Ayrton Simmons picked up where he left off at Brands Hatch on Saturday, adding to his two wins last year and double pole position by winning the first race of the 2021 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship.
The CDR man won twice in a wildcard appearance at Brands last season, so his pace this weekend did not come as a surprise to many.
Simmons secured pole for both Race 1 and 2 in the dying minutes of Qualifying on Saturday morning, and led the field by a second at the end of the first tour around the Grand Prix loop.
Max Marzorati (CDR), Reema Juffali (Douglas Motorsport) and Mikkel Grundtvig (Fortec Motorsports) overtook Elite Motorsport‘s José Garfias on Lap 2, while the rest of the order remained relatively unchanged in the first few minutes of the 20.
Hitech GP‘s Sebastian Alvarez slipped five places to 13th on Lap 3, overtaken by Alex Fores, Tom Lebbon, Christian Mansell, Bryce Aron and Roberto Faria.
Oliver Bearman (Fortec) had closed the gap to Simmons to three-quarters of a second at the end of Lap 3, while Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan kept a watching brief half a second behind one of the Championship’s last-minute entries.
Simmons found a tenth on Lap 4 and set the fastest lap, pulling away a little from Bearman in the process, with O’Sullivan, Bart Horsten and Reece Ushijima (both Hitech) rounding out the top five.
The two Hitechs of Horsten and Ushijima had fallen off the back of O’Sullivan by Lap 5 as Simmons extended his lead to a second, with Horsten two seconds behind the Carlin and Ushijima over a second behind his team-mate.
Christian Mansell (Carlin) moved past Tom Lebbon in the Elite Motorsport car for ninth place on Lap 7, while Bearman set a personal best to close the gap to Ayrton Simmons to less than a second again.
The podium challengers had isolated themselves from the Hitech pair behind by Lap 9, with Horsten 3.6 seconds behind O’Sullivan and Ushijima a further 2.6 seconds back.
After dispatching with Lebbon, Mansell went after Alex Fores in the #90 Chris Dittmann Racing entry, getting past him for ninth going into Lap 11, while Lebbon also got through for P10.
Meanwhile, Roberto Faria moved ahead of Bryce Aron for P11, but Alex Fores and Faria dropped off the timing screens on the final lap.
Simmons took the win on the Brands Hatch GP circuit as he did twice last year, by 1.2s from Oliver Bearman, with Zak O’Sullivan a further four tenths back for Carlin.
2021 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship Brands Hatch Race 1 Results:
| Pos. | No. | Name | Nat. | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 18 | Ayrton Simmons | GBR | Chris Dittmann Racing | 16:21.696 |
| 2 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | +1.207 |
| 3 | 51 | Zak O’Sullivan | GBR | Carlin | +1.644 |
| 4 | 50 | Bart Horsten | AUS | Hitech GP | +6.872 |
| 5 | 13 | Reece Ushijima | JPN | Hitech GP | +10.579 |
| 6 | 78 | Frederick Lubin | GBR | Arden Motorsport | +11.388 |
| 7 | 27 | Alex Connor | GBR | Arden Motorsport | +14.997 |
| 8 | 21 | Christian Mansell | AUS | Carlin | +23.346 |
| 9 | 34 | Tom Lebbon | GBR | Elite Motorsport | +24.437 |
| 10 | 23 | Bryce Aron | USA | Carlin | +27.274 |
| 11 | 12 | Sebastian Alvarez | MEX | Hitech GP | +27.868 |
| 12 | 3 | Javier Sagrera | ESP | Elite Motorsport | +28.401 |
| 13 | 55 | Dexter Patterson | GBR | Douglas Motorsport | +30.337 |
| 14 | 81 | Max Marzorati | GBR | Chris Dittmann Racing | +30.865 |
| 15 | 10 | Reema Juffali | SAU | Douglas Motorsport | +42.101 |
| 16 | 43 | Mikkel Grundtvig | DEN | Fortec Motorsports | +42.355 |
| 17 | 90 | Alex Fores | GBR | Chris Dittmann Racing | DNF |
| 18 | 7 | Roberto Faria | BRA | Fortec Motorsports | DNF |
| 19 | 99 | José Garfias | MEX | Elite Motorsport | DNF |
