Nick Padmore claimed a dominant victory in the HSCC Classic Formula 3 race at Brands Hatch GP, Kent yesterday. The Reigate-based racing driver, who hadn't even sat in the car since his HSCC Open Wheel win back in November last year, also secured fastest lap of the race by nearly 0.8sec.
Despite a last-minute decision to enter the race, Padmore immediately got himself reacquainted with the car and put the WDK Motorsport-prepared 1978 March 783 on the front row in a slippery qualifying session on Sunday morning.
However, Padmore undid his hard work and bogged down at the start of the afternoon's 20-minute race, dropping to P5 by the first corner, but he wasted no time in threading his way back through the field and was back up to P2, hunting down the leader, as he commenced his 3rd lap.
As the leading pair took to the Grand Prix loop, Padmore got alongside the first-placed 1980 March into Hawthorns but was cut off and unable to complete the move.
He kept on the leaders' tail and got the move sealed when he dived down the inside into Clearways as they approached lap 4.
From then on, Padmore continued to pull away, setting fastest lap after fastest lap of the race, and took the chequered flag at the end of lap 13, 8.4sec clear of the rest of the field.
Nick Padmore:"That was great fun but I didn't make it easy for myself with that start! I haven't raced this car in the dry and I wasn't sure how many revs to give it on the line so a few guys sailed past me. I thought to myself 'I'm not having that', and got my head down and did what I initially set out to do!
"The car was flawless in both qualifying and the race, so well done and thank you to the guys at WDK Motorsport for their hard work and giving me a great car.
"Also a big thank you to Max Smith-Hilliard for handing me the opportunity to race his car this weekend - roll on Silverstone Classic!"
Padmore will be back in action in the March F3 as he makes a return to the annual Silverstone Classic in just under two weeks' time.
Full results from the HSCC Classic Formula 3 meeting at Brands Hatch GP are available from MST World at http://results.mstworld.com/Results/getPDF?eventid=14207&series=hsc
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