This weekend sees the return of the GB3 Championship which has entertained massively since it was born from the rebranded BRDC British Formula 3 Championship in 2021.
Zak O'Sullivan and Luke Browning are the two championship winners we've seen so far, evidencing the fact GB3 can provide a fantastic launch pad for young drivers to join the FIA Formula ladder on the road to F1 as they've stepped up to be competitive in F3.
📸 Zak O'Sullivan is in his second year of F3 and has been picked by Williams for their academy set up.
This year's grid looks incredibly competitive and features a number of young drivers tipped to have incredible features and will kick off this weekend at Oulton Park, before rounding out the season at Donington Park at the tail end of October with trips to Zandvoort, Silverstone and Spa all on the calendar across the season.
📸 Zandvoort will feature on the GB3 calendar this year.
Let's take a look at 3 drivers who could be 'ones to watch' in GB3.
1. Alex Dunne - Hitech Pulse-Eight
Irish teenager Alex Dunne - someone I've twice previously interviewed - steps into GB3, sticking with the Hitech team that helped him to take 2022's RoKit British F4 title in dominating fashion.
Alex also raced in Italian F4 in 2022, finishing second in an strong field that featured Italian sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli, F3 stars Taylor Barnard and Nikita Bedrin, 2023 Formula Regional Oceania champion Charlie Wurz and Ferrari Driver Academy stars Rafael Camara and James Wharton among many others.
I fully expect Alex Dunne will be in title contention as he looks to make the next step as quickly as possible.
Fact: Alex's dad Noel was a two time Irish Formula Ford F1600 champion:
2. Oliver Stewart - Elite Motorsport
Hailing from Beauly - a town near Inverness, Scotland - Oliver Stewart is another driver who least year represented Hitech in the RoKit British F4 Championship, finishing 10th overall for the British team in his first year of single seater racing.
His season saw him win once and take two pole positions as he acclimated himself to wheel to wheel single seater racing.
If he hits the ground running in GB3, Stewart could be a force to be reckoned with this year.
Fact: Oliver was selected for the Richard Mille Young Driver Academy shootout as he came out of karting, the only UK driver to be selected.
3. Gerrard Xie - Hillspeed Racing
A pretty unknown driver in the series, Xie comes to GB3 fresh from winning the Chinese Formula 4 championship in 2022, where he won 12 times in 14 races, showing superb form and consistency.
One of those wins saw him win at the treacherous Macau circuit, demonstrating his ability to cope in tough, testing conditions.
He'll be one to watch, coming over as a champion, and it'll be very interesting to see if he can get up to speed as his championship winning form shows. He's in good hands with the well established Hillspeed team.
Fact: Gerrard is one of 4 Asian drivers announced for this season alongside Ayato Iwasaki, Souta Arao and Michael Shin.
📸 Image credits: GB3 Championship, Alex Dunne, Oliver Stewart, Zak O'Sullivan, Circuit Zandvoort.
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