The 2006 Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series came to end with a thrilling climax when Yelmer Buurman took his second win of the season that had everyone at Thruxton holding their breath as he battled with Christian Bakkerud and Oliver Jarvis in the closest finish of the year. A last lap move on leader Jarvis as the top three cars went nose to tail out of Church corner saw the Dutchman sweep past Jarvis and then Bakkerud saw his opportunity to steal second place from his Carlin teammate on the exit. 2006 British F3 champion Mike Conway was 4th just ahead of Stephen Jelley, who had led fro the first 15 laps of the race, and Bruno Senna.
Cristiano Morgado took his 4th win of the year in the National Class after Rodolfo Gonzalez retired. Alex Waters scored his second podium in 8 races as he struggled with a broken front wing, Macau's Rodolfo Gonzalez took third place in class.
Greg Mansell, who had starred in the first race, retired from the race after once again posting opne of the fastest laps of the race. Brother Leo took Invitation class honours, finishing just behind Cristiano Morgado in 13th place. Oliver Turvey, driving a National Spec Dallara in the Invitation Class had a good run, finishing well ahead of Rodolfo Avila in a similar car.
Once again the inclement weather was going to play a huge part in the final race of the 2006 season. As the cars filed out onto the grid the umbrellas in the crowd went up as the heavens opened for 60 seconds and then it just stopped. It was decision time for the teams and most elected for Avon wet tyres while Jonathan Kennard and Alberto Valerio decided to gamble on slicks. Round 21 winner Danny Watts, due to start from 11th place, was missing from the line up after electing not to race and chance damaging the Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara the team had let him race. Alex Waters stalled his Dallara as the cars set off on the green flag lap and was forced to start at the back of the grid.
At the start pole position holder Maro Engel bogged down as the rest of the front runners swept past him, with Oliver Jarvis taking th elead but he had Stephen Jelley homing in on his Carlin Dallara as they approached the Chicane for the first time. Jelley got the tow and dived down the inside of Jarvis to take the lead before the end of the opening lap. At the end of lap 1 it was Jelley from Jarvis, James Jakes, Mike Conway, Christian Bakkerud, Yelmer Buurman and Engel now in 7th place. Alex Waters, having started at the back of the grid, was making prgress on the opening lap but as he exited the chicane he ran into the back of Rodolfo Avila and broke the front wing end plate. Waters continued but with a loss of downforce from the front end of his car caused hin to suffer from understeer for the rest of the race.
Conway was locked onto the back of 3rd placed James Jakes and as the two cars came into the Chicane for the second time, Conway made his move and swept past the Hitech Dallara into 3rd place. Jakes suffered a spin on lap 4, dropping the young Yorkshireman to 8th place.
At the front Jelley continued to hold off the advances of Jarvis, who had Conway trying to force the young Rookie into a mistake. Buurman was also on a charge and forced his way past Bakkerud at the Chicane on lap 5 and then set off after Conway. Maro Engel's race got worse as he went off and had to come into the pits to clear grass from the intakes. The young German then took on a set of slick tyres in a bid to get back up the order on a drying track.
On lap 8 Buurman made a move on Conway at Church and the two cars were side-by-side on the long straight on the approach to the chicane in a move that was reminiscent of race 1. This time it didn't all end intears as Buurman moved ahead of Conway. However the 2006 champion lost another place two laps later as Bakkerud moved ahead.
At the front Jarvis decided that he was going to finish the season with a win and on lap 10 got a tow down the long run into the chicane, diving out of the slipstream and Jarvis and Jelley were side-by-side. Jelley held his nerve and his lead as Jarvis locked up and got sideways, losing time as they crossed the line for the 10th time.
The top 4 of Jelley, Jarvis, Buurman and Bakkerud were nose-to-tail as 5th placed Conway lost ground on the leaders. Further down the order Alberto Valerio, who had started the race on slicks, was posting the quickest times as a dry appeared. He passed Senna into the complex on lap 14 to move into 6th place and he looked like he was going to get on terms with the leaders before the end of the lap. However an error coming out of the chicane put the Cesario Dallara into a spin and in his frustration his applied too much power as he tried regain the track and backed his car into the barriers. The Brazilian got going again but only after dropping to 10th.
The leaders came round to the end of the 16th lap and Jarvis was close enough to challenge Jelley again. This time his move into the Chicane paid off and he moved into the lead. 3rd placed Buurman got the entrance to the Chaicane all wrong, had to straight line the corner and subsequently lost a place to Bakkerud. At the end of the 16th lap it was Jarvis from Jelley, Bakkerud and Buurman, with Conway over three seconds further down the road.
Three laps later Bakkerud tried an identical move on Jelley that his teammate had tried and now it was a Carlin 1-2 at the front of the field. Jelley lost another place to Buurman a lap later, the young driver from Leicester clearly struggling to find grip with his wet tyres on the drying track. His race suddenly took a turn for the worse when he was lapping the slick shod Engel and the two cars came together, dropping Jelley behind Conway into 5th place, the Raikkonen Robertson driver clearly not happy with the Carlin driver.
