The GB3 Championship’s new two-part qualifying format made its first appearance at Zandvoort on Saturday morning. The opening 15-minute session decided the race one grid, before a short interval led into a second session to set the order for race two. With both pole positions on offer, the competition proved fierce across both segments.
Qualifying 1: Heuzenroeder delivers for Xcel
Patrick Heuzenroeder claimed his maiden GB3 pole position with a lap that also set a new qualifying benchmark at the Dutch Grand Prix venue. The Xcel Motorsport driver struck shortly before a red flag was brought out by teammate Jack Sherwood, who crashed at turn two while sitting third.
After the restart, no one could match Heuzenroeder’s effort, securing the first pole for Xcel in GB3. Deagen Fairclough lined up alongside for Hitech TGR, giving him his first front-row start in the series. Rodin Motorsport filled the second row, with Gianmarco Pradel and Alex Ninovic separated by just one thousandth of a second.
Reza Seewooruthun continued his impressive Zandvoort form by qualifying fifth for Argenti with Prema, ahead of JHR’s Kai Daryanani. Yuanpu Cui and Noah Lisle followed, while Keanu Al Azhari placed ninth for Hitech. Hugo Schwarze completed the top ten for VRD Racing.
Sherwood’s times were deleted for causing the red flag, removing what would have been a top-five effort.
Heuzenroeder pleased to bounce back in Zandvoort
When asked about his performance, Heuzenroeder emphasised the importance of bouncing back strongly after Silverstone:
“It’s very nice to get a pole position, Silverstone wasn’t quite as strong as we’d have liked so it’s really nice to bounce back and get pole and third for race two. I hadn’t finished first in a session yet this weekend so it was the right time to do it. This gives me and the team an opportunity to cement our place towards the front of the championship, so all eyes are forward for the races and I’m looking to maximise the points.”
“Last year was my first proper time at the track, so I’ve got a little bit of an idea of what the starts are like, so I hope to use that to my advantage. We’ll have to see what the others are doing but I’ll use my experience to get to turn one first. It’ll be a bit harder to follow after turns one, two and three but we have a long DRS stretch down the main straight so it’ll be interesting. But I’m looking forward to racing and getting on track this afternoon.”
Classifying: Zandvoort: Qualifying 1
- Patrick Heuzenroeder – Xcel Motorsport
- Deagen Fairclough – Hitech TGR
- Gianmarco Pradel – Rodin Motorsport
- Alex Ninovic – Rodin Motorsport
- Reza Seewooruthun – Argenti with Prema
- Kai Daryanani – JHR Developments
- Yuanpu Cui – Argenti with Prema
- Noah Lisle – JHR Developments
- Keanu Al Azhari – Hitech TGR
- Hugo Schwarze – VRD Racing
- Nikita Johnson – Hitech TGR
- Will Macintyre – Elite Motorsport
- Abbi Pulling – Rodin Motorsport
- Stefan Bostandjiev – Fortec Motorsports
- Flynn Jackes – Elite Motorsport
- Lucas Fluxa – Argenti with Prema
- Bianca Bustamante – Elite Motorsport
- Divy Nandan – JHR Development
NC. Jack Sherwood – Xcel Motorsport (times deleted)
Qualifying 2: Ninovic claims lap record and first pole
In the second session, Alex Ninovic stormed to his first GB3 pole position with a lap that broke the outright series lap record at Zandvoort. The Rodin Motorsport driver set his decisive time with six minutes remaining, and it proved unbeatable as the clock wound down.
Fairclough once again secured second for Hitech, confirming front-row starts for both races. Heuzenroeder backed up his earlier performance with third, only a fraction behind the Hitech driver. Seewooruthun maintained his momentum in fourth, while Nikita Johnson rebounded from 11th in Q1 to take fifth for Hitech.
Cui improved to sixth for Argenti, followed by Lisle and Pradel. Schwarze repeated his consistency with ninth for VRD, while Al Azhari rounded out the top ten for Hitech.
Classification: Zandvoort: Qualifying 2
- Alex Ninovic – Rodin Motorsport
- Deagen Fairclough – Hitech TGR
- Patrick Heuzenroeder – Xcel Motorsport
- Reza Seewooruthun – Argenti with Prema
- Nikita Johnson – Hitech TGR
- Yuanpu Cui – Argenti with Prema
- Noah Lisle – JHR Developments
- Gianmarco Pradel – Rodin Motorsport
- Hugo Schwarze – VRD Racing
- Keanu Al Azhari – Hitech TGR
- Will Macintyre – Elite Motorsport
- Kai Daryanani – JHR Developments
- Abbi Pulling – Rodin Motorsport
- Lucas Fluxa – Argenti with Prema
- Stefan Bostandjiev – Fortec Motorsports
- Bianca Bustamante – Elite Motorsport
- Flynn Jackes – Elite Motorsport
- Divy Nandan – JHR Developments
DNS. Jack Sherwood – Xcel Motorsport
Ninovic happy to show potential in Zandvoort
When asked about his performance, Heuzenroeder emphasised the importance of bouncing back strongly after Silverstone:
“It’s very nice to get a pole position, Silverstone wasn’t quite as strong as we’d have liked so it’s really nice to bounce back and get pole and third for race two. I hadn’t finished first in a session yet this weekend so it was the right time to do it. “This gives me and the team an opportunity to cement our place towards the front of the championship, so all eyes are forward for the races and I’m looking to maximise the points.”
“Last year was my first proper time at the track, so I’ve got a little bit of an idea of what the starts are like, so I hope to use that to my advantage. We’ll have to see what the others are doing but I’ll use my experience to get to turn one first. “It’ll be a bit harder to follow after turns one, two and three but we have a long DRS stretch down the main straight so it’ll be interesting. But I’m looking forward to racing and getting on track this afternoon.”
Fairclough secures double front row
While pole positions went to Heuzenroeder and Ninovic, Deagen Fairclough confirmed his consistency with second in both sessions. The Hitech TGR driver came close to topping the order but just fell short on each occasion. Even so, two front-row starts represented a strong step forward after a tricky Silverstone opener.
Fairclough acknowledged the positives while also expressing frustration at missing out on pole: “It’s a good bounce back from Silverstone, obviously an issue set us back there. We’ve got our head up high, we’ve come to Zandvoort, a track that is probably my favourite on the calendar, and we’re on the front row. A bit gutting as I think we should be P1, but I didn’t get the lap together and that’s my fault. The car has been awesome so a big thank you to Hitech as usual and ROKiT for the support, and I’m looking forward to the races later on.”
“It’s a confidence boost and I’m just looking forward to going racing, hopefully I get a good start and get the moves done as early as possible. From there we know we have strong pace and hopefully we can drive off.”
“Last year in British F4 here was a good weekend with two wins and a third place, if I can do that again this weekend it would be a good haul of points that we need to catch up in the championship with.”
