Rockingham top three secures first F3 trophy of 2017 for Double R
Mixed weekend for Hayek and Samaia during second event of year
First year BRDC British Formula 3 Championship racer Jamie Chadwick made history at Rockingham on Sunday, 30th April, after claiming her maiden podium finish in single-seaters during round five of the campaign with Double R Racing.
In her debut season of open-wheel competition, the 18-year-old posted a hard-earned top three finish in the second of the weekend’s three races at the Northamptonshire venue. Added to eighth in race one and another top 10 in the third contest, she has climbed into ninth in the standings.
Brazilian team-mate Guilherme Samaia pieced together three finishes on his maiden race outing at Rockingham, book-ending the event with ninth place in rounds four and six. In round five, an unfortunate five second time penalty for a track limits infringement dropped him to 12th place.
Harry Hayek’s challenging start to the season unfortunately continued, the Australian taking away a best result of seventh position from Northamptonshire. Racing well in round five, hopes of similar in the final race of the weekend went awry with retirement after contact on lap three.
“It was fantastic to see Jamie take her first podium this weekend, she’s really impressed us with her speed and willingness to learn in the F3 car and she did a great job”, said Double R team principal Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt, “The aim now is to use this as a springboard to bigger and better things.
“It was a bit of a mixed event for Harry and Guilherme, they both raced well at points and had some good pace but, for Harry in particular, it wasn’t the weekend he wanted. All three drivers have got the pace and potential to be regularly up at the sharp end, piecing it all together is the key.”
Samaia was the fastest of the Double R trio in pre-event testing and he continued that form into qualifying with an impressive sixth quickest time for the round four grid, just ahead of Hayek and Chadwick with only 0.2 seconds covering all three team-mates.
Chadwick had the best of the first lap in race one of the weekend on Saturday afternoon, climbing as high as sixth before ending the opening tour seventh, while Samaia and Hayek both unfortunately lost ground – the Brazilian slipping to eighth and Hayek ending the opening tour back in 13th place.
After Samaia was passed by Nicolai Kjaergaard on lap two, the Dane then pressured Chadwick and managed to get ahead into seventh on the fifth tour. Thereafter, Chadwick and Samaia enjoyed a terrific inter-team battle over eighth which would equate to the round five ‘reverse grid’ pole.
Chadwick, despite intense pressure, held firm to claim the coveted spot with Samaia only a fraction adrift at the flag at the end of lap 14. Hayek, meanwhile, ran in a frustrating 13th place for the bulk of the contest, bottled up behind Jeremy Wahome, before moving into the top 12 late on.
Round five on Sunday started with Chadwick on pole, Samaia in ninth and Hayek on row six of the grid in 12th spot. When the lights went out Chadwick was challenged into Turn One and edged back to third, before trying to fight back at Deene where some light contact occurred with James Pull.
Holding second place, Chadwick slipped to third again after being passed by eventual race winner Cameron Das on lap three at Yentwood but, thereafter, the Double R driver didn’t put a wheel wrong and went on to finish the 14-lap contest little more than a second shy of the runner-up spot.
Samaia and Hayek both blitzed the opening lap, climbing into sixth and ninth respectively, and the Australian continued his great progress by taking eighth on lap four. When Samaia was edged back to seventh on lap six, the Double R team-mates soon became embroiled in a sensational battle.
With a great move on lap eight around the outside at Deene, Hayek was able to get ahead but the Brazilian was determined to hit back. Lapping nose-to-tail, on lap 12 the order changed once again as Samaia sliced through on the inside at Turn One to retake seventh but Hayek swiftly responded.
Maintaining seventh to the chequered flag, a fantastic performance from the sixth row, Hayek headed home Samaia on the road but the latter was actually ultimately classified in 12th position as a result of a five second penalty for a track limits infringement.
Chadwick, too, received a penalty relating to the race two incident with Pull but rather than impact her podium placing it was applied to her grid position for the final contest – the former British GT4 Champion having to line-up 15th on the grid for round six.
Hayek put together another strong start, slicing through from 11th on the grid into the top eight, but a tangle on lap two with Kjaergaard at Chapman Curve resulted in retirement for both. Hayek did manage to crawl back to the pits but the damage to his front-left was too severe to continue.
Following the resulting Safety Car period, racing resumed on lap six with Samaia in 10th position and Chadwick in 12th spot. It wasn’t long before the Safety Car reappeared, after an incident at Tarzan, and at the second re-start Samaia was an improved eighth with Chadwick in 11th place.
The Brazilian challenged hard late on, heavily pressuring the two cars ahead in the battle for the coveted top six, but he was edged back to ninth by the advancing Enaam Ahmed. Chadwick, meanwhile, took the flag in 11th but was elevated into the top 10 following a penalty for a rival.
British F3 now has a four week break in the 2017 calendar with rounds seven, eight and nine set to take place over the weekend 27th/28th May at Snetterton in Norfolk. Before then, Double R Racing will be back on track next weekend, 6th/7th May, at Thruxton in Hampshire with its British F4 squad.
2017 BRDC British F3 Standings
9th Jamie Chadwick, 54pts; 13th Harry Hayek, 51pts; 15th Guilherme Samaia, 41pts
