James Calado created motorsport history on Saturday, claiming the first-ever race win on the new Silverstone Arena Grand Prix circuit. Calado's victory came in round four of the 2010 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series, James ensuring his place in the record books thanks to his determination to keep Oli Webb behind him all the way from pole position to chequered flag.
Carlin driver Calado was fulsome in his praise of the new 3.67-mile track, which was ceremonially opened by the Duke of York on Thursday. "It's my new favourite circuit, and it's a great honour to be the first Arena GP winner."
It was James's maiden British F3 win, the fourth in succession for Carlin and Volkswagen, and promotes the 21-year-old from Pershore to sixth overall in the championship.
Calado made a great start from his first British F3 pole position, keeping Knutsford-based Fortec driver Webb behind him on the all-important opening lap. James established the new circuit outright lap record on the second lap, and lowered it again on lap five, but could not shake his determined pursuer. A small mid-race error allowed Webb to narrow Calado's advantage to four-tenths, but James kept his head to win.
"It's a fantastic result for me," he said. "We struggled a bit in testing yesterday but I put in two perfect laps in qualifying, which was really important for me; we got the car right and I got two poles out of it. I got a great start in the race, was able to keep the lead and to start edging away from Oli.
"I had a problem with a little bit of understeer and I made a mistake one lap when the front left locked up going into the hairpin, and that allowed Oli to catch me up and we had a big battle, which was entertaining and a bit nerve-wracking, but I managed to keep the position. Then I had to keep my cool and concentrate on staying ahead to the flag."
Webb was just over a second adrift at the line. "It was a very close race, a bit of déjà vu from last year when I raced against James in Formula Renault. Great fun. I had a few goes but unfortunately I couldn't find a way past. The new circuit is good, and definitely promotes overtaking. It was good for us to race on it first and good for the spectators."
Oulton Park double victor Jean-Eric Vergne was unable to find his way past Raikkonen Robertson racer Daisuke Nakajima, who made an excellent start from sixth on the grid to slot into third on the opening lap, and had to settle for fourth. The Frenchman's championship lead over Webb is cut to 12 points.
Like his team-mate Nakajima, Carlos Huertas made a good start to pick up places on the first lap, and then the Colombian held off a race-long challenge from Mexico's Esteban Gutierrez to claim fifth at the chequered flag. Jazeman Jaafar took seventh for Carlin, ahead of Gabriel Dias, Adriano Buzaid and Rupert Svendsen-Cook, with British F3 debutant Alexander Sims 11th for ART and Hitech's Will Buller claiming the final championship point in 12th.
The National class was depleted by a third on the warm-up lap when Menasheh Idafar cannoned his T-Sport Dallara into the back of a stationary Felipe Nasr, the Brazilian's car having expired on the grid. Both cars were badly damaged but neither driver was hurt.
That left Idafar's team-mate James Cole to keep Motul Team West-Tec driver Luiz Razia behind him for the duration to claim his second class win of the season and increase his class points lead.
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.
Cooper Tires British F3 International SeriesRound 4 Silverstone 1/5/2010 14 laps = 51.33 miles
Provisional results1 James CALADO / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 27m 01.234s2 Oli WEBB / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +1.015s3 Daisuke NAKAJIMA / JPN, RR Dallara-Mercedes +2.143s4 Jean-Eric VERGNE / FRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +3.308s5 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, RR Dallara-Mercedes +6.180s6 INV Esteban GUTIERREZ / MEX, ART Dallara-Mercedes +6.921s7 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +8.613s8 Gabriel DIAS / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen +9.448s9 Adriano BUZAID / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +10.852s10 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +16.711s etcFastest lap: Calado 1m 54.731s / 114.86mph Est Rec
National class1 James COLE / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda +44.234s2 Luiz RAZIA / BRA, West-Tec Dallara-Mugen Honda +49.808s
Invitation class1 Gutierrez2 Alexander SIMS / GBR, ART Dallara-Mercedes +17.375s3 Jim PLA / FRA, ART Dallara-Mercedes +32.698s
Provisional championship standings1 Vergne 60 points; 2 Webb 48; 3 Svendsen-Cook 32; 4 Nakajima 31; 5 Buzaid 30; 6 Calado 27; 7 Huertas 26; 8 Dias 18; 9 Jaafar 14; 10 Daniel McKenzie 7 etc.
National class1 Cole 57; 2 Menasheh Idafar 33; 3 Razia 15.
Next rounds: Silverstone, 2 May
