2007 Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series Champion Marko Asmer finished the day with his tenth win of the season and celebrated on the podium with his Hitech Racing team. Asmer won after a hard charging Niall Breen tried to spoil the Estonian's party but the Irish driver had to settle for 2nd with Atte Mustonen in a lonely 3rd place.
Sergio Perez also celebrated winning the National Class title with a win ahead of 'Frankie' Cheng and Hamad Al Fardan.
At the start it was Asmer who got away cleanly but it was Naill Breen who made the first move, getting ahead of Jonathan Kennard to go second on the exit of the first corner. Maro Engel also got ahead of Atte Mustonen to take fourth place but the German lost the place by the end of the lap as the Finn fought back.
At the end of the opening lap it was Asmer from Breen from Kennard and Mustonen. In the National Class Sergio Perez was leading from Salman Al Khalifa, who had made a demon start from 25th overall to end the lap in 19th overall and second in class ahead of 'Frankie' Cheng.
Niall Breen kept up the pressure on Asmer, with the nose cone of the Carlin Dallara glued firmly to the rear wing of the Hitech Dallara on the exit fo the Hairpin for lap after lap. Jonathan Kennard was the first casualty as the Kentish driver went off the track at Sunny to gift the third place to Mustonen. Kennard rejoined at the back of the field but he was out of the points for the second time at Croft. Sam Bird came slowly into the pits after the rear suspension on his Carlin Dallara failed, a sad end to an otherwise good weekend for the English driver.
'Frankie' Cheng was closing in on Al Khalifa and on lap 9 moved ahead of the Bahraini driver who fell into the clutches of his fellow countryman Hamad Al Fardan. Al Fardan put Al Khalifa under pressure and on lap 11 he span off at the exit to the Complex, rejoining down the field.
As the race entered the second half Asmer started to pull away from Breen as the Irish driver's rear tyres started to suffer and by lap 20 the gap had opened up to over two seconds, giving Asmer a bit of breathing space. Race one winner Stephen Jelley was having a good battle with Rodolfo Gonzalez for 8th place and for many laps the Venezuelan driver held Jelley at bay but on lap 22 the Raikkonen Robertson Racing driver managed to get ahead of his rival.
At the chequered it was Marko Asmer who finished his championship weekend in style, finishing over 3 seconds in front of Niall Breen and a further 5.7 seconds ahead of the lonely Atte Mustonen.
Sergio Perez took the honours in the National Class, two places ahead of 'Frankie' Cheng, the Chinese driver in his last British F3 race of the 2007 season after receiving a call to drive for his country in A1GP in three weeks time. Hamad Al Fardan secured another podium finish to move him up to 3rd in the championship ahead of the non finishing Michael Meadows.
CLICK HERE to listen to the post race press conference with Marko Asmer, Niall Breen, Atte Mustonen and also the National Class press conference with Sergio Perez, Cheng Cong Fu and Hamad Al Fardan.
CLICK HERE to see the Championship Positions after Round 20
CLICK HERE to see the British F3 TV Schedule on Channel 4 and Motors TV
Round 20 - Result (Provisional)
1 - 7 - C - Marko ASMER - EST - Hitech Racing - 30:08.115 – 24laps
2 - 21 - C - Niall BREEN - IRL - Carlin Motorsport - 30:11.404 - 24 - +3.289s
3 - 26 - C - Atte MUSTONEN - FIN - Raikkonen Robertson Racing - 30:17.162 - 24 - +9.047s
4 - 22 - C - Alberto VALERIO - BRA - Carlin Motorsport - 30:22.757 - 24 - 14.642
5 - 23 - C - Maro ENGEL - GER - Carlin Motorsport - 30:22.934 - 24 - 14.819
6 - 50 - C - Greg MANSELL - GBR - Fortec Motorsport - 30:24.317 - 24 - 16.202
7 - 14 - C - Esteban GUERRIERI - ARG - Ultimate Motorsport - 30:25.669 - 24 - 17.554
8 - 1 - C - Stephen JELLEY - GBR - Raikkonen Robertson Racing - 30:27.436 - 24 - 19.321
9 - 9 - C - Rodolfo GONZALEZ - VEN - T-Sport - 30:28.956 - 24 - 20.84
10 - 5 - C - Sebastian HOHENTHAL - SWE - Fortec Motorsport - 30:29.821 - 24 - 21.706
11 - 24 - C - John MARTIN - AUS - Alan Docking Racing - 30:32.290 - 24 - 24.175
12 - 27 - C - Alastair JACKSON - GBR - Raikkonen Robertson Racing - 30:55.662 - 24 - 47.547
13 - 31 - N - Sergio PEREZ - MEX - T-Sport - 30:56.845 - 24 - 48.730
14 - 44 - C - Leo MANSELL - GBR - Fortec Motorsport - 30:57.228 - 24 - 49.113
15 - 39 - N - Cong Fu CHENG - CHN - Performance Racing Europe - 30:57.715 - 24 - 49.600
16 - 2 - C - Jonathan KENNARD - GBR - Raikkonen Robertson Racing - 31:02.124 - 24 - 54.009
17 - 10 - C - Ricardo TEIXEIRA - ANG - Performance Racing Europe - 31:04.926 - 24 - 56.811
18 - 8 - C - Francesco CASTELLACCI - ITA - Alan Docking Racing - 31:10.603 - 24 - 01:02.5
19 - 38 - N - Hamad AL FARDAN - BHR - Performance Racing Europe - 31:13.738 - 24 - 01:05.6
20 - 59 - N - Ernesto OTERO - BRA - Raikkonen Robertson Racing - 31:24.395 - 24 - 01:16.3
21 - 33 - N - Juan Pablo GARCIA S. - MEX - Fluid Motorsport Development - 30:16.280 - 23 – +1lap
22 - 77 - N - Salman AL-KHALIFA - BHR - T-Sport - 30:17.931 - 23 – 1lap
23 - 37 - N - Viktor JENSEN - ISL - Alan Docking Racing - 30:20.912 - 23 – 1lap
- - - Not Classified - - - - - - -
DNF - 15 - C - Michael DEVANEY - IRL - Ultimate Motorsport - 16:43.280 - 13 - 11 - 99.12 - 01:15.294
DNF - 16 - C - Max CHILTON - GBR - Arena International Motorsport - 09:11.866 - 7 - 17 - 97.03 - 01:16.315
DNF - 3 - C - Sam BIRD - GBR - Carlin Motorsport - 05:33.465 - 4 - 20 - 91.76 - 01:16.815
DNF - 6 - C - Walter GRUBMULLER - AUT - Hitech Racing - - - - -
DNF - 4 - C - Mario MORAES - BRA - Carlin Motorsport - - - - -
DNF - 55 - N - Michael MEADOWS - GBR - Newnet Raikkonen Robertson Racing - - - - -
- - - Fastest Lap - - - - - - -
- 7 - C - Marko ASMER - EST - Hitech Racing - - 5 - - 102.61 mph - 01:14.555
- 39 - N - Cong Fu CHENG - CHN - Performance Racing Europe - - 13 - - 100.86 mph - 01:15.842
