternoon sessions. The Elite Motorsport driver set his best time of 1m21.084s in Session 2, leaving him 0.118s behind Fairclough in the combined classification.

Fairclough’s benchmark was also quicker than Martin Molnar’s 1m21.130s, which had led the opening day of pre-season testing at Donington earlier this year.

Fluxa leads close battle behind top two

Fluxa finished third overall for Xcel Motorsport after recording a 1m21.265s during Session 2, putting him 0.299s away from the outright pace.

Hillspeed’s Dante Vinci followed 0.090s behind in fourth, while championship leader Nikita Bedrin ensured five different teams occupied the first five positions. The VRD Racing driver’s 1m21.363s left him only 0.008s behind Vinci and 0.397s from Fairclough.

Kyuho Lee produced one of the few significant improvements during the final session. The Elite Motorsport driver posted a 1m21.388s to climb to sixth overall, finishing just 0.025s behind Bedrin.

Rodin Motorsport’s Maxim Rehm took seventh with a 1m21.448s and completed the group of drivers within half a second of Fairclough.

Campbell-Pilling begins home event inside top 10

Rowan Campbell-Pilling started his home GB3 weekend eighth overall for Xcel Motorsport, with his 1m21.531s putting him 0.565s behind the benchmark.

Hitech’s Jacob Micallef followed only 0.005s behind in ninth, while Abbi Pulling completed the top 10 for Rodin Motorsport with an identical 0.005s margin to Micallef. The leading 10 drivers were therefore covered by just 0.575s after the three sessions.

Ryan Giannetta placed 11th during a testing appearance with VRD Racing, only 0.026s outside the top 10. Molnar followed in 12th, while Peter Bouzinelos, Jack Taylor and Leon Wilson completed the top 15.

All 15 finished within one second of Fairclough, highlighting the close order before another three test sessions on Friday.

Giannetta and Rustombi join Donington test field

A total of 21 drivers participated in Thursday’s running, with VRD Racing fielding five cars during the test programme.

Giannetta joined the team after competing with VRD in the United States and impressed by finishing 11th overall, just 0.601s from Fairclough. Nadeem Rustombi also returned to GB3 testing action and placed 21st with a best time of 1m23.534s. Neither driver is scheduled to race this weekend.

Patricio Gonzalez and Rodrigo Gonzalez finished 16th and 17th for VRD, separated by only 0.002s. Hillspeed’s Aurelia Nobels followed in 18th ahead of Hitech’s Yuhao Fu and Xcel Motorsport’s Ricardo Baptista.

Three further test sessions take place on Friday before Qualifying and the first race of the Donington Park weekend on Saturday.