Welsh racer Matt Rees demonstrated race-winning performance as the GB3 Championship travelled to Donington Park last weekend (May 28/29), but heavy contact in the opening contest cost a shot at victory.
Those memories would be banished in the final race on Sunday afternoon however, as the 16-year-old Sport Wales-backed reigning F4 British champion made up a remarkable 13 positions to fire a warning shot to his title rivals.
Showing excellent pace in the two days of pre-event testing, Matt and JHR Developments continued that form, missing pole position in qualifying by just 0.019s having been hampered at the final turn on his fastest lap. He made an almost perfect start to race one, initially being handed a ten second time penalty for a false start which was rescinded after review of his on-board video.
Getting alongside rival Joel Granfors at Redgate, he was forced wide but kept his foot in, as the pair went side-by-side down the Craner Curves into the Old Hairpin. Getting back alongside into McLeans, Matt was again pushed wide onto the gravel which resulted in contact between both cars, causing damage to Matt’s front wing and tracking, while Granfors retired. Falling to eighth, there wasn’t much more the teenager could do while suffering from damage, bringing it home for valuable championship points.
Lining up fourth for race two on Sunday morning he bogged down a little off the line, causing him to drop to seventh place. Despite having front running pace – the only driver to match the winner’s lap times – he struggled to make up ground in the dirty air but was able to sneak past Callum Voisin who ran wide, and settles for sixth at the line.
Starting 20th for the reverse grid contest, the BRDC SuperStar kept out of trouble in the opening tours, but then started to show impressive speed as he began picking off rivals one by one throughout the 12-lap race. Quickly moving up to 15th, he passed title rival Luke Browning, snuck past Alex Connor, gained another position when James Hedley was handed a five-second track limits penalty, almost sent it past Voisin at the final corner, and was classified seventh when Zak Taylor was excluded from the results.
That performance, outscoring all but one of the drivers ahead of him in the championship standings in the final contest, means Matt has regained ground in the standings, now sitting seventh and just 49 points behind the leader, with a theoretical maximum of over 100 points available each weekend.
Matt will be back in action in a month’s time as the series travels to Snetterton in Norfolk, over the weekend of June 25/26, for rounds 10, 11, and 12 of the GB3 Championship season.
Impressive final race performance provides GB3 Championship boost for Matt Rees
