30th September 2024

Patrick Heuzenroeder concluded the GB3 Championship season with a sixth-place finish, drawing 2024 to a close in style with a result representative of his pace and the progress he has made across his rookie campaign.

The Australian driver was on the front foot from the beginning of the season finale at Brands Hatch. He finished third in the combined classifications from three 40-minute test sessions at the 3.916 km (2.433 miles) Grand Prix circuit on Wednesday, which signalled a continuation of his uptick in performance that was first exhibited in Continental Europe.

A pause in proceedings on Thursday allowed teams to debrief an important day of running before, on Friday,  Heuzenroeder completed 54 laps of the shorter Brands Hatch Indy circuit.

A 20-minute practice session on Saturday morning, which featured difficult damp conditions, then allowed the 20-car GB3 field to find their groove on the Grand Prix layout once more.

Heuzenroeder went on to execute a strong qualifying session later in the day which placed him seventh on the grid for Race 1 and eighth for Race 2. He was a mere 0.3 seconds shy of pole position, putting him in the midst of the top 10 where he had his sights set heading into the weekend.

The extreme camber of the main straight at Brands Hatch made getting off the line quickly a fine art all weekend, but Heuzenroeder got Race 1 underway with a good launch as the sun shone overhead on Saturday afternoon. The 18-year-old went into the challenging Paddock Hill Bend and Druids hairpin side-by-side with another car, however, he ended up off the track on the exit of Graham Hill Bend and tumbled down the order. He was subsequently involved in a collision on lap two, which the stewards deemed to be a racing incident, and dropped to 17th position, where he took the chequered flag.

Heuzenroeder kicked off the action on the final day of the GB3 season with a signature lightning start. Starting from eighth, he challenged for seventh off the line but was boxed in as he swept through turn one, halting any potential progress. He settled down in eighth place through the following corners but ran slightly wide at the punishing Sheene Curve as he approached the end of lap one, falling to 11th as a result. Heuzenroeder pulled away from the car behind him after a brief safety car period and crossed the line comfortably in the same spot, claiming another solid points-scoring result.

The JHR Developments driver started Race 3, which had its starting lineup dictated by the results of qualifying with the top 12 reversed, in sixth. He kept his nose clean on a chaotic lap one and gained a position before the safety car was called into action to neutralise the race. Heuzenroeder dropped back to sixth as the green flag flew and he remained there until the end of the race, coming home to bag a healthy haul of points to conclude the 2024 season on a high.

‘The Racing Kelpie’ finished his rookie campaign in GB3 12th in the championship standings and helped JHR Developments claim fourth in the team’s championship.

Patrick Heuzenroeder said:

“It feels good to have ended the GB3 Championship season on a high with a sixth-place finish here at Brands Hatch.

“We had the pace all weekend, which we showed in testing and qualifying, but it was difficult to make much progress with overtaking opportunities being so rare. A couple of unfortunate incidents hurt us overall but I’m happy to come away with two solid results and claim 12th in the championship standings.

“All in all, it has been a positive year in GB3. There have been both highs and lows, but, most importantly, I have learned a lot and will be taking that knowledge into whatever I am racing next year.”

26th September 2024

Patrick Heuzenroeder will take to the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit this weekend (28-29 September) for the final round of the GB3 Championship season. The 18-year-old Australian aims to bounce back from an unlucky round at Donington Park and finish 2024 on a high, having tasted podium success earlier in the year and placed third place overall at one of the few available Brands Hatch GP test days conducted this week. 

The 3.916 km (2.433 miles) Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit is one of the United Kingdom’s most challenging venues, characterised by elevation changes, off-camber corners and punishing track limits. 

The 21-car GB3 field will blast down the Brabham Straight, which is named in honour of Jack Brabham, Australian Formula 1 legend and the father of Heuzenroeder’s mentor, David Brabham, before attacking iconic turns such as Paddock Hill Bend, Westfield, and Sheene’s Curve, where they will push their Tatuus MSV-022 cars to the limit.

Teams are rarely permitted to test on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit outside of a race weekend, placing additional emphasis on each driver’s ability to adapt quickly – something that proved to be one of Heuzenroeder’s strengths when he executed his most successful weekend to-date on his first visit to the Hungaroring in June.  A positive outing at the full Brands Hatch layout this week, where Heuzenroeder placed second in the final session and third overall, is a promising sign that his ability to adapt quickly is again coming to the fore.

Heuzenroeder will be hoping to return to the same level of form this weekend he was able to show in GB3’s European rounds, having been disadvantaged by an unfortunate red flag in qualifying at Donington Park three weeks ago.  After a four-week summer break, Heuzenroeder had shown impressive speed in the build-up to Round 7 at the Derby circuit. He finished practice on Friday in fourth position, but an unlucky red flag in qualifying while he was on a lap that would have placed him in seventh put the Australian driver out of position for all three races. He salvaged two points-scoring results from the event, proving his resilience.

That European form included a mighty performance at the Hungaroring, one of four Formula 1 Grand Prix venues on the 2024 GB3 calendar, where Heuzenroeder claimed two top-five finishes and one top-eight result, having fought with, and overcome, championship contenders to rack up another 46 points.

He carried that momentum into the final event of the Continental European leg of the year at Circuit Zandvoort, where, sporting an eye-catching new blue and yellow livery in collaboration with Hard Rock Cocktails, Heuzenroeder scored a milestone first podium finish of the season and delivered another top-five result, continuing a string of strong performances.

‘The Racing Kelpie’ had a more difficult weekend on GB3’s return to the United Kingdom at Silverstone in July. He was hampered by aerodynamic wash from another car in qualifying and was pushed off-line while battling wheel-to-wheel in Race 1 and Race 3, despite little fault of his own; but, regardless of the setbacks, he left the home of the British Grand Prix with another top-10 finish to his name.

