With race wins for Walter Grubmüller and Wayne Boyd at Donington Park today, and scant rewards forthcoming for Cooper Tires British F3 points leader Daniel Ricciardo, the championship has come alive as it enters its second half, with only 13 points now separating the top two...
Race 1Austrian ace Walter Grubmüller did a great job of closing the gap between himself and Cooper Tires British F3 points leader Daniel Ricciardo in race one, claiming a dominant victory in the 11th round of the championship ahead of his Hitech Racing team-mate Renger van der Zande. Ricciardo recovered from early-race dramas to take third place at the chequered flag.
Grubmüller's Mercedes-powered Dallara made the decisive move of the race away from the startline, Walter making a better getaway than van der Zande to slot ahead of his team-mate into the first right-hander, Redgate Corner.
The only real threat to Grubmüller's second victory of the season came on the 10th lap, when the Safety Car was called into play while the stricken car of National Class runner Gabriel Dias was retrieved from a dangerous position. But Grubmüller and van der Zande handled the restart perfectly and kept well clear of their closest pursuer, Colombian Carlos Huertas who, after claiming his best grid slot, was enjoying a convincing run in the Raikkonen Robertson Dallara.
Ricciardo was meanwhile enduring a nightmare, slipping from third on the grid to seventh by the third lap. The fight back to third was impressive, Daniel's Carlin Motorsport car dispatching Riki Christodoulou through the Craner Curves on lap seven, Max Chilton six laps later, then Adriano Buzaid within a further two laps and, finally, Huertas for third on the inside at McLeans nine laps from the end. That was to be as far as Daniel would get, however.
Said Ricciardo: "My start wasn't perfect, too much wheelspin, and I fell back a couple of positions. Then I tried to make them up a bit too quickly and that ended up costing me a couple more positions. The safety car helped a bit, and the car was really good and I managed to get back to third. I had the pace of the Hitech cars but Renger was doing a good job holding me off. Third was all I could do in the end."
Grubmüller crossed the line six-tenths clear of van der Zande, and said: "After the start it was a pretty uneventful race for me, but still difficult because it was extremely slippery. I was struggling with that a bit but managed to get it home safe. I am still in contention for the championship; we're only half way through the season and anything can happen. We are still in the fight."
Huertas held on for fourth, equalling his best result, ahead of Buzaid, Chilton, Christodoulou and Daisuke Nakajima, with Jay Bridger and Wayne Boyd completing the top 10.
In the National Class Dias threw away a massive grid advantage on the opening lap, Fortec's Daniel McKenzie gratefully accepting the class lead. With Dias later hobbled by mechanical problems, McKenzie enjoyed a relatively easy run to his seventh class win of the season.
Race 2Ulsterman Wayne Boyd claimed his maiden Cooper Tires British F3 race win at a rain-hit Donington, the 18-year-old staging a magnificent drive in treacherous conditions to lead home his T-Sport team-mate Adriano Buzaid.
Boyd's drive was all the more remarkable in that he started from 10th on the grid, and fell as low as 12th in the early stages before scything his way through to a popular victory at the wheel of his Volkswagen-powered Dallara.
Championship leader Daniel Ricciardo led the way from the pole in the early, dry laps, pursued by Buzaid and the Hitech cars of Renger van der Zande and Walter Grubmuller. But at the completion of a two-lap safety car period, caused by the need to rescue a stranded car from the track, Ricciardo was hijacked by van der Zande and Buzaid through McLeans corner, and the Australian spun back to seventh, just ahead of Boyd, who had recovered well from a grassy moment on the opening lap and who was revelling in the increasingly damp conditions.
Boyd made short work of Ricciardo and within a further two laps had dispensed with the cars of Carlos Huertas and Max Chilton to move into fourth. Both Grubmuller and Buzaid fell victim to the charging Ulsterman on the 15th lap, the former at Redgate and the latter at Coppice, and then, after five laps shadowing van der Zande, Wayne put in the overtaking move of the season at Redgate, around the outside of the Dutch driver, to claim the lead.
With van der Zande fading towards the end (and later slapped with a 25-secnd penalty for his incident with Ricciardo), Buzaid moved into second for a T-Sport 1-2.
