Chris Dittmann Racing returned to GB3 Championship action last weekend (September 9/10) as the series headed to Brands Hatch to race on the GP layout. Zak Taylor enjoying three top ten finishes, whilst misfortune for Arthur Rogeon meant he was unable to finish two of the three races.

Quick out the gate for qualifying, Zak rarely dropped out of the top ten quickest cars on track, ultimately finishing eighth when the session was red flagged. Unfortunately for Arthur, who was getting his first experience of the historic Grand Prix circuit, was slower than he had hoped in the first half of the session, but when qualifying didn’t restart the French racer didn’t get a chance to improve on his time, finishing 21st.

With Souta Arao out of the race due to damage sustained in qualifying, Arthur lined up in 20th. He had a rocket start, jumping six places by the end of the opening lap to run 14th. Unfortunately for Zak, he was down two places into tenth before the first Safety Car of the contest was deployed. Arthur was gaining quickly on Max Esterson ahead, before David Morales became stranded in the gravel, allowing the young driver to go through into 13th.

After a second Safety Car period, Arthur held position until the flag, but with post-race penalties given to other drivers, he was later classified in 12th. Zak was running in tenth before overtaking Jarrod Waberski in a strong last lap effort, crossing the line ninth.

With temperatures reaching 30 degrees yet again, the cars headed out for race two early Sunday afternoon. Zak held onto his position on the opening lap, gaining a place after Shawn Rashid and Noah Ping made contact at Druids, bringing out the Safety Car. Once racing resumed, the British driver was down in ninth where he crossed the line. Arthur was quick off the line, passing Gerrard Xie to go into 20th, but sustained damage in the process. Persevering, he continued to race for seven more laps, before unfortunately having to pit and end his race early.

Lining up third for the reversed grid race three, Arthur had an initial quick start, passing Rashid to go into second, before unfortunately being sent into a spin and early retirement after having his rear wheel tapped. With trouble further down the grid and multiple cars coming together on the opening lap, Zak was able to make it safely through and up eight places into ninth. He continued to pile the pressure onto Max Esterson in front, the American racer making a mistake which sent him off track, allowing Zak to sail past into eighth where he crossed the line, rounding off his weekend with a third top ten finish.

The GB3 side of the team will now have five weeks to prepare for the next international race on the calendar, set to take place at Zandvoort over the weekend of October 14/15.

Zak Taylor #9

G1 – 8, R1 – 9
G2 – 8, R2 – 9
G3 – 17, R3 – 8

Championship: 12 (134 points)

“We made the most of qualifying as we were a bit uncertain about where we’d be after a disappointing practice session. We managed to go eighth quickest which was really good and a huge improvement from earlier in the weekend, so I was happy with that.

“Race one was okay, I just aimed to bank a few points and start the weekend off well, and we crossed the line ninth so we managed that well. The same goes for race two, I lacked a little bit of pace in that one so dropped back and came home ninth again.

“For the reversed grid race, I thought it was going to be chaos but I didn’t expect it to be quite as crazy. I had a good start and got two or three cars off the line, then made it safely through the carnage and up some more places into ninth. I was trying to put the pressure on [Max] Esterson in front and force him into a mistake as there was probably no chance I would get past him. Eventually, he just drove off the track himself by the looks of it. That gained me another place and I finished eighth.

“I’m looking forward to Zandvoort. I’m going out there for some testing in two weeks’ time which will be my first time there. Hopefully we have another strong weekend where I can continue to bank points like we did here at Brands Hatch.”

Arthur Rogeon #18

G1 – 20, R1 – 12
G2 – 21, R2 – DNF
G3 – 3, R3 – DNF

Championship: 23 (80 points)

“Qualifying didn’t really go our way. I pushed a bit too hard on my first set of tyres so the lap times were not representative of the pace we had. Then after I came in to switch the tyres, it felt like we had a power delivery issue which again meant I was slower.

“We started race one in 21st and thankfully the power problem solved.  We had a really good first lap then held onto the position. I’m happy with how much progress we made in the race.

“I started near the back again in race two and unfortunately didn’t get the best start so stayed in that position. Going into turn two, another car tried to pass me around the outside but ended up making contact with my rear wheel and causing damage to my suspension. I stayed out for five or six laps but eventually had to come into the pits as the damage was too much.

“I got a really good start to the reversed grid race three and was up into second place, but again another car touched me and sent me off into the gravel. Unfortunately the weekend didn’t really go our way but we’ll move on and come back stronger at Zandvoort.”