Douglas Motorsport’s Kiern Jewiss took his first British F3 win of the season and became the 11th man to win a race this season.
Johnathan Hoggard was second after losing out to Jewiss at the start of the race, which proved decisive as a clearly quicker Hoggard couldn’t land a blow.
Ulysse De Pauw made it a 1-3 with his second podium of the year in third place ahead of championship leader Clement Novalak and Carlin teammate Kaylen Frederick, who held off Chris Dittmann Racing’s Ayrton Simmons in fifth.
Neil Verhagen was seventh ahead of Sassakorn Chaimongkol and Lucas Petersson in the final Carlin in ninth.
Hampus Ericsson rose to tenth from 15th, paying for a difficult Saturday ahead of a solid eleventh place from Josh Mason and Race Two winner Nazim Azman. Kris Wright and Ben Pedersen rounded out the finishers, while PAvan Ravishankar was lapped and Manuel Maldonado retired.
The race was settled at the start as Brands Hatch once again proved to be difficult to overtake at as Jewiss jumped Hoggard and made it stick at Paddock Hill Bend, while De Pauw repeated the trick on Novalak behind.
Jewiss was rarely more than three tenths clear of Hoggard, who at times feigned a move to attempt to set up the leader for a move that never came.
The result means that Hoggard is now just 40 points behind Novalak in the title race, with six races remaining at Silverstone and at Donington Park.
Jonny Adam and Graham Davidson took their second British GT victory of the season at Brands Hatch to give themselves a chance of winning the championship at the final round of the season.
Adam and Davidson move into second in the British GT Championship at the expense of former leaders Jonny Cocker and Sam De Haan of Barwell Motorsport, who dropped from fourth to eighth on the final lap.
Rob Bell and Shaun Balfe were second having started from pole position, with Jack Mitchell and Angus Fender picking up Century Motorsport’s best GT3 result of the season with third.
Phil Keen and Adam Balon in the other Barwell were fourth, Keen passing Cocker on the last lap to set off a chain reaction that saw Dennis Lind, Tom Onslow-Cole and Nicki Thiim also better the Lamborghini.
Polesitter Balfe initially struggled at the start as the Aston Martins of Ollie Wilkinson and Davidson mugged the McLaren at the start.
Wilkinson was gapping at over half a second a lap, but was caught out by traffic to lose the advantage before spinning at Paddock Hill to drop to fourth.
The race was interrupted for over fifteen minutes midway through the first hour as Glynn Geddie’s #7 GT3 Bentley attempted lap the #61 Aston Martin of Ben Hurst at Westfield, with contact sending the Bentley into the wall at high-speed to completely ruin the front of the car.
After the restart, Davidson gained four seconds ahead of the stops as a result of kind traffic and his ability to put GT4 cars between, Balfe and Angus Fender, who lost out badly.
Once Adam climbed into the TF Sport Vantage, the Scot made no mistake to stroke it home for a victory.
In GT4, the race was affected by a Safety Car in the middle of the race after polesitter Callum Pointon was earlier passed by Jordan Smith and Ash Hand to slip to third, while Scott Maxwell climbed to 4th in class during the early staging of the race.
Alex Toth Jones and Moore given a stop go penalty for a starting infringement, but emerged seventh and profited from a well-timed Safety Car to take a big lead in GT4 for the second half of the two-hour race.
Bad luck was never far away though and Moore, with a comfortable lead, spun at Druids to cede their best chance of victory this season and cap a miserable season so far for Academy Motorsport in GT4.
It was left t
o James Dorlin, with the help of Jordan Collard in the other Tolman McLaren, to bring the car home ahead Dean MacDonald in the HHC McLaren, with Seb Priaulx for Multimatic Ford in third.
Martin Plowman and Kelvin Fletcher took GT4 Pro/Am honours ahead of Mark Murfitt and Michael Broadhurst, with debutants Richard Meaden and Jack Roush third in class.
Lewis Hamilton has taken victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, making best use of a free pit stop to chase down Max Verstappen and take the lead in the closing laps of a race that saw every driver outside the top four lapped.
Verstappen had retained his lead after the first pit stops and fended off an attacking Hamilton as the pair picked their way through traffic. Running wide when attempting an overtake at turn four, Hamilton dropped back and the gap to Verstappen stabilised around the one-and-a-half second mark.
