Hitech’s Deagen Fairclough continued his impressive 2026 Brands Hatch form by setting the fastest-ever GB3 lap around the Grand Prix circuit during Saturday morning’s Practice session.
Fairclough produced a 1m16.332s during the short 15-minute session, beating the previous benchmark Abbi Pulling established during official Testing at Brands Hatch earlier in September by 0.261s. Xcel Motorsport’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling finished second, while Pulling placed third for Rodin Motorsport.
Championship leader Nikita Bedrin ended Practice fifth for VRD Racing, while his closest title rival Martin Molnar struggled to complete representative running and finished 19th. The contrasting results provided another intriguing development before Qualifying as Bedrin enters the penultimate round with his first opportunity to secure the 2026 Drivers’ Championship.
2026 GB3: Brands Hatch: Practice: Fairclough lowers lap record
Fairclough entered Saturday carrying considerable momentum after he topped Friday’s four-session combined Testing classification on the shorter Brands Hatch Indy circuit. His 41.287s benchmark had put him only 0.016s ahead of Bedrin, with the leading seven drivers covered by less than two tenths of a second.
Saturday brought a switch to the considerably longer 2.433-mile Grand Prix circuit, where the field had already completed an official test earlier in September. Pulling had established the benchmark on that occasion with a 1m16.593s, beating Bedrin by just 0.028s and Molnar by 0.080s.
Maxim Rehm initially set the pace as the 15-minute Practice session began, improving on each of his first four timed laps. The Rodin Motorsport driver eventually lowered his benchmark to a 1m17.243s, but Fairclough soon moved the session into significantly faster territory.
The Hitech driver became the first competitor to break into the 1m16s around the Grand Prix layout before producing a 1m16.536s to beat Pulling’s existing record. Rather than settle for that benchmark, Fairclough improved twice more before the chequered flag and ultimately lowered the fastest-ever GB3 lap around Brands Hatch to 1m16.332s.
Four laps good enough for Fairclough to lead
Fairclough’s advantage extended beyond a single standout lap. The 20-year-old completed four laps that would each have been quick enough to place him at the top of the final classification, giving Hitech an encouraging indication of its pace before Qualifying.
His performance continued an impressive second half of the season. Fairclough has won four of the previous six races, including both conventional-grid contests at Donington Park, and his recent run has lifted him to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship.
The Briton had also shown speed during the earlier Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit test, although several off-track moments disrupted his later running and left him sixth overall. He finished that test 0.345s behind Pulling, but reversed the order emphatically when the field returned for competitive running on Saturday.
Fairclough’s 1m16.332s ultimately gave him a 0.265s advantage at the end of Practice. With only 15 minutes available before the two-part Qualifying session, his combination of outright pace and multiple competitive laps established Hitech as an immediate contender for pole.
Campbell-Pilling and Pulling lead Fairclough’s challengers
Campbell-Pilling emerged as Fairclough’s closest challenger for Xcel Motorsport. The Donington Park race winner produced a best lap 0.265s slower than the Hitech driver, continuing his strong recent form around Brands Hatch.
The Xcel driver had already finished fifth during the Grand Prix circuit test earlier in September, before placing fourth during Friday’s Indy circuit running. He also topped the fourth and final Friday Testing session, demonstrating competitive pace on both configurations before Saturday’s move onto the full layout.
Pulling followed another 0.049s behind in third. The Rodin Motorsport driver had entered the weekend holding the fastest-ever GB3 lap around the Grand Prix circuit after setting a 1m16.593s during the September test, but Fairclough lowered that benchmark by more than a quarter of a second.
Nevertheless, Pulling remained firmly among the leading contenders with her Practice effort. She finished 0.314s away from Fairclough and only 0.049s behind Campbell-Pilling, maintaining the strong Brands Hatch form that had already produced the testing benchmark.
The session continued Pulling’s encouraging recent run after she claimed two podium finishes at Donington Park. With Rodin also fighting VRD Racing for the Teams’ Championship, her pace could carry additional importance across the penultimate round.
Rehm fourth as Bedrin takes fifth
Rehm’s early benchmark remained strong enough to secure fourth despite Fairclough, Campbell-Pilling and Pulling moving ahead as the session progressed.
The Rodin driver ended Practice only 0.335s behind the outright benchmark and 0.021s away from teammate Pulling. His result gave Rodin two cars inside the top four and strengthened the team’s position ahead of Qualifying.
Bedrin followed in fifth for VRD Racing with a lap 0.463s slower than Fairclough. Although the championship leader did not challenge for the Practice benchmark, he remained within two tenths of Campbell-Pilling in second as the leading group prepared for Qualifying.