Heuzenroeder lies 12th in the championship standings ahead of the GB3 season finale and is within touching distance of a top-10 finish.  

Round 8 will begin with four 25-minute test sessions on Friday, allowing drivers to find their footing on the shorter Brands Hatch Indy circuit, while a final 20-minute practice session on the full Grand Prix circuit will commence on Saturday morning. 

A 20-minute qualifying session will follow, in which each driver’s fastest lap will set the grid for Race 1 and their second-best times will decide their starting positions for Race 2. Race 1, a 20-minute contest, will take place on Saturday afternoon, while Race 2, which will follow the same format, will kick off on Sunday morning.

The GB3 season will come to a close with Race 3, which will be 25 minutes in length and will have its starting order set by the results of qualifying with the top 12 reversed, on Sunday afternoon.

The full timetable for Round 8 is as follows (all times local, BST):

Friday 27 September (Indy circuit):
Test session 1 – 09:30-09:55
Test session 2 – 11:30 – 11:55
Test session 3 – 14:15 – 14:40
Test session 4 – 16:15 – 16:40

Saturday 28 September:
Practice – 09:00 – 09:20
Qualifying – 11:40 – 12:00
Race 1 – 14:50 – 15:10

Sunday 29 September:
Race 2 – 11:30 – 11:50
Race 3 – 15:45 – 16:10

Patrick Heuzenroeder said:

“Brands Hatch is a true driver’s circuit and I’m excited to take it on this weekend. With extreme elevation changes, high-speed turns and punishing track limits, it is certainly a challenging venue.

“However, I am ready to give it my all this weekend and, of course, take on as much information as I can to continue my growth as a driver.

“I had a great test day outing this week at the circuit, finishing the last session in second position, which although the amount of time we had on track was limited, sets me up really for the weekend and a positive end to the season.

“My goal is to make it into the top 10 in the championship and end the 2024 season on a high, especially after being so unlucky in qualifying at Donington Park where a red flag hampered my weekend from the outset, so I will be pushing right until the very end.”

For more information, please contact:

Matt Bishop, Managing Director, Diagonal Comms: matt.bishop@diagonalcomms.com
Joe Downes, Business Director, Diagonal Comms: joe.downes@diagonalcomms.com

Sept 9th 2024

Patrick Heuzenroeder scored three-point finishes during Round 7 of the GB3 championship season, but was hampered by an unlucky qualifying session where a red flag derailed his prospects for a promising weekend.

As GB3 returned from a five-week summer break, Heuzenroeder kicked off the action at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit with a set of impressive results in practice. He was placed seventh on a single day of running at the 4.020 km (2.498 miles) venue on the week before Round 7, and on Friday’s official pre-event testing day he was looking fast, placing 4th in FP3, the final session of the day. 

Despite being on par with the GB3 title contenders in practice, qualifying on Saturday morning saw Heuzenroeder finish an unrepresentative 15th, with his second-best lap time placing him in 12th. Light rain which increased in intensity throughout the session contrasted the dry running and higher temperatures that he and his car seemed to excel in earlier in the week. 

However, after being impeded by another driver on his first push lap, it was a red flag that was thrown late in the 20-minute session that ultimately hurt Heuzenroeder’s session the most, putting a halt to a lap that was 0.4 seconds faster than his previous best effort when he was just two corners from the line. Qualifying was subsequently not restarted after the stoppage, leaving the Australian out of position for all three races and setting the scene for a tough weekend.

In Race 1 on Saturday afternoon, despite a strong getaway, Heuzenroeder was spun by another car at turn one, dropping him to the back of the field on the first lap. Despite the setback, ‘The Racing Kelpie’  recovered to 18th place, confidently tackling a punishing wet-dry surface that saw many mistakes by rivals further up the field.

Mixed conditions returned on a bleak Sunday morning at Donington Park, forcing the GB3 field of 20 cars onto wet tyres for Race 2. Heuzenroeder started the 20-minute contest in 12th place and he executed another brilliant start, challenging for 10th place on the approach to turn one. However, as the mid-pack battled for the limited track space, he was pushed off the circuit on the exit of the corner which dropped him to 17th position. 

The 18-year-old had moved forward two positions by the chequered flag, with some impressive racecraft on a wet track late in the contest to snatch 15th and add another six points to his season tally.

The clouds that had loomed over Donington Park throughout the weekend largely cleared for Race 3, setting up the only contest of the round with a completely dry circuit. Heuzenroeder started from 15th on the grid and held his position throughout the 25-minute outing. A post-race penalty for a track limits violation later demoted him to 18th place.

Heuzenroeder sits 12th in the championship standings after Round 7 of his maiden campaign in the GB3 Championship. With 105 points up for grabs at the 2024 season finale, which will take place at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit on September 28-29, he will look to reproduce results similar to those he scored in Continental Europe, which included four top-five finishes and one podium.

Patrick Heuzenroeder said:

“It’s been a difficult weekend. I showed that I had the pace to challenge for the top-ten and top-five positions throughout testing, and I felt really confident in the car, but in qualifying the weather didn’t suit our setup quite so well and a late red flag when I was set to improve my lap time significantly put us firmly on the back foot from the outset and carried through into every race.

“As always I will use the challenges to learn and develop, even though its very frustrating to have been caught up in some incidents over which I had little control. There is always something to take away from a race weekend. I will reset and look to bounce back at Brands Hatch to end the season on a high.”

For more information, please contact:

Matt Bishop, Managing Director, Diagonal Comms: matt.bishop@diagonalcomms.com

Joe Downes, Business Director, Diagonal Comms: joe.downes@diagonalcomms.com