Alex Dunne takes GB3 Championship lead at sunny Snetterton

Ireland’s Alex Dunne threw down the gauntlet to his rivals in the GB3 Championship heading into the summer break, with another podium finish promoting the Irishman to the points lead at a sun-soaked Snetterton last weekend [17-18 June].

The 17-year-old made the journey to the Norfolk circuit in high spirits, after a starring role at Spa-Francorchamps last time out netted Alex his first GB3 victories, and a record points haul for a single weekend. Keen to build on that momentum, the reigning ROKiT British F4 champion was immediately a fixture at the sharp end of the field once again, topping the times during practice and securing third on the grid in a hard-fought qualifying session on Saturday morning.
After dropping back to fourth at the start of Race 1, Alex rallied quickly, and attempted to re-pass at the Wilson Hairpin. He kept the battle for third honest throughout, but on a circuit where overtaking opportunities are at a premium, a risk-free scenario never presented itself, and Alex duly banked the points.
He went two better in the second contest, to move into second spot. Again, Alex went on the charge in an attempt to pressure race leader  into an error, but the latter held firm, and they took the chequered flag just 0.3 seconds apart. It marked a third podium of the campaign for Alex and promoted him to the championship lead with one race to follow.
Storming through the pack in the reverse grid races has become a trademark Alex performance in 2023, and it proved to be the case once again at Snetterton. Out-scoring the majority of his nearest rivals in the process, Alex climbed nine spots up the order to close out the triple-header in P12, and to establish a six-point lead at the top of the standings.

A return to Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout is next following a six-week summer break, with action set to resume on 29-30 July.

Alex Dunne (#22) said:
“It’s been a pretty good weekend at Snetterton. We managed to get another very good points haul and take the championship lead. I think we had the pace to get more out of the weekend, but qualifying didn’t go quite to plan and it was quite difficult to overtake from there in the races. But our pace has been very strong recently, so I’m feeling confident we can continue to build on these results recently across the rest of the year. A huge thanks to my team at Hitech GP for their hard work and support, and we look forward now to Silverstone.”

Images from Jakob Ebrey Photography