Hylkema Happy With Rockingham F3 Points Finish

Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series racer Bart Hylkema enjoyed a consistently strong and competitive outing at Rockingham in Northamptonshire over the weekend, 3rd/4th September, which he capped off with an impressive ninth place finish in the third and final race.Round 24 on Sunday afternoon was definitely the event highlight for the 21-year-old Dutchman as he came out on top in battles with Carlos Huertas and Lucas Foresti, neatly underlining the improvements he is making as his debut season in F3 progresses.Starting the wet third race from 15th on the grid, thanks to his quickest time from qualifying, Bart made steady moves up the order and by lap nine - following an early Safety Car period - he was into the points-paying top 10. Passing Foresti for ninth on lap 15, the T-Sport driver fended off the Brazilian and remained there to the finish on lap 24.The first of the weekend's races on Saturday afternoon, round 22, also went well for Bart as he moved up from 17th on the starting grid into an eventual finish of 12th position, working hard to hold on to the placing while under serous pressure from South American Pipo Derani.Lapping strongly at the wheel of his Volkswagen-engined Dallara F311, the multi-time former Rookie Cup race winner displayed great ability and determination and at the chequered flag just 0.1 seconds was the difference as they ran side-by-side across the line.Prior to round 23, a heavy downpour made conditions very tricky indeed with a seriously wet track surface awaiting the competitors. Lining up 12th on the grid, by virtue of his race one result, Bart made a good start initially but a small error at the chicane dropped him down the order. Aside from that though, he had some major problems with the brakes and understeer on his way to 17th place."It wasn't an easy weekend but in the end I was pleased to take three finishes and to get into the points in the final race", said Bart, "On Friday we struggled a bit in the testing so we made quite a big change to the car for qualifying and that was a big step forward from where we'd been."Race one was ok on Saturday, I was in a fight with (Pipo) Derani which was quite good. In the first race on Sunday I had quite a good start but the vision was poor and I made a mistake at the chicane."He added: "Things worked well in race three, the pace was good and I had some good fights. We had two Safety Car periods but each time I made good re-starts and didn't make any mistakes. It was a really good improvement from the previous races, solid points and good experience. I had hoped for more points from the weekend but the last race definitely showed what we're capable of."As the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series heads towards its conclusion, Bart is now busy preparing for the next three rounds which will mark the penultimate event of his first season in the prestigious Formula One feeder category. Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit in the East Midlands will host the next race meeting three weeks from now over the weekend 24th/25th September.

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