After a long six-week Summer break, Chris Dittmann Racing returned to GB3 Championship competition last weekend (July 29/30), as the series once again headed to Silverstone for rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the season.

20-year-old Zak Taylor demonstrated strong pace in free practice, finishing fifth quickest on the road during Friday’s sessions. Hoping to carry over the positive momentum, the cars took to the track for Qualifying on Saturday morning, with Zak continuing his good form as he classified seventh. Teammate Arthur Rogeon had a more difficult session, finishing down in 17th.

Race one followed on Saturday afternoon and both drivers lined up for a shortened nine-lap race over the 3.7-mile circuit. Zak had a good start off the line, battling with Joseph Loake into the first corner. He took the flag in eighth, bringing home another top ten result.  Lining up further back than the Frenchman would have hoped, Arthur fought hard throughout the race, crossing the line in 16th having gained one position.

Race two kicked off the action on Sunday, with the grid for race two set by the second fastest qualifying times, meaning Zak would again start seventh and Arthur in 18th. As the race got underway Zak was involved in an incident at the first corner, dropping ten places. Recovering well after the Safety Car period, the young racer finished the race in 12th. With a fresh set of tyres on his car for race two, Arthur used this to his advantage making up five positions throughout the race to finish just behind his teammate in 13th.

Unfortunately, with weather conditions deteriorating through the afternoon, the grid of 23 drivers undertook a handful of formation laps under the Safety Car, before the reversed grid race three was red flagged and eventually cancelled.

There is now a five-week break for the GB3 Championship, before racing will resume on the challenging Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit over the weekend of September 9/10.

Zak Taylor #9
G1 – 7, R1 – 8,
G2 – 7, R2 – 12
G3 – 15, R3 – Race cancelled.

Championship: 15 (93 points)

“I had a decent qualifying, qualifying in seventh for both races. The car was in a good window, which resulted in our best qualifying of the year. It was nice to be in the mix and in a position to fight in the races.

“Race one was a weird one. I had a good start but I got stuck there for pretty much the rest of the race. We didn’t have too much pace, but it was good to be in the top ten.

“I started seventh again for race two but unfortunately got involved in an incident at turn one. This meant I lost ten places, but I had a good recovery drive after the safety car and made up six positions to finish in 12th.”

“It’s a shame race three was cancelled, but it was a pretty positive weekend up until that point.”

Arthur Rogeon #18
G1 – 17, R1 – 16
G2 – 18, R2 – 13
G3 – 6, R3 – .Race cancelled.

Championship: 23 (71 points)

“Qualifying could have gone a lot better as I made a couple of mistakes with my driving on my laps, but I managed to qualify 17th which wasn’t too bad. It could be a lot better, but the team are working hard to support me in improving this.

“In race one I started 17th and finished 16th. The speed and pace of the car just wasn’t good enough to overtake the car in front.

“The racing in race two was a lot better. I started 18th and made up five positions to finish in 13th. We had a fresh set of tyres for this race, so I was able to overtake more, which is really good. I’m glad to have improved my driving as the weekend went on and finish up well.”