19 September 2023 – Press release Arthur Rogeon, GB3 Championship, round 6, Brands Hatch, 8 – 10 September 2023
Since his podiums at the end of the first six months of the season, Arthur Rogeon has been through a bad patch in the GB3 Championship, formerly the British Formula 3 Championship. It looked like he would face a difficult weekend on the venerable Brands Hatch track due to its specific challenges. But he ultimately missed out on a solid triple result due to a technical problem during qualifying practice, and an incident at the start of race 3 when he seemed set for another Top-3 finish! The young French driver’s trip to Kent still produced some positive results with a fighting comeback which bagged him 12th place in race 1.
Karting and motor car, same combat. The single qualifying session remains a crucial element in fighting for a place among the front-runners. Flashback. For his debut at Brands Hatch, our single-seater rookie and his more experienced rivals had only a single twenty-minute practice session on the 3916-metre GP Circuit. They were given other sessions on the small Indy Circuit, but this one is two kilometres shorter and has only three turns in common with the longer layout.
When it came to the crucial qualifying session, Arthur did a first lap on new tyres which he himself considered average because he pushed too hard. He fitted his second set of new rubber, corrected his approach, but ran into a problem that neither his team nor the engineers responsible for the championship’s engine fleet could explain. “The onboard data showed that even if I came out of a corner faster than my teammate, I was 10 kph slower at the end of the next straight. I found myself credited with the 21st time. In the race, the problem vanished. Nobody understood anything.” Everything was back to normal so much so that Arthur made a great start, gained nine places in total and finished 12th in the first race. Let’s forget race 2 which saw him retire following a collision in the second corner.
Karting and motor car, same combat except that there is not – yet? – a race with a reverse grid in karting for those who had a poor qualifying session. Arthur kept a set of fresh tires for race 3 as his 21st time in qualifying gave him 3rd place on the grid thanks to the reverse order. The Frenchman made a blinder of a start and was on his way to grabbing second place as the field roared into Paddock Hill Bend, but he had no time to enjoy the grandiose spectacle provided by this legendary corner. His immediate pursuer, who had just damaged his front wing after tagging the leader, hit Arthur’s right-hand rear wheel and the two drivers’ race ended in the gravel trap. The stewards’ decision to penalise the other driver held responsible for the clash with Arthur absolved the Chris Dittmann Racing driver of any blame. But the damage was done and a great opportunity lost.
There are two meetings still to go, Zandvoort in the Netherlands followed by Donington Park in the north-east of England. By then, Arthur will benefit from a day of testing on each of these circuits on which he will try to score top-class results on 14-15 and 21-22 October.