Beauly racing driver Ollie Stewart makes GB3 Championship debut with Elite Motorsport
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British F4 race winner Ollie Stewart made his GB3 Championship debut at Oulton Park last weekend (April 08/10) where he performed strongly despite treacherous weather conditions and bad luck.
Following on from an impressive debut year in single seaters, Ollie made the move to the GB3 Championship with Elite Motorsport, carrying his run of good form into winter testing and setting up the season in good stead.
Qualifying around the Cheshire venue set the tone for the weekend, and with a hugely competitive grid, being only a few 10ths off the pace meant the Beauly driver found himself 19th quickest, much further down the order than he has the potential to be. Despite the disappointment, a full reverse grid race three meant the teenager would start inside the top 10 and be in for the chance of decent points.
Race one got off to a tricky start, but things soon settled down for the young racer who kept his focus and made his way through drama around him. Managing to climb five places as he made the most of other drivers' mistakes, Ollie crossed the line 14th.
After down time on Easter Sunday, racing resumed on Monday, bringing with it bouts of rain and changing track conditions. Lining up 20th for race two, it would be a hard-fought battle to make his way through the pack, but Ollie charged through and gained 12 places into eighth. Unfortunate contact with another driver at Druids knocked the Scottish racer back down into 14th where he took the chequered flag, still a respectable six places higher than he started.
As the cars made their way around the circuit on their formation lap on race three, the previously wet track began to dry out, with Stewart – alongside a host of other drivers – making the decision to come back into the pit for a change onto slick tyres. After a single racing lap, the safety car was deployed, with no further racing laps held. After pitting for a second time for wets, Stewart was down in 16th where he finished the race.
With moments of promising pace throughout the weekend, Stewart and the team will now be working hard to come back stronger for the next round of the GB3 Championship at Silverstone over the weekend of May 6/7.
Stewart said: “Qualifying was really disappointing for the whole team. We've put in a lot of effort throughout winter testing, and we've all been very strong. My teammate McKenzy [Cresswell] has been the benchmark at every circuit we've been to, and I've not been too far behind him, so to come to the first round and that's no longer the case is a bit disappointing.
"However, we know that it is super close, so only a couple of 10ths would have put us up there. I've been working well with the team and my mechanic, so I know that we'll get back to that standard soon.
“Race one was good, but my start was awful. I bled the clutch too fast, and it didn't stall, but it was close. I'm still very much getting used to the GB3 car. My starts were my strong point in F4, and I’m not at that level yet in this new car, but I'll be working hard on that.
"My teammate was in front of me, so I didn't want to make any ridiculous lunges, but I kept as close as possible and let all the carnage unfold. I stayed out of trouble and gained places as cars were going off or spinning around me.
“The pace was definitely there in race two and the car felt good. We were up 12 places into eighth at one point, but unfortunately, I had a bit of an incident with another driver at Druids, so fell back six places. We had a lot of speed in the wet and we had an opportunity to work on racecraft and try a lot of different things.
“Race three was a bit of a disaster. We started seventh on the grid and it was looking like it was going to be a wet race until it suddenly started to dry out. On the green flag lap I decided to box for slicks, which was definitely the right choice at the time.
"We had one racing lap before the safety car came out, and so did the rain, so I came back in to switch back to wet tyres. I'm disappointed that we couldn't make the most of starting in the top ten.
“Overall, a disappointing weekend, but plenty of positives to carry over to Silverstone where I’m sure we'll come back stronger. “
