The 2005 British Formula Three International series was rounded out in fine style by P1 Motorsport’s Danilo Dirani at Silverstone this weekend as he finished in a superb second place in the final F3 race meeting of the season. With Charlie Hollings scoring his 4th victory of the year in the national class, Lola chassis again showed tremendous pace at the home of British Motorsport.
After securing a position on the front row of the grid for race one, Danilo Dirani got a clean start to shadow eventual winner Charlie Kimball in to Copse for the first time. As the race settled down, the Brazilian came under increasing pressure from Dan Clarke’s Double R Racing Dallara. Cool and calm racing under pressure has been the Brazilian’s forte in 2005 and he soaked up the attention from the black car, including a re-start after a safety car period, to secure second place by flagfall.
“The start was good and the car felt nice throughout the race,” said Dirani. “But there was just no way to hold on to Kimball. His car was in a different race today. It is nice to finish off the season with such a strong race performance and on the whole it has been a valuable year to develop a new car and to win and challenge at the front consistently. I am sure that the Lola chassis will be really strong again next year.”
Dirani’s second race saw him start from 11th place on the starting grid. He soon made progress through the field and after a spirited battle with fellow Lola driver, Steven Kane, he eventually finished in 8th place to confirm a 6th placed finish in the final points table.
Promatecme UK went in to their home race in confident mood after Steven Kane’s dominant win in Ireland last month. The Ulsterman who had a great race at Silverstone in August to claim 4th place, dealt with some problems in qualifying to start 12th and 9th for the races but was still adamant about finishing the season with a top result.
Sadly for Promatecme and Steven Kane their first race was compromised by issues beyond their control and they were forced to start the race from the pit lane. Despite this, Kane was soon cutting through the pack and was up to a remarkable 12th place when the safety car was deployed on lap 14.
“I took Charlie (Hollings) and was up with (series debutant – Yelmar) Buurman,” said Kane. “I took him on the inside at Becketts but he turned in and that made him hit Lewis. It bent the steering rod on my car and although I continued, the safety car came out again and that was the end of the race.”
Kane’s second race saw him get a stupendous start and the red and white Lola was up to 6th at Copse Corner. Unfortunately an altercation with Carlin Motorsports Chritian Bakkerud cost Kane time and he slipped down the order to 9th place, tailing Danilo Dirani’s P1 Motorsport Lola.
“It has been a fairly typical weekend one way or another,” said Kane at the end of an enormously promising yet ultimately frustrating season. “We have had a whole host of problems this year but at the end of it we got the win at Mondello and proved that we can get the job done.”
Kane has impressed enormously this season but more often than not has been the victim of appalling luck. The Damon Hill managed driver’s first Championship class season of F3 has seen two poles, a victory and a hugely impressive 4th placed position on the grid at the Marlboro Masters race at Zandvoort in June. He now looks forward to the famous Macau International Grand Prix in November.
Chrarlie Hollings came away from Silverstone with another win, his 4th of the year in his Promatecme Lola-Dome. It was a crushing drive by the 23 year old who started from pole position, his 8th of the year, the same number as National class champion Salvador Duran.
“I actually made an average start and Barton (Mawer) got passed me,” said Hollings. “But I managed to get him back immediately and then built up enough of a lead to control the pace. It was quite a disjointed race because I had to let some Championship class through and the safety cars also interrupted things but generally the car was great and it is nice to finish off with another win.”
Race two saw Charlie start from second place on the grid and despite losing a place to Josh Fisher early on he was hounding the SWR Dallara driver throughout the race. Matters came to a head on lap 13 when Hollings passed Fisher at Becketts, only for the Dallara to lose control on the exit and make contact with the yellow and black Lola-Dome.
“Fisher lost it on the exit and snapped back across me and took my front wing off,” said Hollings. “It was a real shame because I had the possibility of finishing third in the series points.”
Hollings’ preparation for 2006 starts in the next couple of weeks when he will sample the Kane’s Championship class Lola at Croft.
Ben Clucas returned to the 2005 British Formula Three International series at Silverstone this weekend and immediately reminded the paddock as to his and Fluid Motorsports inherent pace. The 21 year old claimed his second pole position in just eight races, lead the second of the days races before ultimately being forced to concede the win to Salvador Duran. All of this was done despite a painful injury picked up the week before the races.
