Jean-Eric Vergne made a dream start to his Cooper Tires British F3 International Series carer at Oulton Park (Saturday), the Frenchman dominating qualifying and the opening race of the Easter weekend. The 19-year-old Carlin pilot led round one all the way from the pole, through a safety car interlude, and on to a 3.5-second victory over local hero Oli Webb (Knutsford).
Once Vergne had made his impeccable start to the race, Fortec driver Webb's only realistic hope of passing Jean-Eric came at the restart on lap eight, after a two-lap safety car period, but there were to be no errors forthcoming.
Said Vergne: "A win is never simple, but we had a really good preparation through the winter, I was on pole for this race, made no mistakes and the car was really good, so big thanks to Carlin. There were no problems with the restart, and after that I just had to think about preserving the tyres."
Added Webb: "I think ours was the quickest car out there and I was catching him early on, but the safety car was the end of our race really. He got the jump on me and after that I had to settle for second and think about conserving the tyres."
Brazilian Adriano Buzaid overcame the handicap of a fifth-place grid slot to slot into third on the opening lap, and held off the Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara of Colombia's Carlos Huertas all the way to the chequered flag to claim the final podium slot. Rupert Svendsen-Cook (Ipswich), who started third, lost ground on the first lap and stayed fifth to the flag, ahead of Daisuke Nakajima.
Jay Bridger (Horsmonden) and his Litespeed car were on for seventh but ran off the track two laps from the end, handing the place to Gabriel Dias and his Hitech car. Jazeman Jaafar, Daniel McKenzie (Poole) and Will Buller (Scarva) completed the top 10. There was disappointment for James Calado (Pershore), whose collision with the car of Hywel Lloyd (Corwen) prompted the safety car; Calado's race ended in retirement while Lloyd was able to continue after a pit stop.
The National Class provided a great tussle between T-Sport team-mates Menasheh Idafar (London) and James Cole (Liverpool), the former surviving a shaky start, which included a couple of knocks from other cars, to lead the class from lap one to the chequered flag.
British F3 is sponsored by US tyre manufacturer Cooper Tire and is further supported by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and Mirror.co.uk. Rounds two and three of the championship take place at Oulton Park on Monday (5 Apr). Monday morning's 'reverse grid' race will see Gabriel Dias start from the pole.
Cooper Tires British F3 International SeriesRound 1 Oulton Park 4/4/2010 19 laps = 37.69 milesProvisional results1 Jean-Eric VERGNE / FRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 30m 21.288s2 Oli WEBB / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +3.491s3 Adriano BUZAID / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +5.797s4 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes +9.698s5 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +11.164s6 Daisuke NAKAJIMA / JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes +12.572s7 Gabriel DIAS / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen +15.741s8 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +16.942s9 Daniel McKENZIE / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +17.771s10 William BULLER / GBR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen +20.105s etcFastest lap: Vergne 1m 29.073 s/ 108.80mph
National Class1 Menasheh IDAFAR / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda +26.259s2 James COLE / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda +33.714sFastest lap: Idafar 1m 30.564s / 107.01mph
Provisional championship standings1 Vergne 21 points; 2 Webb 15; 3 Buzaid 12; 4 Huertas 10; 5 Svendsen-Cook 8; 6 Nakajima 6 etc.National Class: 1 Idafar 21; 2 Cole 15.
Next rounds 5 Apr Oulton Park
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