GB3: Aurelia Nobels shows encouraging pace despite difficult Brands Hatch weekend
Aurelia Nobels endured a challenging Brands Hatch weekend in the GB3 Championship, with incidents in both of Sunday's races preventing the Hillspeed driver from converting encouraging pace into representative results.
Aurelia Nobels endured a challenging Brands Hatch weekend in the GB3 Championship, with incidents in both of Sunday's races preventing the Hillspeed driver from converting encouraging pace into representative results.
After showing strong speed throughout practice and qualifying, Nobels recovered to 16th in the opening race before being caught up in a heavy collision in Race 2 to no fault of her own, while a late incident and subsequent damage brought her final race to an early conclusion. Despite the difficult outcome, her pace around the demanding Brands Hatch GP circuit provided further evidence of the progress made during her rookie GB3 campaign.
Nobels arrived at Brands Hatch looking to build on the progress shown during the second half of the season. Last time out at Donington Park, the Hillspeed driver had recovered from a qualifying session compromised by technical problems to gain positions in all three races, recording finishes of 14th, 15th and 13th. Her race pace had improved progressively throughout that weekend, and Brands Hatch represented another opportunity to turn that underlying performance into stronger results.
The demanding Grand Prix circuit had already provided encouraging signs during a test two weeks before the event, when Nobels ran close to the top ten. That pace carried into the pre-event running on Friday, where the field initially used the Indy layout and Nobels placed 12th fastest before returning to the full GP circuit for official practice. She subsequently set a 1:17.246 to finish 11th, confirming that the Hillspeed entry had competitive speed ahead of the three-race weekend.
Nobels continued to make progress in the opening qualifying session, initially setting a 1:17.7 to move into the top ten before improving to a 1:17.6, with particularly strong performance through the second sector. She eventually lowered her benchmark to 1:17.441, securing 15th on the grid and finishing less than a second away from pole.
The second qualifying session produced an even more encouraging performance. Nobels quickly moved into the top ten with a 1:17.2 and climbed as high as sixth midway through the session, demonstrating that the Hillspeed car had the pace to fight significantly further forward. Her final 1:17.252 placed her 14th, giving her a better starting position for the final race of the weekend.
Nobels started the opening race from 15th but lost some positions during the opening lap, eventually settling into 18th. She immediately began working on a recovery, putting pressure on Wilson ahead while attempting to maintain a gap to Baptista behind.
Running in the 1:18.3 range, Nobels stayed within approximately half a second of Wilson while gradually pulling away from the car behind. Overtaking proved difficult, however, with the tight nature of the Brands Hatch GP circuit making it challenging to convert the pace advantage into a position.
The race opened up when Fu ran into trouble and went into the gravel before heading into the pits to assess the damage, promoting Nobels to 17th. She continued applying pressure to Wilson and eventually capitalised on a mistake on lap 14, when Wilson ran wide at the final corner and clipped the gravel. Nobels seized the opportunity to move through and climb to 16th.
Having recovered two positions from an unfortunate first lap, Nobels brought the Hillspeed car home 16th, completing a solid run.
Sunday morning's second race took place under sunny skies, with Nobels looking to build on the progress of Race 1. Unfortunately, her race came to a dramatic and premature end after she was caught up in an incident with another competitor.
Nobels was hit on the right rear at Surtees corner, sending the Hillspeed car heavily into the barriers and bringing out the safety car. The impact caused significant damage to the car, although Nobels was able to climb out safely and was thankfully unhurt.
The incident was a sinificant setback given the pace she had shown throughout the weekend, but the Hillspeed mechanics immediately set about repairing the damaged car in an effort to return Nobels to the grid for the afternoon's final race.
The Hillspeed crew's efforts paid off, with the car repaired in time for Race 3, allowing Nobels to start the final contest from 14th. Following the heavy impact only a few hours earlier, the race offered an opportunity to salvage something from an increasingly difficult weekend.
Nobels initially made a good launch but found herself boxed in as the field approached the tricky Paddock Hill Bend, preventing her from making the progress she had hoped for through the opening corners. She lost two positions and settled into 16th before dropping another place to Robinson.
The middle portion of the race developed into an intense five-car train, with Molnar, Gonzalez, Robinson, Nobels and Baptista separated by only a handful of tenths as they fought for position. Nobels remained in the battle, but the close racing ultimately produced another setback.
An incident sent the Brazilian into the gravel and she was then forced to pit with damage, bringing an unfortunate end to her final race of the weekend. The incident meant that she was unable to convert the pace shown earlier in the weekend, leaving Brands Hatch as a particularly frustrating round from a results perspective.
Despite the difficult outcome, Aurelia Nobels' performance at Brands Hatch continued to demonstrate encouraging progress during her rookie GB3 season. She showed competitive pace in testing and practice and had the speed to run further forward in the races, but a combination of incidents and difficult starts prevented her from capitalising.
Nobels will now have one final opportunity to turn that pace into a representative result when the GB3 Championship concludes at Barcelona on November 7–8.
