21 April 2023 – Press release Arthur Rogeon, GB3 Championship, round 1, Oulton Park, 8 – 10 April 2023
Arthur Rogeon from the Pays de la Loire region of France had no idea what fate had in store for him on his single-seater debut in England. In hindsight it could be qualified as sweet and sour! On the one hand, he received several penalties because of his inexperience, while on the other he surprised a fair number of people by his sheer speed as mentioned on the official GB3 Championship site: « Frenchman Arthur Rogeon is a total newcomer to car racing, but judging by his pace at Oulton Park, you’d never guessed it. » Pretty encouraging, no?
So let’s begin this first report with the positive points on what was his discovery of motor car racing. There was cause for celebration pretty quickly when Arthur shone in the only qualifying session by setting the ninth-quickest time overall. The GB3 Championship is the successor to the legendary British F3 Championship which, in the past, crowned Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Mika Hakkinen to name but the world champions. Rogeon was the only driver in the pack of 25 hopefuls representing 13 different nationalities to come directly from karting. He was up against nine drivers in their second year in the category and 15 others having already spent one or more seasons at the wheel of various single-seaters.
Arthur put on a stunning display in the first race and he managed to fight his way up to a great sixth place. In sight of the finish, a rival hit one of his rear wheels causing a puncture. But the race was red-flagged cancelling out this incident as the classification was that of the previous lap.
On Easter Monday races 2 and 3 were run in the rain. It’s worth remembering his good, indeed very good starts, and the fighting spirit he showed that his nine British rivals wouldn’t have reneged!
So let’s have a look at the misadventures that also marked the young French rookie’s Easter Weekend. He lost his sixth place in race 1 as he moved before the start earning himself a 10-second penalty. In race 2 in pouring rain he lost his front wing in an overtaking move. It ended up rubbing against a tyre, which didn’t prevent Arthur from crossing the finishing line. Unfortunately, because of the clouds of spray thrown up by the cars he didn’t see the black flag with the orange circle ordering him to stop for repairs until the start of the last lap. The result was another penalty, this time, 60-seconds. Finally in race 3 he was held responsible for causing a collision and was handed a 5-place grid penalty for the next race.
Arthur really went through the hoop on his baptism of fire in single-seaters! “I’m very happy with my first qualification in a racing car with my ninth place and a gap that was only 5 tenths of a second off pole. What’s more, I was 11th quickest with my second-fastest time (used to decide the grid positions for race 2) proof that I was able to dial in two quick laps and that it wasn’t a fluke! I think that my pace was good throughout the weekend, but now I have to avoid mistakes and be more patient to score points.”
And last but not least we’ll leave the final word to the official voice of the championship: “The season opener was a clear sign that there’s a driver with plenty of potential here. » See you at Silverstone, “the home of British Motor Racing,” on 6-7 May!
Photos by Jakob Ebrey