The new two-part qualifying format in GB3 made its debut at Silverstone, and it was Hillspeed’s Freddie Slater who adapted best. The British driver set the pace from the very start and delivered two stunning sessions, securing pole position for two of the weekend’s three races. His dominance included a record-breaking lap that underlined both his talent and the performance of the latest GB3 car.
GB3: Round 1: Silverstone: Session 1: Slater commands early
Slater wasted no time in asserting himself during the first 15-minute session. He found rhythm from his opening laps and pieced together three successive improvements that left him out of reach. His advantage grew with each pass of the line, eventually giving him pole for race one by more than half a second.
Behind him, Rodin Motorsport’s Gianmarco Pradel produced a strong late effort to secure second place on the grid, narrowly ahead of JHR’s Noah Lisle. Abbi Pulling impressed with fourth place on her GB3 debut, while teammates Alex Ninovic and Nikita Johnson completed the top six.
Qualifying 1 provisional result
- Freddie Slater, Hillspeed
- Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport
- Noah Lisle, JHR Developments
- Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport
- Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport
- Nikita Johnson, Hitech
- Kai Daryanani, JHR Developments
- Hiyu Yamakoshi, Hillspeed
- Kanato Le, Hillspeed
- Dion Gowda, Xcel Motorsport
- Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport
- Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport
- Keanu Al Alzhari, Hitech
- Lucas Fluxa, Argenti with Prema
- Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema
- Deagen Fairclough, Hitech
- Yuan Pu Cui, VRD Racing
- Hugo Schwarze, VRD Racing
- Mike Abrahams, Fortec Motorsports
- Jack Sherwood, Xcel Motorsport
- Enzo Tarnvanichkul, VRD Racing
- Bianca Bustamante, Elite Motorsport
- Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport
- Divy Nandan, Chris Dittmann Racing
- Stefan Bostanjiev, Fortec Motorsports
GB3: Round 1 Silverstone: Session 2: Slater reinforces position as benchmark
The second session reinforced Slater’s position as the benchmark. He went even quicker in Q2, smashing the outgoing GB3 qualifying record by over a second. This time it was Ninovic who led the pursuit, taking second on the grid, while Lisle again showed consistency in third. Hillspeed’s Hiyu Yamakoshi delivered a standout fourth, with Pradel fifth and Pulling once again in the top six.
Qualifying 2 provisional result
- Freddie Slater, Hillspeed
- Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport
- Noah Lisle, JHR Developments
- Hiyu Yamakoshi, Hillspeed
- Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport
- Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport
- Nikita Johnson, Hitech
- Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport
- Kai Daryanani, JHR Developments
- Dion Gowda, Xcel Motorsport
- Deagen Fairclough, Hitech
- Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport
- Keanu Al Alzhari, Hitech
- Kanato Le, Hillspeed
- Lucas Fluxa, Argenti with Prema
- Yuanpu Cui, Argenti with Prema
- Hugo Schwarze, VRD Racing
- Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema
- Mike Abrahams, Fortec Motorsports
- Enzo Tarnvanichkul, VRD Racing
- Jack Sherwood, Xcel Motorsport
- Bianca Bustamante, Elite Motorsport
- Stefan Bostandjiev, Fortec Motorsports
- Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport
- Divy Nandan, Chris Dittmann Racing
Double pole delight for Slater
After claiming pole in both sessions, Slater reflected on a near-perfect qualifying day. He described how quickly he settled into rhythm, praised the handling of the new car around Silverstone’s famous high-speed corners, and explained the challenges that come with adapting to the updated start procedure. He also welcomed the new two-part qualifying format, which he said helped extract maximum performance.
“Honestly it was such a great qualifying session even from lap one in Q1 and I felt in the rhythm straight away. The tyres came in really well and then I knew I had that buffer going into Q2 and I could just drive clean laps and focus on myself and honestly, I couldn’t think of a better car and circuit combination. It feels so good through Maggots and Becketts. All the high-speed corners are such an improvement from the previous car. It’s such good fun to drive.”
He continued, “It’s a completely different start procedure and the clutch is completely different to the old one so they’ll be a few things that we all have to learn. It’s going to be interesting and I’ll see what the weather does and hopefully get a good launch off the line and see what we can do.”
“The new session obviously follows more what other championships do and it’s good as you get two sets to go for it and a break in between to make a little adjustment, as I was desperate to get the absolute maximum out of it on Q2. A good way to handle the qualifying.”
“It’s a great way to start the season, and I’m really looking forward to the reverse grid too.”
Alex Ninovic confident in pursuit
Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic secured second place in Q2 and lined up consistently near the front across both sessions. He was satisfied with his performance and emphasised how well he managed traffic to secure clean air on his fastest lap. For Ninovic, the result was both a sign of progress and a platform for the races to come.
“Yeah, I’m pretty happy with the result. Finishing P2 was pretty good. We maximized as much as we could out on the track so I’m quite happy with that and the car felt great. I did the best I could and coming away with P2 will give us a good opportunity in the race.”
“I’m pretty excited, hopefully I get a good start and we’ll see where that takes us.”
“It was tricky trying to get the gap and really manage where you’re going to go and not get traffic, so I think I did a really good job of that. I got some clean air and managed to get up the front so I’m pretty happy.”
A strong recovery for Noah Lisle
JHR’s Noah Lisle was a model of consistency, claiming third place in both qualifying sessions. His results were made more impressive by the fact that he and the team had faced a challenging Thursday, missing a session and needing to recover performance. After qualifying, Lisle credited his team for their efforts, explained how the car had come alive in time for Q1, and outlined his mindset heading into the races.
“It’s been a difficult weekend and it was a difficult afternoon on Thursday, so we were just kind of recovering from there and I’m really happy with how the team worked to recover some pace after missing session two.”
“We took that last step we needed to in qualifying which is always really nice. The car was mega out there, and I definitely think that pole was on the cards which is always nice when you come in knowing what you could’ve done better. I think it’s a strong way to start our time in GB3.”
“Obviously I’m always targeting the win if you’re starting on the front few rows but if we can just move forward that’s the main thing.”
