Hitech Racing driver, Marko Asmer, scored a superb victory in round 10 of the Lloyds TSB Insurance British Formula 3 International Series at the Italian circuit of Monza this afternoon, taking his tally of race wins up to six and extending his lead in the championship to 51 points.
In the first race of the day, the Silverstone-based team was unfortunate not to take a podium result, after Estonian Asmer suffered from a broken front wing in the early stages of the race after contact, dropping him from third place back to sixth. A great drive, setting the fastest lap for the majority of the race, allowed him to get back up to fourth.
His team-mate, Austrian Walter Grubmüller, was less fortunate. He made a great start to move from his 14th place starting position up to tenth place on the opening lap. However, an electrical problem caused him a loss of power on the exit of the corners, hampering his pace. He eventually had to settle for 15th position at the chequered flag.
In race two, Grubmüller’s race was to end early when he pulled into the pit-lane on lap two, retiring with the same problem from the opening race.
At the front, Asmer had made a great start from fourth to be third into the first chicane. This was soon to be second when Mario Moraes was given a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.
A fantastic drive then followed as he chased down race one winner, Maro Engel, before taking the lead on lap 11 as the pair dived into the first chicane. Over the next six laps Asmer had to defend heavily from the chasing German before he was able to collect his sixth win of the season.
“It was a cool race I have to say,” smiled Asmer after race two. “I had to work really hard once I’d got into the lead, really drive at the maximum to stay ahead. I tried to pull away but it never happened. It’s good to take a win from the weekend,” he added.
“I had a small problem during qualifying, but it got really bad as the first race went on,” said Grubmüller. “The team changed pretty much everything on the car between the two races, but it was doing it again and the team told me to come in as I had dropped to last place on the opening lap because of the problem. It’s been a very frustrating weekend for me, I’m definitely looking for a points finish at the next round,” he added.
“I’m pleased we’ve kept up our ‘winning run’ as we’ve now won at every round,” said team boss David Hayle. “I think that one was down to Marko because we didn’t have the best car all weekend. But, that’s how you mount a championship challenge. You won’t have the best car every weekend, but if he drives well and brings the car home he can still win the race. When he’s had the best car he’s won easily. This one was down to him. He drove a fantastic race and fought hard.”
“Right now we’re trying to win as many races as possible and not even thinking about the championship. We’ll see where that fits at the final round. Walter had an electrical problem that we can’t find. We’ve changed just about everything we can change and still have it. He needed a result here and we hoped he could get one, but it hasn’t worked out for him, which is a shame,” he added.
Lloyds TSB Insurance British Formula Three International Series
Round Nine Result
1 Maro Engel 28m 43.419s
2 Sam Bird 28m 46.345s
3 Alberto Valerio 28m 48.226s
4 Marko Asmer 28m 49.344s
5 Jonathan Kennard 28m 51.019s
6 Esteban Guerrieri 29m 04.813s
15th Walter Grubmüller 29m 14.688s
Lloyds TSB Insurance British Formula Three International Series
Round Ten Result
1 Marko Asmer 28m 43.534s
2 Maro Engel 28m 44.214s
3 Sam Bird 28m 52.455s
4 Niall Breen 29m 00.133s
5 Jonathan Kennard 29m 01.607s
6 Sebastian Hohenthal 29m 04.030s
DNF Walter Grubmüller
Championship Points after 10 rounds
1 Marko Asmer 156
2 Sam Bird 105
3 Maro Engel 99
4 Niall Breen 81
5 Stephen Jelley 79
6 Jonathan Kennard 65