With a sizeable gap to the Ferrari duo in P3 and P4, Mercedes made the decision to bring Hamilton in on lap 49 for what was a free stop, switching him onto the medium tyres. He emerged some 20 seconds behind Verstappen and set about chasing him down, being told by his team that Verstappen would be down to “zero rubber” by the end of the race.
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Sure enough, Verstappen reported on lap 64 that his tyres were dead, and Hamilton closed at a rate of almost two seconds a lap to make a move round the outside of turn one and take the lead with just three laps to go.
With Verstappen reporting that he couldn’t make it to the end of the race, he made a free pit stop on lap 68 to switch to the soft tyres and chase the bonus point for fastest lap.
Sebastian Vettel finished a distant third, overtaking team-mate Leclerc on lap 68. Vettel ran a very long first stint and only came into the pits on lap 40 to change onto the soft tyres. By the time he had caught up to his team-mate, Leclerc’s hard tyres were some 40 laps old, and this allowed Vettel to dive down the inside going into turn one and take the final podium position. With the gap to Hamilton at over a minute, Ferrari will certainly be hoping that the long straights of Spa and Monza will allow them to claw back
Carlos Sainz finished in an impressive fifth place for the second race in a row, with Gasly and Raikkonen behind in sixth and seventh respectively.
The other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas took himself out of win and podium contention on the first lap. Lock-ups going into the first two corners allowed Hamilton to slip past and take second, and then contact with Leclerc damaged his front wing and forced him to pit. Dropped to plum last on the road, it was a long day for the Finn and he eventually reached the chequered flag in eighth place.
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The top ten was completed by Lando Norris – who was hampered by a slow pit stop – and Alex Albon.
Hamilton’s victory means he heads into the summer break with a 62-point lead in the championship. Two bad races in a row means that Bottas is now just seven points ahead of Verstappen in P2, and you have to think that second is now firmly in Verstappen’s sights going into the next half of the season.
Hungary was the fourth good race in a row this season following Austria, Silverstone and Hockenheim, but can the trend continue when the F1 circus reconvenes at Spa at the end of the month?
Malaysia’s Nazim Azman claimed his first ever victory in British F3’s reverse grid Race Two at Brands Hatch.
He led home Ayrton Simmons, who was never more than half a second behind his teammate during an intriguing race interrupted by an early Safety Car.
That was brought about on lap one after a slow-starting Kris Wright made contact with Pavan Ravishankar at Paddock Hill bend on the opening lap – Singaporean driver had passed the American from the start-line.
Lanan’s Josh Mason was third to make it three straight Race Two podium positions, with Double R’s Neil Verhagen fourth having started from ninth on the grid.
Hampus Ericsson was fifth to recover from a difficult Saturday and having taken evasive action from the incident at the start, with Benjamin Pedersen sixth.
Ulysse De Pauw and Manuel Maldonado were next after better races on Saturday, with Lucas Petersson another to have lost out early on to finish in ninth place.
Clement Novalak was the first of the usual front runners but could only finish tenth on what has proven to be a difficult track overtake on, but he did manage to usurp Sassakorn Chaimongkol – the Thai driver taking 11th.
Kiern Jewiss and Johnathan Hoggard, yesterday’s top two, were 12th and 13th as both men were happy to take pain in Race Two rather than risk their cars.
Kaylen Frederick ended his race four laps early, in the gravel at Paddock Hill bend.
Rain before the Moto3 qualifying session in Brno meant the track was wet for the MotoGP riders as they went out for qualifying, but a halt in the rainfall meant the track was drying throughout both sessions.
In Q1, the track started out with already a dry line forming, and throughout the session the times scrolled downwards. Johann Zarco and Pol Espargaro moved through the Q2 for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. It was the first time Zarco had participated in Q2 for the Austrian marque, and the first time this season two RC16s has featured in the pole positions shootout.
In Q2 the track dried sufficiently for several riders to try slick tyres with time for four laps. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) who made the most of the slicks. Despite rain in the final sector on his final lap, he was able to take pole by 2.524 seconds in a display of outstanding riding talent and technique. It would have been quite easy for Marquez to decide that, with a fifty-eight-point lead in the championship, it was not worth the risk to push for pole position, a risk that could have taken him out of this weekend’s Czech Grand Prix and the Austrian GP next weekend, if not more. But take the risk he did and he was rewarded justly for it.
Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) was a few seconds behind Marquez on the track, which was just far enough to mean that when he arrived in the final corner on his final lap, there was too much water for his slick tyre, and down he went. Nonetheless, his first lap on slicks was fast enough for second on the grid.
Johann Zarco made the most of his first Q2 appearance of 2019 to put his factory KTM on the back of the front row, the best qualifying position in KTM’s short MotoGP history. After the difficult season Zarco has had, and the war of words between Zarco and KTM away from the track this season, this result is precisely what was needed for both sides to repair their relationship.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was one of only four riders to stay on wets after most had switched to slicks, one of the others being Zarco. It paid off for the Italian, who was able to improve in the final few minutes to, initially, go third. Miller’s second-place lap dropped Dovizioso to row two, but with Ducati’s holeshot device there should be a good chance for Dovizioso to try and control the race as he likes to tomorrow.
Another of the riders to stick with wets was Pol Espargaro who qualified fifth, whilst Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was unable to improve on dry tyres and wound up sixth.
Valentino Rossi in 2019 Brno MotoGP Qualifying. Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing
Valentino Rossi’s final lap on the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP YZR-M1 put him seventh, which was a significant improvement for the Italian after his first run left him only eleventh. This was Rossi’s best qualifying since Le Mans when he was fifth. The Italian will be joined by compatriot Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammate, Maverick Vinales, on row three tomorrow.
Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) qualified tenth after he wasn’t able to make his slicks work. The Frenchman will be joined on row four by Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT).
Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) was the fastest rider to not make Q2, and will be joined by Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) and Suzuki wildcard Sylvain Guintoli (Team Suzuki Ecstar) on row five.
Row six sees Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) line up alongside Jorge Lorenzo’s replacement at the Repsol Honda Team, Stefan Bradl, and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini), whilst Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) heads up row seven from home favourite Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) and Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech 3).
Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) will start from twenty-second, whilst Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) will complete the grid in twenty-third.
Featured Image courtesy of Jesus Robledo Blanco/Box Repsol
Rain between MotoGP qualifying and Moto2 qualifying meant the track was once more wet for the intermediate class sessions in Brno for round ten of the 2019 World Championship.
In Q1, it was Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) who took the top spot, moving through to Q2 along with Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP), Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) and Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3).
Alex Marquez, Moto2, Czech MotoGP 2019. Image courtesy of David Goldman/Marc VDS
Having just seen his brother annihilate the MotoGP field with slick tyres on a drying track, Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) replicated that performance as he took pole position at the end of Moto2 Q2 with slicks on a drying track. It was a stunning lap from Marquez, who had over two seconds to his nearest rival, Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), who will line up second tomorrow having not run wet tyres in the first part of Q2. Joining Marquez and Lowes on the front row is Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) who will be hoping for a return to form in the first race after the summer break.
Nicolo Bulega (SKY Racing Team VR46) has looked strong all weekend, and was able to translate his practice promise into a strong qualifying performance as he went fourth-fastest, ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) and an impressive Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) who, like Bulega, took his best qualifying in Moto2.
Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) qualified seventh ahead of Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) and Jake Dixon who, too, took his best qualifying position in the Moto2 World Championship.
Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) completes the top ten of the grid and heads up row four, ahead of Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) and Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP), who will be up against it tomorrow to take it to championship leader and pole sitter Marquez from twelfth.
Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) was fast on the wet tyre, but switched to slicks too late to be able to set a lap time, he will start from the front of the fifth row ahead of Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team).
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) could only put the brand new KTM chassis in sixteenth, and will start from the sixth row alongside Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) and Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team).
Jorge Martin, Czech Moto2, 2019. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
The fastest rider to not make Q2 was Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo), who will head up row seven from a bitterly disappointed Joe Roberts (American Racing), a crash costing the American a Q2 appearance. Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) completes row seven.
Row eight sees Somkiet Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) ahead of Iker Lecuona (American Racing) and Mattia Pasini (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2); whilst Steven Odendaal (NTS RW Racing GP) heads up row nine from Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing) and Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward).
Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) goes tomorrow from the front of row ten in twenty-eighth, ahead of Jonas Folger (Petronas Sprinta Racing) and Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward); whilst Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) will be alone one the last row.
Dimas Ekky (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) did not take part in qualifying, having been declared unfit after FP1, still suffering the after-effects of his collision with Stefano Manzi in Assen.
Shaun Balfe and Rob Bell continued the impressive form of Balfe Motorsport in British GT GT3 to take an impressive pole position at Brands Hatch.
The will start tomorrow’s two-hour race at Brands Hatch ahead of the Optimum Motorsport duo of Ollie Wilkinson and Bradley Ellis.
Jonny Cocker and Sam De Haan, who have a very small chance of winning the British GT title this weekend, start third ahead of TF Sport’s Scottish duo of Jonny Adam and Graham Davidson in the Aston Martin.
Jack Mitchell and the impressive Angus Fender will line up fifth tomorrow in Century Motorsport’s best showing in Gt3 this year with the BMW M6 ahead of Seb Morris and Rick Parfitt Junior in the Bentley, with Ben Green and Dominic Paul eighth.
Pointon and MacDonald were top of both GT4 sessions by the smallest of margins for HHC Motorsport in their McLaren 570S.
The headed Spa winners Tom Canning and Ash Hand in the TF Sport Aston V8 Vantage and the top Pro/Am duo of Martin Plowman and Kelvin Fletcher in the Beechdean Aston Martin.
Josh Smith and James Dorling will start fourth for Tolman Motorsport in their McLaren, just ahead of the Mercedes AMG Pro/Am duo of Nick Jones and Scott Malvern.
Patrick Matthiesen and Mike Robinson complete the top six in the third Aston MArtin on the GT4 grid, while Sennan Fielding and Richard Williams in the #29 Audi R8 took an impressive seventh ahead of Patrick Kibble and Josh Price.
Qualifying for the Moto3 World Championship in Brno began in wet conditions, as rain prior to the session soaked the track.
Q1 saw Raul Fernandez (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) top the session from Makar Yurchenko (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race), Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Can Oncu (Red Bull KTM Ajo) despite a late crash for the Turk. These would be the four riders to move through to Q2.
The rain got heavier throughout Q2, but just before its intensity peaked for the session, Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) was able to put himself clear of the pack by eight tenths. Although this gap was soon reduced, no one was able to beat the Italian’s 2’18.020 lap time which gained the #14 pole position for the Czech Grand Prix.
Tony Arbolino Pole setter for the Brno Moto3 2019 race. Image courtesy of Honda Pro Racing
A late lap from John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) in the height of the rain’s intensity was enough to put the Scotsman second on the grid, whilst Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) was a few seconds behind McPhee on track and, despite having to pass Filip Salac (Redox PruestelGP) in the penultimate corner, was able to qualify third-fastest.
Starting from the front row is always important, but especially in Brno it can be useful to take a good grid position to avoid the inevitable melee in turn three on the opening lap.
The front of the second row will be occupied tomorrow by Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse), and the Japanese will be joined on row two by Raul Fernandez who crashed late on in Q2, and Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) who will be buoyed overnight by the start-line advantage he has over his main championship rival, Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing).
Row three sees Makar Yurchenko start from his career-best qualifying position of seventh, with Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) and Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) joining him on the third row.
Alonso Lopez completes the top ten and heads up row four, ahead of fellow Honda riders, Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers), who was on the podium in Brno back in 2017 in the wet, and Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia).
Can Oncu was able to get out for Q2 despite his crash at the end of Q1 and qualified thirteenth ahead of Filip Salac and Andrea Migno (Bester Capital Dubai) who join the Turk on row five.
Can Oncu, Czech Moto3 qualifying 2019. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
Row six sees Celestino Vietti (SKY Racing Team VR46) ahead of the two Leopard Racing bikes of Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Marcos Ramirez, in seventeenth and eighteenth respectively. Dalla Porta had a bike problem – possibly a symptom of a gear-change issue from FP3 in the morning – at the beginning of the session and had limited track time as a result. The slipstream is strong in Brno thanks to the quantity of straights, despite their short length, and Dalla Porta will need to make the most of this tomorrow if he is to reach Canet who is starting eleven positions ahead.