The race was reaching the final few laps but the drama wasn't yet over. Buurman was clearly the fastest driver on the circuit and on lap 23 he swept past Bakkerud into the Chicane and was soon hassling Jarvis for the lead. The top 3 were split by just 0.5 seconds as they started the last lap of teh 2006 season. Buurman got right up behind Jarvis on the long run into the Chicane. The Dutchman jinked to the right and got alongside Jarvis. Jarvis tried to defend but was off line into the Chicane and Buurman was through, followed by Bakkerud who exited the Chicane alongside his teammate.
Yelmer Buurman crossed the line to score his second win of the year to the delight of his Fortec team on the pitwall. Christian Bakkerud got ahead of Oliver Jarvis to take second place. A fitting end to a superb race. Alberto Valerio, who had recovered to 7th by the flag, set the fastest lap of the race on the very last lap.
In the National Class it looked like a comfortable win for Rodolfo Gonzalez until his fuel pump seized, forcing him into retirement and handing victory to Cristiano Morgado, the South African's 4th win of 2006. Alex Waters recovered to take his second podium finish in eight races well ahead of 3rd placed Rodolfo Avila.
Yelmer Buurman: "It's fantastic. To end the season with a win is just great. I don't have a teammate this season so it is very difficult to compare data. Everyone can compare data with their teammate except for me so I think we are missing out, that's been the main struggle I think. When I was in 3rd being Jarvis and Jelley, I was taking it a bit easy because I felt the rear tyres were going. So I just waited until the last couple of laps to see what I could do. Then Christian (Bakkerud) came steaming up behind me and I didn't expect that. He made a clean move and I made a little mistake, breaking a bit too late and straight lined the Chicane. After that I got back, past Jelley and then the other two. My breaking at the last corner was right on the limit, at first I wasn't sure if I was going to make it, but in the end I did so it's really good. I hope to be back in 2007, depends on the sponsorship. It's been a good year with Fortec, they've worked really hard and did a great job and I'd like to thank them for that. "
Christian Bakkerud: "I saw these two guys (Buurman and Jarvis) battling it out and I thought I'd keep back a little bit just in case they hit each other. I saw Oli (Jarvis) get a bit too much kerb on the way in and I thought that was going to knock him wide so I tried to go on the outside of him where it was a bit wetter but I just manged to find enough grip and edge my way across the line. The last few races we've been on the podium nearly every time, it just goes to show what could've happened at the beginning of the year as well when I was in contention and then something ridiculous happened. For me this isn't a surprise for me to be here at the end of the season, I'm just showing what I really can do."
Oliver Jarvis: "I had a good race, got the lead and was fairly comfortable in the lead. Saw Christian (Bakkerud) behind me and saw Yelmer (Buurman) make a move on Christian. I had enough of a gap as far as I was concerned coming out of Goodwood, but he got an absolutely awesome tow by the time we came into the braking zone he was past me. As I tried to defend he had the line and managed to get past me. In the race I made a move on Jelley and made it stick. From then I thought it was going to be a nice drive to the finish but these two pushed me hard and just managed to pip me at the end. I set out to win the championship this so a little bit disappointed we didn't quite manage that but at the same time there are a lot of positives to take away. I've had a fantastic year with Carlin, plenty of podiums, couple of wins, several fastest laps and a few pole positions so delighted with the way things have gone in that respect. Whatever I decide to do next I hope to do as well, just one step better."
Round 22 - ResultPos/ Car/ Class/ Drivers/ Car/ Time/ Laps/ Gap/ Avg/Speed1 3 C Yelmer BUURMAN Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 30:46.132 25 114.852 1 C Christian BAKKERUD Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 30:47.327 25 1.195 114.783 2 C Oliver JARVIS Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 30:47.437 25 1.305 114.774 26 C Mike CONWAY Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 30:53.472 25 7.340 114.405 22 C Stephen JELLEY Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 30:56.034 25 9.902 114.246 21 C Bruno SENNA Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 30:56.949 25 10.817 114.187 16 C Alberto VALERIO Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 31:01.589 25 15.457 113.908 6 C James JAKES Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 31:04.341 25 18.209 113.739 9 C Jonathan KENNARD Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 31:04.629 25 18.497 113.7110 7 C Stuart HALL Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 31:05.907 25 19.775 113.6311 15 C James WALKER Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA 31:43.354 25 57.222 111.4012 37 N Cristiano MORGADO Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen Honda 31:47.116 25 1:00.984 111.1813 44 I Leo MANSELL Dallara F306 Mercedes 31:59.712 25 1:13.580 110.4514 33 N Alex WATERS Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 30:56.510 24 1 LAP 109.6415 11 C Keiko IHARA Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 31:05.648 24 1 LAP 109.1016 84 I Oliver TURVEY Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 31:13.678 24 1 LAP 108.6417 38 N Rodolfo AVILA Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 31:49.578 24 1 LAP 106.5918 50 I Greg MANSELL Dallara F306 Mercedes 31:52.421 24 1 LAP 106.44Not Classified-- 32 N Rodolfo GONZALEZ Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 27:50.629 22 D.N.F. 111.69-- 12 C Maro ENGEL Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 27:09.822 21 D.N.F. 109.28-- 39 N Juho ANNALA Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 15:55.482 10 D.N.F. 88.76Fastest Laps-- 16 C Alberto VALERIO Dallara F306 Mugen-Honda 1:11.292 25 191.46kph 118.97-- 50 I Greg MANSELL Dallara F306 Mercedes 1:13.905 3 184.69kph 114.76-- 32 N Rodolfo GONZALEZ Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda 1:14.002 5 184.45kph 114.61
