2026 | GB3 | Red Bull Ring | Testing | Fairclough tops tightly matched Thursday

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Deagen Fairclough led the opening day of 2026 GB3 Championship testing at the Red Bull Ring as the series made its official on-track debut at the Austrian circuit.

The Hitech driver recorded a 1m24.401s lap during Thursday’s second session to beat Rodin Motorsport’s Maxim Rehm by only 0.032s. Championship leader Nikita Bedrin completed the top three after setting the pace during the final session.

Fairclough controls opening two sessions

Fairclough established the first benchmark of the day with a 1m24.540s lap during the opening session. The British driver finished 0.068s ahead of Bedrin, while GB3 testing debutant Oliver Wheldon placed third.

Fairclough then improved by 0.139s during Session 2. His 1m24.401s effort ultimately secured first place in the combined classification and gave Hitech an encouraging start to the championship’s first visit to the Red Bull Ring.

The result continued Fairclough’s strong form after he claimed his first victory of the season in Race One at the Hungaroring last weekend.

Rehm and Bedrin lead closest challengers

Rehm produced Fairclough’s closest challenge during the second session. The Rodin Motorsport driver recorded a 1m24.433s lap and missed the benchmark by just 0.032s.

Meanwhile, Bedrin set his quickest time during the final session. The VRD Racing driver topped the session with a 1m24.588s, which placed him third overall and 0.187s behind Fairclough.

Bedrin also held a comfortable advantage at the top of Session 3. His lap placed him 0.299s ahead of Hillspeed’s Dante Vinci, while Rehm took third in that session.

Lee and Vinci complete the top five

Kyuho Lee delivered a strong opening day for Elite Motorsport and claimed fourth in the combined order.

Lee recorded a 1m24.827s lap during the second session, placing him 0.426s behind Fairclough. He also finished 0.060s ahead of Vinci, who completed the top five with his quickest lap from Session 3.

Vinci’s 1m24.887s effort also gave Hillspeed its highest position of the day. He finished 0.486s behind the overall leader and less than a tenth away from Lee.

Wheldon impresses on GB3 testing debut

Wheldon produced an encouraging performance during his first day in the Tatuus MSV GB3-025 car.

The American placed third in the opening session after recording a 1m24.934s lap for VRD Racing. That time remained his best of the day and secured sixth in the combined classification, only 0.047s behind Vinci.

Wheldon, the son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon, currently competes in USF2000. He will complete three more testing sessions on Friday but will not contest the race weekend.

Molnar leads tightly matched midfield

Hungaroring pole-sitter Martin Molnar placed seventh for Rodin Motorsport after setting his quickest time during Session 2.

Molnar finished only 0.009s behind Wheldon and held an advantage of 0.007s over Hillspeed’s Peter Bouzinelos. Rodin teammate Abbi Pulling followed another 0.006s behind in ninth.

Patricio Gonzalez completed the top 10 for VRD Racing, while Lucas Fluxá and Jacob Micallef occupied 11th and 12th respectively.

The tight margins continued throughout the field. Less than one second covered the first 16 drivers, while just over 1.2s separated Fairclough from Ricardo Baptista in 19th.

Testing continues on Friday with three further sessions at 08:30, 13:00 and 17:25 local time.