KILLER WATTS! Danny Watts Takes Chequered Flag as Jarvis Scores Max Points
Danny Watts took a lights-to-flag victory in his first Formula 3 race since Macau last year in Monsoon conditions at Thruxton. In the penultimate race of the 2006 season Watts finished 1.9 seconds ahead of Oliver Jarvis, who took the 20 points for the race win ahead of the Raikkonen Robertson Racing duo of Stephen Jelley and Bruno Senna.
2006 Champion Mike Conway parked his car and retired after battling with Yelmer Buurman into the chicane. The two cars collided with the Dutchman stopping at the side of the track and Conway pulling off 300 metres later.
Greg Mansell had a superb debut drive in his first ever British F3 race, finishing 8th overall but setting the fastest lap of the race for the Invitation Class, 0.587 seconds faster than race winner Danny Watts and just 0.222 seconds slower than Christian Bakkerud's fastest lap of the race.
Heavy rain fell as the cars headed for the grid and there was concerns as standing water was causing the cars to aquaplane. James Walker, whose Mercedes engine had suffered a misfire in qualifying, was still having problems and would start the race from the pitlane. However this wasn't such a disadvantage because the stewards decided to start Round 21 of the 2006 Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series behind the safety car due to the standing water on the track.
With the rain easing, the 22 cars set off at a leisurely pace behind the safety car for three laps. At the end of the lap the safety car pulled into the pitlane and racing commenced, with Danny Watts leaping ahead as the rest of the field was engulfed in spray. Walker returned to the pitlane as the misfire problem reoccurred.
At the front of the grid Watts had opened up a 3.5 second gap to Oliver Jarvis, with Bruno Senna a further 1 second behind. Maro Engel was 4th, ahead of Stephen Jelley, Mike Conway and Yelmer Buurman.
On lap 4 Stephen Jelley was passed by Conway and Buurman in the tricky conditions but then stayed in touch as Conway set about trying to pass Engel for 4th place. As the pair entered the chicane for the 5th time Conway had a look up the inside of the Carlin Dallara but Engel shut the door. However two laps later it all went wrong as the German spun at the exit of the Complex, dropping him down the order to 13th and promoting Conway and Buurman up the order. The leading five cars were nose-to-tail across the line, with Buurman in 5th holding a five second gap to Jelley, who started to gain some ground, setting the fastest lap of the race so far, as the top 5 squabbled.
Conway was putting pressure on 3rd placed Bruno Senna but in turn had Buurman filling his mirrors. At Cobb Buurman put the nose of his Dallara down the inside of Conway but the 2006 Champion shut the door firmly but fairly. Less than 2 seconds separated the top five as Watts continued to lead, with the Carlin Motorsport Dallara of Oliver Jarvis dogging his every move.
On lap 15 Conway made a move on his Brazilian teammate, passing Senna for 3rd into the Chicane and on the very next lap Senna was demoted to 5th as Buurman forced his way through.
Meanwhile 9th placed Jonathan Kennard went off at Cobb, rejoining the track but spinning again before the end of the lap as he found that his ADR Dallara was lacking brakes. He pulled into the pitlane and retired from the race. Further down the grid British F3 debutant Greg Mansell was reveling in the tricky conditions, steadily moving up the order but trying to keep out of trouble at the same time. By lap 16 the 17-year-old was in the top 10 and clearly faster than some of his more experienced rivals.
At the front Danny Watts continued to circulate at the head of the field, maintaining a 0.8 second gap to Oliver Jarvis. 3rd placed Mike Conway had a fight on his hands with Yelmer Buurman, the young Dutchman determined to finish his first year in British F3 on a high. However on lap 20 his charge ended in disaster at the Chicane. He got his Fortec Dallara alongside Conway into the Chicane and with the two cars side by side the inevitable happened. Buurman came to a halt on the exit of the corner and Conway managed to go another 300 metres before pulling off onto the grass into retirement. Bruno Senna, who had been following closely behind the battling pair, had to take avoiding action, narrowly missing the spinning Conway. Stephen Jelley took advantage of his Raikkonen Robertson Racing teammates misfortune and nipped through to take 3rd place.
Christian Bakkerud, now up to 5th place after passing Alberto Valerio and Stuart Hall on the penultimate lap, posted the fastest lap of the race as it drew to a close. At the chequered flag it was Watts, from Jarvis and Jelley. Senna was 4th, just ahead of Bakkerud, Valerio, Hall and the impressive Greg Mansell.
Rodolfo Gonzalez returned to the top step of the podium for win number 14 in the National Class, with the 2006 National Class Champion finishing ahead of Juho Annala and Cristiano Morgado, the South African finishing behind the Hitech Racing Dallara of James Jakes.