The Russian entered Brands Hatch 79 points ahead of Molnar in the Drivers’ Championship, giving him his first opportunity to secure the title before the Barcelona finale. His championship position means the weekend carries considerably different implications for him than for the drivers immediately surrounding him on the Practice classification.
Bedrin had already demonstrated his Brands Hatch pace by finishing second to Pulling during the September test and then placing second again during Friday’s Indy running. Fifth in Practice therefore kept him within the leading group despite Fairclough’s considerable improvement at the front.
Le returns with sixth for Hitech
Kanato Le marked his return to GB3 with sixth place, giving Hitech two cars inside the top six. The Japanese driver finished only 0.470s behind teammate Fairclough and just seven thousandths away from championship leader Bedrin.
Le returned to the GB3 grid with Hitech for Brands Hatch after previously competing in the championship. His immediate pace added another potential factor to a closely matched fight behind Fairclough.
VRD Racing occupied the next two positions through Patricio and Rodrigo Gonzalez. Patricio took seventh, 0.632s away from the benchmark, while Rodrigo followed another 0.028s behind in eighth.
Dante Vinci placed ninth for Hillspeed with a 1m17.106s equivalent, 0.774s away from Fairclough. Arden Motorsport’s Leon Wilson completed the top 10, with the leading 10 drivers separated by 0.893s.
Molnar loses ground during short Practice
While Bedrin remained inside the top five, his closest championship rival endured a considerably more difficult session.
Molnar ended Practice 19th and 6.341s away from Fairclough after failing to record a representative lap during the short session. The Rodin driver had demonstrated much stronger pace during the previous Brands Hatch running, finishing third in the September Grand Prix circuit test and only 0.080s behind Pulling’s former record.
He had also placed 11th during Friday Testing on the Indy circuit, finishing only 0.389s away from Fairclough despite the tightly compressed order.
The limited Saturday running therefore left his Practice position unrepresentative of his established Brands Hatch pace. However, with Qualifying following only two hours later, Molnar had little competitive running in which to prepare on the Grand Prix layout before the grid-setting sessions.
Peter Bouzinelos encountered an even more difficult morning for Hillspeed and failed to set a timed lap. He consequently completed the classification in 20th.
Nobels narrowly misses top 10
Behind Wilson, Aurelia Nobels placed 11th for Hillspeed and missed the top 10 by only 0.021s. Her 0.914s deficit also made her the final driver to finish within one second of Fairclough’s record-breaking benchmark.
Yuhao Fu took 12th in the third Hitech entry, 1.147s away from his teammate at the front. Elite Motorsport teammates Kyuho Lee and Flynn Jackes followed in 13th and 14th respectively.
Lucas Fluxá finished 15th for Xcel Motorsport ahead of Elite’s Edu Robinson, while Ricardo Baptista took 17th in the third Xcel car.
Aditya Kulkarni completed his first competitive GB3 Practice session in 18th as AKCEL GP made its championship debut at Brands Hatch. Molnar and Bouzinelos completed the order after their disrupted sessions.
2026 GB3 Brands Hatch Practice results
- Deagen Fairclough — Hitech — 1m16.332s
- Rowan Campbell-Pilling — Xcel Motorsport — +0.265s
- Abbi Pulling — Rodin Motorsport — +0.314s
- Maxim Rehm — Rodin Motorsport — +0.335s
- Nikita Bedrin — VRD Racing — +0.463s
- Kanato Le — Hitech — +0.470s
- Patricio Gonzalez — VRD Racing — +0.632s
- Rodrigo Gonzalez — VRD Racing — +0.660s
- Dante Vinci — Hillspeed — +0.774s
- Leon Wilson — Arden Motorsport — +0.893s
- Aurelia Nobels — Hillspeed — +0.914s
- Yuhao Fu — Hitech — +1.147s
- Kyuho Lee — Elite Motorsport — +1.161s
- Flynn Jackes — Elite Motorsport — +1.297s
- Lucas Fluxá — Xcel Motorsport — +1.486s
- Edu Robinson — Elite Motorsport — +1.730s
- Ricardo Baptista — Xcel Motorsport — +2.248s
- Aditya Kulkarni — AKCEL GP — +2.644s
- Martin Molnar — Rodin Motorsport — +6.341s
- Peter Bouzinelos — Hillspeed — No time
Fairclough therefore heads into Qualifying with the strongest momentum after topping both Friday Testing and Saturday Practice. His record-breaking lap also moves the Brands Hatch benchmark considerably beyond Pulling’s previous effort, although Campbell-Pilling, Pulling and Rehm all remained within 0.335s as attention turns towards the two Qualifying sessions.
The Brands Hatch schedule sends the field back onto the Grand Prix circuit for Qualifying from 11:00 BST, with the two sessions determining the starting grids for the opening two races of the penultimate round.
