Freddie Slater continued his dream start to the 2025 GB3 Championship season by backing up his Race 1 win with another dominant display in Race 2 at Silverstone. Starting from pole, the Hillspeed driver controlled the contest despite two safety-car interruptions, once again showcasing the speed and composure that earned him victory in Saturday’s opener. Behind him, Noah Lisle secured his second consecutive runner-up finish, while Nikita Johnson claimed his first GB3 podium after a fierce defensive drive.
How the race unfolded
The race began in dramatic fashion as two cars stalled on the grid, immediately prompting the safety car before a single racing lap was completed. On the restart, Slater managed the pressure with the same authority he had shown 24 hours earlier. The FIA F3 podium finisher extended his advantage to more than 10 seconds by lap ten, demonstrating an unmatched rhythm around the Grand Prix circuit.
Lisle, who had shadowed Slater in Race 1, again emerged as the closest challenger. He made a clean start from third on the grid, and while he briefly looked under threat from those behind, he was able to stabilise the gap to the chasing pack.
Further back, the battle for the final podium place raged between Johnson and Rodin teammates Gianmarco Pradel and Alex Ninovic. Johnson made full use of the new DRS system to defend his position, and although Pradel slipped past Ninovic into fourth, neither Rodin driver could dislodge the Hitech racer.
A late-race safety car, caused by contact between Keanu Al Azhari and Dion Gowda, neutralised proceedings, but Slater had already done enough. Even with the pack compressed, he crossed the line comfortably in front to make it two wins from two starts.
Freddie Slater: Two from two
After the race, Slater credited overnight improvements for his pace advantage and noted how tricky the conditions had been compared to Saturday. He also turned his attention to the upcoming reverse-grid race, where he will need to fight his way forward.
“We made a slight improvement overnight and I think that really paid off. The win is slightly different today as the track is different conditions. It’s very dirty out there offline especially, I think some people dropped some oil in the race before in the Ginettas so it was quite one-line and it was quite difficult. Overall really positive, unfortunate about the safety car hopefully everyone is okay. Overall a positive race.”
“I was just looking at how much people are using their tyres in the race and seeing what it is like compared to mine and seeing what happened in race three, the reverse grid, that I’m looking forward to now. It should be good and we’ll see what we’ve got.”
“I want to get up as far as possible as I can. Anything can happen around here especially with the carnage at the front. With the reverse grid it’s going to be chaos. Lots of overtaking opportunities, I’m sure. I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait.”
Noah Lisle: Another strong second
Lisle once again played the role of Slater’s closest rival. While he was unable to match the leader’s pace, he explained how tyre wear became a factor mid-race and that his focus had been on managing the gap behind rather than chasing the win. With two podiums already secured, the JHR driver is looking to maintain consistency in the final Silverstone contest.
“I think the cars behind were fighting mid-race and I started to pull a good gap over them and I might have even broken the DRS gap, I’m not too sure. I started struggling with the tyres and we got a track limits warning, so I was just trying to manage everything and bring the car home.”
“We changed this set but on this set we took a bit too much out of them in quali. We’ll just put together what we’ve got left now for race three and try from there. It’s always a bit of fun coming through the field so we’ll see what we can do.”
First GB3 podium for Nikita Johnson
Johnson, who finished sixth in Race 1, took a big step forward with third place in Race 2. The Hitech driver described the challenge of balancing attack and defence against the Rodin pair and admitted he had to compromise ultimate pace to secure the result. Nevertheless, he was pleased with his first podium in the series and the valuable points it brings.
“I’m happy with third place there, it was a tough race and I had to defend for most of it. I was also on the offence trying to get second. It was a bit tricky trying to handle them both because I think we had enough pace for second but I had to look back and keep third for half the race. It was pretty tricky, we’ll go back and look at the video and the data and see what I could have done better. I’m just happy we got good points and we’re getting in the right direction.”
Revised result after penalties
Post-race stewarding altered the order behind the podium. Kai Daryanani and Deagen Fairclough were handed time penalties, while Gowda received a grid penalty for Race 3 after contact with Al Azhari. These changes promoted Patrick Heuzenroeder to seventh and Lucas Fluxa to eighth, with Kanato Le and Hiyu Yamakoshi ensuring all three Hillspeed cars finished inside the top ten.
Race 2 Result
- Freddie Slater, Hillspeed
- Noah Lisle, JHR Developments
- Nikita Johnson, Hitech TGR
- Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport
- Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport
- Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport
- Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport
- Lucas Fluxa, Argenti with Prema
- Kanato Le, Hillspeed
- Hiyu Yamakoshi, Hillspeed
- Reza Seeooruthun, Argenti with Prema
- Yuanpu Cui, Argenti with Prema
- Hugo Schwartze, VRD Racing
- Enzo Tarnvanichkul, VRD Racing
- Kai Daryanani, JHR Developments
- Mika Abrahams, Fortec Motorsports
- Divy Nandan, Chris Dittmann Racing
- Dtefan Bostandijiev, Fortec Motorsports
- Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport
- Bianca Bustamante, Elite Motorsport
- Jack Sherwood, Xcel Motorsport
- Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR
- Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport
DNF : Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR ; Dion Gowda, Xcel Motorsport
Slater untouchable but challenging Race 3 looms
Just as in Race 1, Freddie Slater proved untouchable at Silverstone, while Lisle’s consistency and Johnson’s resilience marked them as early contenders in the new GB3 season. With the reverse-grid contest still to come, Slater faces his biggest challenge yet — climbing through the pack — while the chasing drivers see their best chance to halt his winning streak.