Albert Arenas (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) crashed in Q1 and was the first of the riders to be eliminated from the first session. He will be joined on row seven by last year’s pole sitter Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) and Darryn Binder (CIP Green Power).
Row eight sees Dennis Foggia (SKY Racing Team VR46) – confirmed to be leaving the VR46 organisation at the end of 2019 – in front of wildcard Yuki Kunii (Asia Talent Team) and Sachsenring pole sitter Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Sprinta Racing).
Kazuki Masaki (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) heads up row nine ahead of Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and wildcard Deniz Oncu (Red Bull KTM Ajo); whilst Riccardo Rossi (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) heads up the last row from Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power), who crashed in Q1, and Stefano Nepa (Reale Avintia Arizona 77).
Gabriel Rodrigo (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) did not take part in qualifying after a free practice 2 crash on Friday afternoon which left him with a broken pelvis and collarbone, and out of at least the Czech and Austrian rounds of the 2019 Moto3 World Championship.
Johnathan Hoggard took his first win of the weekend at Brands Hatch to reignite his charge for the British F3 Championship.
Kiern Jewiss took second after closing on Hoggard towards the end of the race while Clement Novalak couldn’t land a blow on the Douglas Motorsport man to complete the podium in third.
Sassakorn Chaimongkol backed up his improving mid-season form to take fourth ahead of Kaylen Frederick, with Manuel Maldonado and Ulysse De Pauw next ahead of Double R’s leading driver Neil Verhagen.
Ayrton Simmons failed to climb from 11th as he came home behind Lucas Petersson and Benjamin Pedersen, while Hampus Ericsson’s three overtakes on the first lap to climb to twelfth accounted for three-quarters of the overtaking action during a tense opening race of the weekend.
Ericsson should have started last after an off in qualifying, but Pavan Ravishankar started from the back after ignoring red flags in qualifying.
Hoggard, who earlier took a commanding pole position in Saturday morning qualifying, cleared off early in the race as Jewiss was left to fend off Novalak and the improving Chaimongkol.
Chaimongkol had to keep the fast-starting Frederick behind him at Paddock Hill bend on the opening lap, but once the American was dealt with the Thai driver was seldom troubled as the meat in what was to be a Carlin Motorsport sandwich.
Hoggard got his lead up to 2.5s midway through the race, before the tide began to turn for Jewiss, who until this point had had a frustrating season for Douglas Motorsport.
Second was to be as good as it got for Jewiss, who still took him his best result of the season.
Meanwhile it was a desperate Saturday for Ayrton Simmons, whose championship aspirations took a major blow. A finish of 11th after a disappointing qualifying has left the Chris Dittman Racing driver with a mountain to climb over the next eight rounds.
Fortec Motorsport’s Johnathan Hoggard took a commanding British F3 pole position as he bettered the opposition by over three tenths of a second at Brands Hatch.
The Lincolnshire man led Douglas Motorsport’s Kiern Jewiss by 0.326s, while championship leader Clement Novalak of Carlin Motorsports starts Race One from third on the grid having lost out to Jewiss by 0.035s.
Thailand’s Sassakorn Chaimongkol put in a strong performance for Fortec to take fourth on the grid to back up his improving mid-season form, just 0.008s ahead of Carlin’s US charge Kaylen Frederick.
Belgium’s Ulysse De Pauw completes Row Three, one third of a tenth behind Frederick.
Manuel Maldonado will start from seventh after a solid session saw the consistent Venezuelan head Row Four, while Neil Verhagen leads Double R Racing’s charge, albeit from eighth position.
In a fifth row sure to confuse many an observer Lucas leads Benjamin as Sweden’s Petersson took ninth position on the grid ahead of the US-Dane Benjamin in his Douglas Motorsport entry.
Ayrton Simmons, the third man in the championship battle along with Hoggard and Novalak, could only manage 11th for Chris Dittman Racing as positions 2-11 on the grid were covered by just half-a-second.
Donington Race Two winner Josh Mason completes Row Six, Pavan Ravishankar and Nazim Azman make up the seventh row on the grid and Kris Wright outpaced Hampus Ericsson, whose off midway through the session not only saw him bring out a red flag, but also relegated him to last on the grid.
Once Adam climbed into the TF Sport Vantage, the Scot made no mistake to stroke it home for a victory.
