Two more points-scoring finishes for teenage Beauly racing driver Ollie Stewart in GB3 Championship at Snetterton
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Ollie Stewart continued to show impressive race craft and pace in the GB3 Championship last weekend, as the teenager recorded two more point-scoring finishes in his Elite Motorsport machine.
Showing good speed through pre-weekend testing, Stewart was regularly in the top 10 and aimed to carry that into qualifying. In a closely fought session he was just 0.8s from pole but would finish 15th with both his fastest and second fastest times.
In the opening contest overtaking was at a premium, with the aero wash affecting cars in the train, though the Beauly-based teenager made an outstanding move to gain 13th from Jarrod Waberski on lap seven of the scheduled 12.
Coming into turn one, Riches, he took the outside line, with the pair remaining side by side through almost half a lap of close but respectful racing, before getting the move done at the Agostini hairpin.
Sadly, the youngster's race two lasted barely one lap as he had to retire with rear suspension damage after contact from another car – just the second time this season the young Scot has failed to score points.
He started the final race of the weekend well, holding 10th position on the fully reversed grid, before climbing up to ninth.
When a pair of cars came together ahead, it promoted Stewart to seventh where he came under immense pressure from Nico Christodoulou but would not yield, showing another side of his talent with some calm and cool driving to hold position to the flag.
Stewart will now enjoy a break in action, before returning to the GB3 Championship at Silverstone over the weekend of July 29/30, for rounds 13, 14, and 15 of the 2023 season.
“Race one went okay," the Beauly teenager reflected.
"I made a really, really good overtake around the outside into turn one. That was a really sketchy move, and it was great that [Jarrod] Waberski gave me the room that I needed, and I give him the room that he needed in turn three as well.
"The pace was there definitely but we were blocked a wee bit with the dirty air, so it was difficult to overtake.
“I had a good launch off the start for race two and managed to make up a few places, sitting on the brink of the top 10, but going under the bridge I went for a move around the outside of Souta Arao that he defended well.
"I tried to get the switchback but unfortunately didn't get the run, however [John] Bennett on the outside managed to. He was on the outside and unfortunately, I moved over slightly too much whilst he was still there, and we collided.
"It definitely was not his fault, as he's a really clean driver. It's just one of those things and we shook hands about it.
“Race three was really good. I was happy with the way we drove and while the start wasn't great, we managed to bring it back.
"Nico Christodoulou behind me was really fast and he was able to get alongside me quite a few times, so I really had to fire in a lot of speed to keep in front.
"We made a lot of progress this weekend as we didn't quite manage to hook it up in qualifying. Nevertheless, it's a good result, I'm happy with P7, and hopefully we can bring that to Silverstone in six weeks’ time.”