“I fell off a horse a couple of weeks ago and injured my collarbone,” he said. “It wasn’t that painful in the cockpit and have been taking pain killers but it certainly wasn’t ideal. The race itself was disappointing as I didn’t defend hard enough against Salvador although he was a lot faster than me.”
The earlier race saw Clucas battle from the back of the field to 5th place in class after a change of ECU just before the start of the race meant that he joined Steven Kane in starting the race from the pit lane. A clinical drive through the field saw the Day-Glo Lola-Dome pick off many national and Championship class runners to come home 5th in class, just behind newly crowned champion Salvador Duran.
Clucas’ fifth podium visit in eight races is an impressive record for a driver who has limited testing and just a handful of races to impress in 2005. Next year should see the former Autosport/McLaren Young Driver of the Year finalist a front runner in the Championship class if he is successful in finding the necessary budget.
RACE RESULTS
RACE 1
Pos Driver Make-Engine Time
1. Charlie Kimball Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 25:52.730
2. Danilo Dirani Lola B05/30 Mugen Honda + 0.443
3. Dan Clarke Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 0.964
4. Marko Asmer Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 2.062
5. Mike Conway Dallara Opel Spiess + 3.280
6. Christian Bakkerud Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 3.931
7. Karl Reindler Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 4.477
8. Stephen Jelley Dallara F305 Opel Spiess + 5.123
9. James Walker Dallara F305 Opel Spiess + 5.372
10. Charlie Hollings Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen H + 6.395
11. Jonathan Kennard Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda + 6.888
12. Barton Mawer Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda + 7.323
13. Salvador Duran Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda + 8.153
14. Ben Clucas Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen-H + 9.288
15. Josh Fisher Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda + 10.746
16. James Jakes Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda + 11.429
17. Keiko Ihara Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 12.017
18. Nick Jones Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda + 12.926
19. Steven Kane Lola B05/30 Mugen-Honda + 14.328
NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:
Driver Make-Engine On Lap
Tim Bridgman Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 17
Yelmer Buurman Dallara F305 Opel Spiess 16
Ryan Lewis Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 16
Bruno Senna Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 11
Cheong Lou Meng Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 10
Juho Annala Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 0
RACE 2
Pos Driver Make-Engine Time
1. Charlie Kimball Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 22:58.217
2. Bruno Senna Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 6.959
3. Marko Asmer Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 11.275
4. Mike Conway Dallara Opel Spiess + 11.827
5. Dan Clarke Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 12.764
6. Ryan Lewis Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 17.162
7. James Walker Dallara F305 Opel Spiess + 18.965
8. Danilo Dirani Lola B05/30 Mugen Honda + 20.657
9. Steven Kane Lola B05/30 Mugen-Honda + 21.027
10. Tim Bridgman Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 23.405
11. Stephen Jelley Dallara F305 Opel Spiess + 34.769
12. Salvador Duran Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda + 35.474
13. Yelmer Buurman Dallara F305 Opel Spiess + 38.929
14. Ben Clucas Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen-H + 42.008
15. Karl Reindler Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 42.690
16. Josh Fisher Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda + 46.545
17. Keiko Ihara Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda + 47.784
18. Jonathan Kennard Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda +1:06.788
19. Nick Jones Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda + 1 Lap
20. Cheong Lou Meng Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda + 1 Lap
21. Juho Annala Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda + 2 Laps
NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:
Driver Make-Engine On Lap
Charlie Hollings Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen H 12
Barton Mawer Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1
Christian Bakkerud Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda 0
James Jakes Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 0
FINAL SERIES POINTS STANDINGS
Championship class
1. Alvaro Parente (P) Carlin Motorsport 289pts
2. Charlie Kimball Carlin Motorsport 246
3. Mike Conway (GB) Fortec Motorsport 192
4. Marko Asmer (E) Hitech Racing 163
5. Dan Clarke (GB) RR Racing 160
6. Danilo Dirani (BR) P1 Motorsport 150
7. Christian Bakkerud (DK) Carlin Motorsport 124
8. Ryan Lewis (GB) T-Sport 121
9. Steven Kane (GB) Promatecme UK 97
10. Bruno Senna (GB) RR Racing 75
National class
1. Salvador Duran (MEX) P1 Motorsport 300pts
2. Barton Mawer (AUS) T-Sport 256
3. Jonathan Kennard (GB) Alan Docking 233
4. Josh Fisher (GB) Team SWR 221
5. Charlie Hollings (GB) Promatecme UK 216
6. Juno Annala (SF) Alan Docking Racing 155
7. Ben Clucas (GB) Fluid Motorsport 103
