TAKE THE SNETTERTON WINS

Renger van der Zande and Riki Christodoulou were the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series race victors at Snetterton (Sun), the Dutch driver dominating round nine after starting from the pole, and the young Englishman taking his maiden British F3 win in round 10 after making an inspired start.

Daniel Ricciardo was a podium visitor in both races to extend his championship lead. Race 1Van der Zande staged a masterclass display of Hitech Racing and Mercedes superiority in round nine at Snetterton, leading from pole position to chequered flag. Renger blasted into a one-second lead within the first couple of laps, and thereafter his second race win of the season was beyond doubt... His pursuers were racing for the second step of the podium.

 "It has been a very good weekend so far," said Renger, "I have been quickest all the way. It's been a lot of fun. It's a great effort from the team, they have done really well." Henry Arundel headed the chase for 20 of the 29 laps, until his Carlin Motorsport Dallara suffered a gear selection issue which delayed him long enough to allow his team-mate and championship leader Daniel Ricciardo to slip past.

 "I was struggling with the gears and Daniel made it through," said Henry, "but once I had worked out what the problem was I was able to drive around it and hang on to third."

Van der Zande crossed the line 3.8s clear at the line, his lead at one stage having been in excess of eight seconds, with Ricciardo comfortably ahead of Arundel. Van der Zande's Hitech team-mate Walter Grubmuller held fourth place throughout, shadowed all the way by Riki Christodoulou, Max Chilton and Jay Bridger. Daniel McKenzie slotted his Fortec Dallara into eighth on the opening lap and held on in that position all the way to the flag to collect his sixth National Class victory of the season.

Birthday boy Adriano Buzaid snatched ninth from the grasp of Daisuke Nakajima 10 laps from the end. Race 2Riki Christodoulou claimed a popular maiden victory in round 10, his Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes pipping championship leader Ricciardo to victory by just over a second. Christodoulou's win brings to six the number of different race victors this season. Riki got the job done within three laps of the start, after pole-sitter and round nine victor Renger van der Zande fluffed his getaway from the grid and let Christodoulou nose his way into second place at the first corner, just behind the Hitech car of Walter Grubmuller. Christodoulou piled on the pressure during the first and second laps, then popped past the Austrian to claim the lead into Riches at the start of lap three.

 Thereafter he was home free. Said Riki: "I knew I had to get a good start, and I managed to get ahead of Renger off the line, then two laps later I passed Walter down the start/finish line, and from there I was able to control the race." Grubmuller further lost out when Ricciardo followed Christodoulou's example and popped past, following Riki home all the way to the flag and a solid second place for Carlin Motorsport.

"If someone had told me this morning that I would take 30 points from today I wouldn't have believed them," said Daniel. "We still don't have winning pace, but when you can't win you have to try to bag good points, which is what we've done." A disappointed Grubmuller had to make do with third, just ahead of his team-mate van der Zande. The T-Sport twins, Adriano Buzaid and Wayne Boyd, were well in touch throughout the race to collect fifth and sixth, with Max Chilton, Henry Arundel, Jay Bridger and Victor Garcia completing the top 10. Gabriel Dias made an excellent start to the race to lead the National Class throughout, with Daniel McKenzie second in class and newcomer Aaron Steele third in his Litespeed.

 Round 9 provisional result, Snetterton, 5/7/200929

 laps / 56.61 miles

1 INT Renger van der Zande/NED, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, 30m 39.225s

2 INT Daniel Ricciardo/AUS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +3.870s

3 INT Henry Arundel/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +10.243s

4 INT Walter Grubmüller/AUT, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, +10.649s

5 INT Riki Christodoulou/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, +14.269s

6 INT Max Chilton/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +14.674s

7 INT Jay Bridger/GBR, Litespeed Mygale-Mugen Honda, +15.089s

8 NAT Daniel McKenzie/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mugen Honda, +15.271s

9 INT Adriano Buzaid/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, +16.640s

10 INT Daisuke Nakajima/JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes, +19.958s

11 NAT Gabriel Dias/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda, +26.866s

12 INT Victor Garcia/ESP, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, +27.866s

13 INT Hywel Lloyd/GBR, CF Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda, +29.471s

14 INT Philip Major/CDN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +30.516s

15 INT Wayne Boyd/GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, +30.843s

16 INT Stéphane Richelmi/MON, Barazi-Epsilon Dallara-Mercedes, +53.827s

17 NAT Victor Correa/BRA, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, +56.316s

18 NAT Aaron Steele/GBR, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, 28 laps

19 NAT Max Snegirev/RUS, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda, 28 laps

NOT CLASSIFIED INT Carlos Huertas/COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes, 15 laps

FASTEST LAPS

INT van der Zande 1m 02.645s / 112.17mph

NAT McKenzie 1m 03.133s / 111.30mph

Round 10 provisional result, Snetterton, 5/7/2009

29 laps / 56.61 miles

1 INT Riki Christodoulou/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, 30m 42.827s / 110.58mph

2 INT Daniel Ricciardo/AUS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +1.152s

3 INT Walter Grubmüller/AUT, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, +1.803s

4 INT Renger van der Zande/NED, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, +3.095s

5 INT Adriano Buzaid/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, +7.390s

6 INT Wayne Boyd/GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, +9.213s

7 INT Max Chilton/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +9.767s

8 INT Henry Arundel/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +15.916s

9 INT Jay Bridger/GBR, Litespeed Mygale-Mugen Honda, +16.263s

10 INT Victor Garcia/ESP, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, +17.165s

11 NAT Gabriel Dias/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda, +18.584s

12 INT Carlos Huertas/COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes, +20.324s

13 INT Daisuke Nakajima/JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes, +21.040s

14 NAT Daniel McKenzie/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mugen Honda, +21.506s

15 INT Hywel Lloyd/GBR, CF Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda, +27.152s

16 NAT Aaron Steele/GBR, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, +56.745s

17 NAT Victor Correa/BRA, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, 28 laps

18 NAT Max Snegirev/RUS, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda, 28 laps

NOT CLASSIFIED

INT Philip Major/CDN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, 19 lapsINT Stéphane Richelmi/MON, Barazi-Epsilon Dallara-Mercedes, 0 laps

FASTEST LAPS

INT van der Zande 1m 02.863s / 111.78mph

NAT Dias 1m 03.359s / 110.90mph

PROVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS

INT 1 Ricciardo 119 points; 2 Grubmuller 96; 3 van der Zande 85; 4 Christodoulou 81; 5 Nick Tandy 68; 6 Marcus Ericsson 65 etc.

NAT 1 McKenzie 172; 2 Dias 123; 3 Correa 100

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