Williamson takes maiden GP3 win

July 10th, 2011

McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner Lewis Williamson scored his first-ever GP3 victory on the morning of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

The MW Arden driver, who started from second on the grid, made a terrible getaway and was fourth on the run to Abbey, behind leader Dean Smith (Addax), James Calado (ART) and Nick Yelloly (Atech CRS). But Williamson made a fantastic recovery, passing Yelloly on the way into Abbey and then taking advantage as Smith and Calado compromised each other’s lines through Village.

With a clear run, Williamson simply drove around the outside of Calado at The Loop, then lined up Smith into Brooklands. For a moment it looked like they would run three abreast, but as Smith clung to the inside, Williamson drove around the outside of him to grab a lead he would never give up.

He pulled away to a five-second victory, as Smith clung tenaciously to second, repelling Calado’s early advances.

As in race one yesterday, the man to watch was Alexander Sims (Status) who charged from fifth to third, grabbing the championship lead as he did so. After an early clash with Manor driver Rio Haryanto at Vale, he passed Yelloly for fourth at Brooklands on lap seven, and the pulled off a brilliant lunge down the inside of Calado at Vale on lap 12 to put himself on the podium.

Haryanto also passed Calado for fourth at Brooklands, while Yelloly just failed to catch Calado by the flag and was forced to settle for sixth.

Other unsung stars of the race were Nigel Melker (Mucke), who charged from the back of the grid to eighth, and Manor’s Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, who was forced to start from the pits instead of fifth when his car stalled on the dummy grid. He recovered to finish 15th.

Sims now leads the points by three points from Mitch Evans, who was a first lap retirement when his MW Arden car broke down after charging up to fifth in the opening corners.