Danny Watts: "I don't know what to say really, I'm speechless. At the start the track was horrendous, when we left the assembly area I wasn't pushing very hard at all, probably 50 % and still aquaplaning on the standing water. I knew they wouldn't start it or if they did there would be 22 F3 cars in the hedge somewhere. After the safety car came in it was very hard to know how hard to push and I was on the conservative side, I didn't want to do anything silly. After a while the water dissipated, I got into a rhythm and after that I just kept it smooth knowing the position Oliver (Jarvis) was in he wasn't going to risk too much. My car was actually perfect , it did everything I wanted it to, very easy to drive and consistent. My thanks go to Raikkonen Robertson Racing fro giving me the opportunity to race here today."
Oliver Jarvis: "Congratulations to Danny (Watts), a good drive, no mistakes, the old boy still has it! I wasn't pushing too hard, we would have preferred for him (Danny Watts) not to be there and have a clear track which would have allowed up to pull away a bit from Bruno (Senna) but he drove sensibly and didn't get involved in the championship fights, fair play to him and Raikkonen Robertson for that. It was just a case of staying sensible and keeping the car on the track. I felt in control, I wasn't under enough pressure to risk having to try and pass Danny. Perhaps if Yelmer (Buurman) had managed to get up the field earlier perhaps I would've had to push a bit harder. I was happy to settle for second, let Danny take the win and show that he's still got it."
Stephen Jelley: "I got a bit of a bad start, dropped back a bit. Caught the back of the leading train and then Yelmer (Buurman) was looking quite racy. He was having a look at Mike (Conway) and I thought something could happen. Yelmer made a move going into the chicane, they must have touched, they spun and Bruno (Senna) had no where to go and I just nipped through on the inside. The points are the main thing, my main focus this weekend is to beat Christian Bakkerud, I just want to finish as high up in the championship as possible."
Greg Mansell: "I'm really happy. Qualifying has been a challenge for and I was just trying to comfortable in the car. The changing conditions have caught a lot of people out. Just happy to be out there for a few lap to settle down and get into it. Fortec have been brilliant. They've been making me feel a lot more confident about the car and I have to thank them fro giving me a great setup for the race. I think it is a lottery, everyone are trying different things, I'm just happy with how it went. Just keep it on the track for race 2 and get as much experience as we can. I have to say coming into Formula 3 the driving standard are brilliant. Everyone I've been racing with has given me enough room and if you win the corner they give you the corner, it's all very fair and very professional."
Nigel Mansell: "A good result for Greg in his first British F3 race. I'd also like to add that I thought the decision by the officials to start the race under the safety car when the track was so wet was the correct one and they should be applauded for it."
Round 21 - ResultPos Car Class Drivers Car Time Laps Gap Avgspeed1 68 I Danny WATTS Dallara F306 Mercedes 30:14.765 22 102.822 2 C Oliver JARVIS Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 30:16.668 22 1.903 102.713 22 C Stephen JELLEY Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 30:18.108 22 3.343 102.634 21 C Bruno SENNA Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 30:19.902 22 5.137 102.535 1 C Christian BAKKERUD Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 30:31.161 22 16.396 101.906 16 C Alberto VALERIO Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 30:33.267 22 18.502 101.787 7 C Stuart HALL Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 30:33.482 22 18.717 101.778 50 I Greg MANSELL Dallara F306 Mercedes 30:34.311 22 19.546 101.729 12 C Maro ENGEL Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 30:35.058 22 20.293 101.6810 32 N Rodolfo GONZALEZ Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 30:51.798 22 37.033 100.7611 39 N Juho ANNALA Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 31:04.944 22 50.179 100.0512 6 C James JAKES Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 31:08.783 22 54.018 99.8413 37 N Cristiano MORGADO Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen Honda 31:11.074 22 56.309 99.7214 44 I Leo MANSELL Dallara F306 Mercedes 31:29.166 22 1:14.401 98.7715 84 I Oliver TURVEY Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 30:23.738 21 1 LAP 97.6616 33 N Alex WATERS Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 30:28.762 21 1 LAP 97.3917 11 C Keiko IHARA Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 30:38.476 20 2 LAPS 92.2618 38 N Rodolfo AVILA Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 31:15.756 20 2 LAPS 90.43Not Classified-- 26 C Mike CONWAY Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 27:53.447 20 D.N.F. 101.36-- 3 C Yelmer BUURMAN Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 26:31.213 19 D.N.F. 101.27-- 9 C Jonathan KENNARD Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 21:48.898 15 D.N.F. 97.19-- 15 C James WALKER Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 31:25.072 10 N.C.F. 44.99Fastest Laps-- 1 C Christian BAKKERUD Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 1:13.883 19 184.74kph 114.79-- 50 I Greg MANSELL Dallara F306 Mercedes 1:14.105 18 184.19kph 114.45-- 32 N Rodolfo GONZALEZ Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:15.654 17 180.42kph 112.11
Session notesWeather CloudyTrack conditions Wet