"It's absolutely amazing," said Wayne of his victory. "After being so dominant in Formula Ford last year, jumping up to F3 was a big step. People doubted I could do it. But now to get my first win in the hardest conditions we've seen all year... it's absolutely brilliant. I got pushed on to the grass at the start, and that fired me up a bit. Big thanks to T-Sport, the car was absolutely brilliant."
Grubmuller claimed third, ahead of Huertas and Ricciardo, to narrow Daniel's championship lead further still. The top 10 was completed by Henry Arundel, Chilton, Jay Bridger, Daisuke Nakajima and Ricki Christodoulou, with Daniel McKenzie emerging on top in a topsy-turvy National Class battle.
Round 11 provisional result, Donington Park, 19/7/200928 laps / 54.80 miles1 INT Walter Grubmüller/AUT, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, 30m 28.106s / 107.92mph2 INT Renger van der Zande/NED, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, +0.656s3 INT Daniel Ricciardo/AUS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +1.182s4 INT Carlos Huertas/COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes, +6.660s5 INT Adriano Buzaid/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, +9.882s6 INT Max Chilton/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +11.245s7 INT Riki Christodoulou/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, +12.479s8 INT Daisuke Nakajima/JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes, +13.097s9 INT Jay Bridger/GBR, Litespeed Mygale-Mugen Honda, +17.760s10 INT Wayne Boyd/GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, +20.692s11 INT Victor Garcia/ESP, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, +21.419s12 NAT Daniel McKenzie/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mugen Honda, +21.807s13 INT Henry Arundel/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +22.131s14 INT Dominic Storey/NZL, RR Dallara-Mercedes, +28.668s15 INT Philip Major/CDN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +29.346s16 INT Hywel Lloyd/GBR, CF Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda, +31.903s17 NAT Victor Correa/BRA, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, +47.543s18 NAT Gabriel Dias/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda, 23 laps
NOT CLASSIFIEDNAT Max Snegirev/RUS, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda, 21 laps
FASTEST LAPSINT Ricciardo 1m 02.296s / 113.11mphNAT Dias 1m 03.153s / 111.57mph
Round 12 provisional result, Donington Park, 19/7/200924 laps / 46.98 miles1 INT Wayne Boyd/GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, 30m 13.649s / 93.24mph2 INT Adriano Buzaid/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen, +6.082s3 INT Walter Grubmüller/AUT, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, +7.362s4 INT Carlos Huertas/COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes, +8.308s5 INT Daniel Ricciardo/AUS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +10.452s6 INT Henry Arundel/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +11.994s7 INT Max Chilton/GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, +13.462s8 INT Jay Bridger/GBR, Litespeed Mygale-Mugen Honda, +14.168s9 INT Daisuke Nakajima/JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes, +15.305s10 INT Riki Christodoulou/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, +16.503s11 INT Hywel Lloyd/GBR, CF Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda, +24.226s12 NAT Daniel McKenzie/GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mugen Honda, +30.017s13 INT Renger van der Zande/NED, Hitech Dallara-Mercedes, +32.936s14 NAT Gabriel Dias/BRA, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda, +45.035s
NOT CLASSIFIEDNAT Victor Correa/BRA, Litespeed-Mugen Honda, 19 lapsINT Dominic Storey/NZL, RR Dallara-Mercedes, 15 lapsNAT Max Snegirev/RUS, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda, 13 lapsINT Philip Major/CDN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, 3 lapsINT Victor Garcia/ESP, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes, 2 laps
FASTEST LAPSINT Ricciardo 1m 04.596s / 109.08mphNAT Dias 1m 06.577s / 105.83mph
PROVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONSINT 1 Ricciardo 141 points; 2 Grubmuller 128; 3 van der Zande 100; 4 Christodoulou 86; 5 Buzaid 79; 6 Chilton 74 etcNAT 1 McKenzie 212; 2 Dias 152; 3 Correa 115; 4 Snegirev 80; 5 Aaron Steel 22.
British F3 is sponsored by US tyre manufacturer Cooper Tire and is further supported by motorsport insurance specialist AON, by Sunoco Racing Fuels and by Anglo American Oil Company.
