Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International SeriesROUND 12: Spa Francorchamps, Belgium
After the disappointment of failing to score his debut win Saturday Carlin Motorsport's Maro Engel stepped onto the top step of the podium for the first time in the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series. The German, starting from pole position, lost the lead at the start to Bruno Senna. Engel kept pace with the Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara and a spin by the Brazilian on lap 6 promoted him back to the top spot. A spirited drive by Mike Conway from 9th on the grid was rewarded with second place, with a recovering Senna coming back through the field to finish third.
After heavy overnight rain which caused flooding in Malmedy and Brussels, the day dawn with fog hanging over the Ardennes forest. However as race time approached the fog lifted enough to allow the race to begin without any delays.
Maro Engel, starting from pole position fro the second time this weekend, got a good start but couldn’t hold off Bruno Senna’s Mercedes powered Dallara as they headed up the hill towards Les Combes. As the cars came through the Bus Stop chicane for the first time it was Senna leading from Engel, Bakkerud and Jarvis. Championship leader Mike Conway had qualified in 9th but also suffered on the opening lap dropping back to 14th place, but then began a charge back through the field.
At the front Senna was in control but couldn’t shake off the Mugen-Honda powered Dallara of Maro Engel, who was closely followed by his two Carlin teammates. Behind the leading quartet Salvador Duran was leading Jonathan Kennard, James Walker and Round 11 winner Yelmer Buurman. On lap three these cars were nose-to-tail as they negotiated the Bus Stop chicane, hopping over the kerbs as they fought for position on the track.
Further down the field Conway was beginning his fightback and was up to 10th place by lap 3. James Walker’s weekend decidedly got worse when he was awarded a drive through penalty for a jump start, dropping the Jerseyman down from 7th to 18th place.
As the cars began the 6th lap things went wrong for Senna. On the exit of Les Combes his Dallara got sideways and while Engel missed the Brazilian, 3rd placed Christian Bakkerud collected the Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara. Bakkerud’s car was heavily damaged in the incident, which brought out the Safety Car but Senna’s car was able to get going and he rejoined in 9th place behind the safety car.
After 1 lap the race went green with Engel now leading from Jarvis and Duran. Jonathan Kennard was 4th with Mike Conway, who benefited from the Safety Car period to close up was now in 5th. As the ADR driver came into the Bus Stop for the 9th time he ran wide allowing Conway to move up a place along with Bruno Senna, who was on a charge back to the front of the field after his earlier spin.
Oliver Jarvis became the second Carlin Motorsport casualty with a fuel pump problem dropping him down the order from 2nd place, promoting Salvador Duran up a place for a short period before the Mexican was passed by the flying duo, Conway and Senna.
As the chequered flag was shown to end the 30 minute race on lap 12 it was Engel who punched the air in delight in claiming his debut win, 6.2 seconds ahead of Conway, Senna and Jonathan Kennard, the best result for the Englishman this season so far. The German’s day was complete when he collected the extra point for setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 4 with a time of 2m17.316s and an average speed of 182.88kph (113.64mph).
Mike Conway leaves Spa with an extended championship lead, 47 points ahead of Bruno Senna who moved back into 2nd place ahead of Oliver Jarvis, the Carlin driver struggling home to claim the last championship point.
The National Class podium for Round 12 was a case of Deja Vu with Rodolfo Gonzalez taking win number 10 and extending his already impressive championship lead over Cristiano Morgado and Juho Annala who finished second and third respectively. Brazil's Mario Moraes, driving a National Class car in the Invitation class for Carlin Motorsport, was impressive on his British F3 debut finishing two places ahead of Gonzalez on the road.
Maro Engel (#12 Carlin Motorsport Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda): “ It’s been one of the most fantastic weekends of my career by a long way. Winning here at Spa today was amazing and a very special feeling. I knew that with the car the Carlin team and Matt my engineer has given me, there was no way we weren’t going to come away with a win. Two pole positions, one second and one win - I couldn’t have asked for more when I came here to Spa on Wednesday. I am now fourth in the championship table and have closed in on my team mate Oliver in the championship table and Bruno Senna in second place is only 16 points ahead now. We have got Silverstone to look forward to next in the championship and of course the Masters event in Zandvoort next weekend and I hope I’m going to be able to build on my good results from this weekend."
Mike Conway (#26 Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA): “I made a good start but it was so close on the grid I couldn’t really move anywhere. Up to Eau Rouge I got a slight tow off (Stephen) Jelley, but it was three-cars wide. I held my position then a car locked up and speared Jelley, who knocked me off as I was on the outside. I came back on almost dead last and had so much mud and gravel on the tyres, but from there the car was on rails: before I got to the Bus Stop had passed three people and it’s such a good circuit to pass on, you get such a run down to Eau Rouge, I was able to take about two people a lap; it was really awesome to overtake around here.”
Bruno Senna (#21 Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA): "I got a good start. I saw that Oliver (Jarvis) and Christian (Bakkerud) were closing up, so I held my line into Eau Rouge, got on the power to get Maro (Engel) on the straight, which worked quite well. I pushed quite hard on the first lap, which wasn't very good for my tyres, after the second or third lap I was struggling a bit. Maro was quite quick on the chicane (Bus Stop). He tried to pass on the next lap, which didn't work but on the following lap he was closer, he was a bit in front of me into Les Combes and we breaked really, really late. We were in the middle of the track both of us, he was very close, but I didn't want to clash with him because of the championship. I did a 360 spin, went onto the grass and Christian (Bakkerud) hit me. There was no damage to my car to stop me from racing and I rejoined behind Mike (Conway). After that I was on the move and overtaking people. Some cars made my life easier by moving over. It was a good fun race and P3 is not too bad."
Jonathan Kennard (#9 Alan Docking Racing Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda): " Both races were pretty good, I started 10th and 11th, which was slightly disappointing because I thought we had a bit more pace than that. It was a really good race, I got a good start and made good progress. I don't think I've overtaken so many cars in one race. I managed to get a good tow on the last lap out of Eau Rouge and overtook Salvador Duran on the outside into Les Combes for 4th position and I'm really pleased with that."
