The 2024 GB3 Championship was a motor racing championship for open wheel, formula racing cars held across Europe. The 2024 season was the ninth organised by the British Racing Drivers' Club in the United Kingdom, and the fourth season under the GB3 moniker after rebranding from the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship in mid-2021. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded drivers. The season was run over eight triple-header rounds, starting in March and running over eight race weekends until September.[1]
Isaac Barashi was announced to be making his series debut for Chris Dittmann Racing at the Hungaroring, but instead elected to replace Nikita Bedrin at MP Motorsport in FRECA.[40]
Ammonite Motorsport announced their entry into the championship ahead of the season, but did not field any drivers at any of the eight rounds.[41] Douglas Motorsport. a series mainstay since 2019, also did not field any drivers.
Race calendar
The provisional calendar was announced on 22 November 2023. After the series was awarded FIA international status in 2022, another international event was added in 2023, with the championship's debut at the Hungaroring replacing the round at Snetterton.[42]
The 2024 GB3 Championship began across Easter weekend at Oulton Park with Rodin’s Louis Sharp taking a pair of pole positions.[43] The first race of the season was decided at the start, with Sharp defending his lead from JHR’s John Bennett. The pair ran line astern from this point on, while Sharp’s teammate Ugo Ugochukwu completed the podium.[44] Race two started behind the safety car as it was very wet. Sharp led the opening part of the race, until a restart after a three-car collision when Bennett took the lead. Sharp dropped back and had to defend from Hitech’s Tymek Kucharczyk, before the latter ran off track. This saw Elite’s McKenzy Cresswell claim third.[45] The reverse-grid final race looked set to be won by Rodin’s Arthur Rogeon, who had moved from fourth to the lead at the start, but the Frenchman’s car suffered a gearbox issue on the final lap. This handed Hitech’s William Macintyre the win ahead of Elite’s Jarrod Waberski and Ugochukwu. Sharp came fifth to leave Cheshire leading the standings, 15 points ahead of Ugochukwu.[46]
Round two saw Kucharczyk take both pole positions around Silverstone.[47] He kept his lead at the start of the first race, while Cresswell was able to take second from Macintyre into Copse. Kucharczyk managed his lead from then on and built a 7.8-second gap to Cresswell to take an unchallenged victory. Cresswell came second as Macintyre had to defend from Sharp. The Australian tried a move on lap three, but that dropped him into the clutches of Ugochukwu behind him. The pair ran side by side before Sharp came out on top again, after which the order stabilised.[48] The rest of the weekend was disrupted by heavy rain, which saw race two postponed to Sunday afternoon and race three cancelled. Macintyre started race two second on the drier side of a damp track, which helped him take the lead. Ugochukwu moved from fifth to second, while poleman Kucharczyk dropped to third. Ugochukwu kept close to Macintyre, but was unable to challenge him. Sharp came fifth and now led Ugochukwu by 9 points.[49]
GB3’s continental leg began at Spa with Kucharczyk and Bennett sharing pole positions.[50] The pair started the first race alongside each other, with the Pole coming out ahead at Les Combes. He built a gap to the field and managed the race from that point on. Championship leaders Sharp and Ugochukwu started third and fourth and also battled at the start, with Sharp coming out on top to complete the podium.[51] Race two began similarly, with polesitter Bennett keeping the lead through the first laps, but Kucharczyk managed to stay with him and take first place on lap three. Bennett had no opportunity to fight back as the race finished under yellow, while Sharp took another third place.[52] Race three began with the top three side by side on the Kemmel Straight, before two of them collided and Hitech’s Gerrard Xie took the lead. After the ensuing safety car, Macintyre moved past Xie to take first place. Sharp retired after colliding with VRD Arden’s Noah Ping as they fought for third, allowing Kucharczyk to take the championship lead by nine points.[53]
Championship standings
Scoring system
Points were awarded to the top 20 classified finishers in races one and two, with the third race awarding points to only the top 15. Race three, which had its grid formed by reversing the top twelve from the qualifying order, awarded extra points, up until a maximum of twelve, for positions gained from the drivers' respective starting positions.[54]