Räikkönen Robertson driver Marcus Ericsson took victory in the sixth round of the 2009 Cooper Tires British F3 Series Sunday, following a second place earlier in the day at the Rockingham circuit. Ericsson’s first place was the third podium finish of the day for the team. Daisuke Nakajima finished fourth to strengthen his position in the drivers’ standings, while Carlos Huertas a suffered a first lap accident and was unable to finish. As the lights went out for the second race of the day, Ericsson made a good getaway, but was beaten to the first corner by Riki Christodoulou.
Behind him, Nakajima had also made a good start and had moved up to fifth place from seventh on the grid. Huertas didn’t have chance to match his fourth place finish in race one however, the 17 year-old racer was tapped into a spin and retired on the first lap. A safety car period on lap two to recover Huertas’ car bunched up the pack, but both Ericsson and Nakajima held their positions at the restart at the start of lap five. The order changed soon after though, as leader Christodoulou was handed a drive through penalty for lining up out of position on the starting grid. Taking the lead, Ericsson looked unchallenged at the front, and drove a flawless race to take his first British F3 victory on his debut weekend with the Räikkönen Robertson team. Nakajima went on to take fourth place and add ten points to his tally. The Honda backed driver now sits third in the drivers’ standings.
Speaking about his weekend, Ericsson said, “To take two wins in two race weekends in a row – first in Japan and then in Britain – is a great result for me. I’ve really enjoyed racing with the team here this weekend. The team have worked so hard and have put in a lot of effort to develop their car since last year and I think that showed today. For me to jump in the car for the first time on Friday and give them this result is fantastic. I’m so proud to be part of this team and thankful for them for giving me this chance. For me it is fantastic.”
Team principle Anthony Hieatt was also pleased following a strong weekend for the Räikkönen Robertson team, adding, “The team did a great job this weekend. Marcus has been very strong all weekend and I’m delighted to see him win on his first event with the team. Daisuke also had a great race and is clearly one of the most consistent drivers in the series. Carlos was very unfortunate to be taken out of contention through no fault of his own, but he showed with fourth place this morning that he has the pace to be at the front. Based on the team’s performance here, I’m very hopeful for more good results next week at Hockenheim.” The team will next be on track for rounds seven and eight at Hockenheim from 5 – 7 June.
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