Jordan Cane will race for Douglas Motorsport at the BRDC British F3 Championship season opener at Oulton Park this weekend, after receiving a late call-up to replace Alexandra Mohnhaupt.
Cane, a three-time winner in a part-season with the team last year, re-joins the squad after Mohnhaupt suffered a testing accident at Spa Francorchamps last week.
British driver Cane won twice at Snetterton in 2017 and once at the final race weekend of the year at Donington Park, on his way to eighth overall in the standings, despite missing the opening six races of the year while he waited to turn 16.
Prior to his British F3 involvement, the 16-year-old had raced in the USA for two seasons in the USF1600 and USF2000 categories, proving particularly successful in the former with seven victories from 15 races, equalling the all-time win record for the series.
On his first day back in the BRDC British F3 car, Cane proved his credentials by setting the second quickest time in today’s test at Oulton Park.
Cane commented: “I’m really looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the BRDC British F3 car with Douglas Motorsport this weekend. I had a fantastic season with Wayne and his team last year, and although today is the first time I’ve driven the car since September last year, I see no reason why we can’t carry on where we left off.”
Team Principal Wayne Douglas added: “It’s obviously great to have Jordan back in the team for this weekend, though it is a shame for Alexandra that she misses out after her accident last week. We look forward to welcoming her back as soon as she is ready. Jordan is a proven race winner, and alongside Jamie Chadwick and Arvin Esmaeili, we’re confident of a strong weekend at Oulton Park."
Thursday testing round-up
The BRDC British F3 field have completed their first day of pre-event testing at Oulton Park, with Carlin's Nicolai Kjaergaard setting the fastest time of the day.
The top-11 drivers were separated by less than a second, indicating that a very competitive start to the season is in order.
With rain falling in the final moments of the fourth session preventing a late flurry of times, Kjaergaard's morning time of 1m30.774s proved the quickest effort, with Cane second fastest for Douglas Motorsport on his return to the series, with his time coming in the third session, and 0.254s off the Dane.
Third fastest overall was Lundqvist's effort in session four, which was just 0.010s quicker than Brit Clement Novalak in the Carlin. Lanan Racing's Kush Maini set the fifth fastest time with his lap in session three, 0.026s ahead of Tom Gamble's Fortec. Billy Monger, making his return to racing almost a year after his British F4 accident, was seventh fastest for Carlin, 0.026s behind Gamble, with Krish Mahadik eighth for Double R and 0.053s off Monger's time.
Jamie Chadwick was ninth overall for Douglas Motorsport, 0.048s off Mahadik and 0.056s ahead of Manuel Maldonado's Fortec, who completed the top-10, with his session topping time this morning proving his best effort. Maldonado was just 0.004s ahead of Carlin's Sun Yue Yang in 11th, with Tristan Charpentier 12th and just over a second off the overall best time.
Sasakorn Chaimongkol claimed 13th for Hillspeed ahead of Lanan's Josh Mason, who was 0.050s clear of Arvin Esmaeili in 15th. Pavan Ravishankar, Chia Wing Hoong and Ben Hurst completed the runners, with testing set to resume tomorrow morning.
BRDC British F3 Championship, Thursday test overall classification:
1. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Carlin, 1m30.774s
2. Jordan Cane, Douglas Motorsport, +0.254s
3. Linus Lundqvist, Double R Racing, +0.555s
4. Clement Novalak, Carlin, +0.565s
5. Kush Maini, Lanan Racing, +0.726s
6. Tom Gamble, Fortec Motorsports, +0.792s
7. Billy Monger, Carlin, +0.818s
8. Krish Mahadik, Double R Racing, +0.871s
9. Jamie Chadwick, Douglas Motorsport, +0.919s
10. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, +0.975s
11. Sun Yue Yang, Carlin, +0.979s
12. Tristan Charpentier, Fortec Motorsports, +1.077s
13. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +1.362s
14. Josh Mason, Lanan Racing, +1.503s
15. Arvin Esmaeili, Douglas Motorsport, +1.553s
16. Pavan Ravishankar, Double R Racing, +1.578s
17. Chia Wing Hoong, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.755s
18. Ben Hurst, Hillspeed, +3.397
