Curtain comes down on Elite Motorsport's maiden GB3 season 20.10.2021: Almost 40 top-10 placings achieved in team’s first year of single-seater racing The curtain came down on Elite Motorsport’s maiden GB3 Championship season at Donington Park (16-17 Oct) with the Norfolk team claiming a creditable fifth place

Almost 40 top-10 placings achieved in team’s first year of single-seater racing



The curtain came down on Elite Motorsport’s maiden GB3 Championship season at Donington Park (16-17 Oct) with the Norfolk team claiming a creditable fifth place in the Teams’ championship. Tom Lebbon and Javier Sagrera Pont, like Elite, were both new to the single-seater category but nevertheless claimed ninth and 10th respectively in the final Driver’s standings.
 


Elite collectively scored 38 top-10 placings in the 24-race series with the Spaniard earning them a best second place finish with outgoing Ginetta Junior champion Lebbon also claiming a podium. James Hedley, who joined Elite to make his GB3 debut at Donington, recorded a best 10th place finish.
 


Lebbon made a great start in Saturday’s dry opening race, making up four places on the opening lap to run fifth – a position he retained to the chequered flag after 12-laps. Race 2 on Sunday morning was staged in very wet conditions and saw Tom contact another car early on which resulted in his car losing its front wing necessitating a pit-stop for a replacement.



In the season’s finale, held in the dry, Lebbon impressively sliced his way up to fourth place from a 13th place reverse grid start, slipping a place on the last lap. In the 24-race series, Tom achieved 18 top-10 placings with just one DNF.
 


Sagrera Pont began Race 1 from 14th on the grid but incredibly completed lap one in seventh after a demon opening lap which he held to the finish. In Race 2, Javier drove a steady race in the tricky conditions to record 11th but was unceremoniously punted out of 18th at mid-distance in Race 3 having made a slow start. Sagrera Pont recorded six top-six finishes
 


Hedley recorded a very creditable 10th place in his maiden GB3 race and did an excellent job in the wet to take 11th at the chequered flag but dropped a place after a 5secs time penalty for exceeding track limits. James was dicing for another top-10 place in Race 3 until a grassy moment cost him places, coming home 12th.



* All cars in series are the Tatuus BF3-020 powered by a two-litre, 230bhp bespoke Mountune engine.   


 




James Hedley (GB)
Age: 18
Born/Lives: Poole, Dorset, England
Car No: 67


Qualifying Position:11th
Race 1 Result: 10th

Start Race 2 Position (based on driver's second fastest qualifying lap): 11th
Race 2 Result: 12th

Start Race 3 Position (reverse of Race 1 finishers): 11th
Race 3 Result: 12th

Final Championship Position/Points: 26th, (24-points) - three races




Tom Lebbon (GB)
Age: 16
Born/Lives: Bury St Edmunds, England
Car No: 34


Qualifying Position: 9th
Race 1 Result: 5th

Start Race 2 Position (based on driver's second fastest qualifying lap): 9th
Race 2 Result: 20th

Start Race 3 Position (reverse of Race 1 finishers): 13th
Race 3 Result: 5th

Final Championship Position/Points: 9th, (288-points)




Javier Sagrera Pont (SP)
Age: 17
Born: Girona, Spain
Lives: Torroella de Montgrí, Spain
Car No: 3


Qualifying Position: 14th
Race 1 Result: 7th

Start Race 2 Position (based on driver's second fastest qualifying lap): 12th
Race 2 Result: 11th

Start Race 3 Position (reverse of Race 1 finishers): 8th
Race 3 Result: DNF

Final Championship Position/Points: 10th, (265-points)




 




Eddie Ives, Team Owner & Manager


“I am very pleased with the outcome of our first year in GB3. It has been a very enjoyable year joining the GB3 grid.
 We can’t wait to get our hands on the new car, hopefully next month, and look forward to announcing our 2022 line-up soon.
 
“Tom came into the category as the reigning Ginetta Junior champion and like Javier, had never raced a GB3 [F3] car while for Javier, he’d not raced in the UK previously. Both acquitted themselves very well. We finished the year off with James in our third car for his GB3 debut and he did a great job on his debut.










- Martyn Pass, photos Elite Motorsport