Chris Dittmann Racing claimed a hat-trick of top ten finishes in the GB3 Championship at the weekend (June 25/26) as McKenzy Cresswell and Branden Oxley battled a close and competitive field at Snetterton.

After a promising test at Silverstone before the race weekend, where the team confirmed that the cars have good pace, things continued in pre-event testing at the Norfolk venue, especially on older tyre runs. Sadly, come qualifying on Saturday morning, with the field so closely matched, despite both drivers being within 0.8s of pole, they would line up 12th and 14th.

It was McKenzy, in 14th, who made a great start, climbing up to tenth on the opening lap, which became ninth due to a retirement ahead. From there he had to manage his tyres so couldn’t push to catch those ahead, holding firm and scoring good points.

Branden also started well but had to take to the grass in the run to turn one, holding 11th. He slipped back a couple of positions during the contest and then found it hard to regain ground in the dirty air behind Bryce Aron, having to settle for 12th at the flag.

On Sunday morning, the Thai/British racer had a good start, jumping up three spots to tenth, but McKenzy sadly fell back four places to 18th. A spin by a rival helped promote both drivers up a spot, as the latter also made a pass on track, but that was where they finished, ninth and 16th.

The final race of the weekend was the reverse grid race, with McKenzy starting ninth and Branden 11th, but the latter barely made it to the second corner as Bryce Aron moved across into the braking zone, which put him onto the grass. As their wheels then made contact, the CDR drivers’ suspension broke, and he spun into retirement, while Aron was excluded from the results for his part in the incident.

McKenzy started well and made his way forward, gaining three places to run sixth, which became fifth as Zak Taylor had a problem. From there, despite being able to catch Tommy Smith ahead, the American teenager had no clear way past and settled for fifth position and a good haul of championship points.

There’s now a break of one month before action resumes in the Belgian Ardennes, as the series heads to Spa-Francorchamps over the weekend of July 22-24.

McKenzy Cresswell

G1 – 12, R1 – 9
G2 – 14, R2 – 16
G3 – 9, R3 – 5

Championship: 10 (129 points)

“The test we had recently went quite well. We felt we made good strides with the car, and it’s feeling a lot faster. On Thursday we were really, really competitive. I didn’t quite get a run on the new tyre, but on old tyre pace I was P1 for most of the session, so that was promising. Everyone’s made a step going from practice to qualifying. It’s not where we wanted to be, but we know we can go better.

“Race one was damage limitation as I wasn’t expecting much from 14th on the grid. I got a good start, getting a few spots on lap one. I was pressuring the car in front for a little bit, but then I had to back off because I couldn’t quite keep the tyres in check. Max [Esterson] behind me was quite quick, so the tssk was stopping him from getting past, but it’s so difficult to overtake around here, so I don’t think it was going to happen anyway.

“Race two was one to forget. I didn’t get a very good start, made a few moves, but the final one didn’t stick, and I broke my front wing. It’s a lesson learnt, and this season has been a learning experience. It’s only my second season racing a car and all the knowledge I am gaining is going to be put to good use in the future,

“It’s so hard to overtake around here, after lap one that’s all you can really do. I had a good start and kept my nose clean, maybe a couple more laps I could have got past [Tommy] Smith, but he was defending well and didn’t make a single mistake. In races like these that’s all we can really hope for, the full reverse grid is hard, so P5 is not a bad result and it’s good points.”

Branden Oxley

G1 – 14, R1 – 12
G2 – 13, R2 – 9
G3 – 11, R3 – DNF

Championship: 14 (99 points)

“It was going well in testing on Thursday and Friday. We have a lot more pace than we did at Donington, and we’ve made a huge step forward, but so has everyone else. I had a better start to race one than the two people in front of me and they kind of blocked me, so either I had to lift off or I would be compromised from the people behind, so basically, I gained two and lost two. I was definitely quicker than the driver in front, but I just had nowhere to use the pace because there was just so much dirty air. I couldn’t use what I had because every time I got close, I had to pull back again, and I didn’t have the top line speed to catch [Bryce] Aron.

“Snetterton might be the most boring track I’ve ever been to. There’s pretty much no overtaking and if there’s any it’s in the first few laps, even when you have more pace, you have to wait for someone to crash or spin, so after the start there wasn’t much going on in race two. In race three, unfortunately a car moved on me under braking and didn’t leave me any space. I was side by side with him and he put me on the grass then hit my wheel which broke the suspension.”