The Räikkönen Robertson Racing British F3 team enjoyed a strong debut in the 2009 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series this Easter, with strong performances from both Daisuke Nakajima and Carlos Huertas in their first races in the series. 

Nakajima led the team home in both races to record a fourth and fifth place, while Huertas qualified well but was unlucky in the races to finish 14th in both.    Lining up in third for the first race of the season, Nakajima was the lead Räikkönen Robertson driver on the grid. 

The Honda backed driver made a good start away from the line to hold his position into the first corner, while Huertas made a small error and stalled on the grid, and joined at the back of the field as the cars crossed the line for the first time.  By lap four, Nakajima had fallen to fifth place on track, which was fourth on the timing screens – as leader Max Chilton was racing under a one minute time penalty.  Nakajima maintained his position throughout the, withstanding pressure from fifth placed man Riki Christodoulou to cross the line in fourth place. 

Team mate Huertas meanwhile had made up a number of places following his start line incident to finish 12th.    Huertas was the lead Räikkönen Robertson driver for race two, lining up in sixth place, with Nakajima just behind in seventh.  Both drivers made a strong start to the second race, as the cars crossed the line for the first time Nakajima was fifth, with Huertas seventh.  On lap four, Huertas ran wide at Knickerbrook, and did a great job to recover the car and return to the track.  

The young Colombian was racing with a damaged car from that point on however, and battled with large amounts of oversteer to cross the line in 14th place.  Nakajima meanwhile held onto fifth place to take another good result for the team.   Having enjoyed a strong debut in the Series, Nakajima said, “It was a good weekend and I really enjoyed my first races in Britain.  I was pleased to take away two good results, but I feel that I made some mistakes and could have got on the podium.  We have a good car now and I’m looking forward to the next race when a podium is definitely our aim.”

Team Principal Anthony Hieatt added, “I’m very pleased with the performance of the team this weekend.  We had great pace in qualifying, which proves that we have a quick car and Mercedes have once again supplied us with a great engine.  Daisuke did a fantastic job in both races - on a track that is relatively new to him.  I’m sure it won’t be long before we see him on the podium.    Carlos has shown great pace, but as a rookie and the youngest driver in the field I think he suffered from a little inexperience in the races, but we can soon build on that.  The entire team is encouraged by our results this weekend and will be pushing even harder to be at the top for the next race.”