Felipe Nasr got his Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series title campaign off to the best possible start this weekend, following up his first-round Monza victory of Saturday with a second-place finish in this morning’s second race and a brilliant and exciting third-round win for the Carlin team. Carlin enjoyed a clean sweep in Italy, with Rupert Svendsen-Cook taking the honours in round two.
Round 2 reportRupert Svendsen-Cook held off a determined challenge from his Carlin team-mate, and Round 1 victor, Felipe Nasr to claim victory in the second round at Monza this morning. Will Buller placed third for Fortec and claimed the fastest lap on his final tour of the circuit, with Bart Hylkema claiming Rookie class honours for T-Sport.
It’s almost a year to the day since Svendsen-Cook’s first and last British Formula 3 win, but the Suffolk youngster put all thoughts of his champagne drought from his mind as he sped to victory. Rupert started from second on the semi-reversed grid, behind yesterday’s sixth-place finisher Riki Christodoulou, and dislodged the Hitech man from the lead at the end of the main straight as they began the second of the 12 laps.
“I overtook Riki into the first chicane and then really pushed hard to break the tow,” said Svendsen-Cook. “All I focused on after that was pushing hard, no mistakes, and consistent lap times and I got a good gap to break the tow so they couldn’t catch me. It was great, particularly after making a dreadful start. The car completely bogged down and I got too much wheelspin.”
The biggest threat to Svendsen-Cook came in the shape of Nasr, who started sixth and picked off the cars of Lucas Foresti (Fortec) and Jazeman Jaafar (Carlin) in the early laps to move up to fourth. The Brazilian saw off Christodoulou on lap four but then had to wait for four laps before an opportunity presented itself to pass Buller for second down the main straight. By then Rupert was a second to the good and despite his best efforts Felipe could not catch him.
Buller’s third place was a small consolation for his first-round dramas, in which he was forced to start from the pit lane, and the Ulsterman was pleased: “To finish on the podium is what we are here to do. I got the fastest lap, so I took the same total points as Rupert. It’s a solid enough performance and now I am looking forward to the main race, which I start from the pole.”
Christodoulou held off Jaafar for fourth at the chequered flag, with Carlos Huertas claiming sixth, profiting from a last-lap clash between Foresti and Menasheh Idafar, with whom he had been disputing the position. Foresti crossed the line 10th (but was later demoted to 17th) while Idafar limped in 18th. Jack Harvey was classified 10th
Sino Vision racing’s Hywel Lloyd was seventh yesterday and seventh again in round two, ahead of Kevin Magnussen, who put in a solid run from 15th on the grid, and Pietro Fantin, who was 17th at the start.
Kotaro Sakurai’s car-wrecking round one crash ruled him out of the race, so Hylkema was the sole Rookie class contender. The Dutch driver drove well to claim 16th overall and, this time, a full complement of class championship points.
Round 3 reportA brilliant drive from Brazilian Felipe Nasr from eighth on the grid brought him his second victory of the season at Monza this afternoon.
Despite starting from eighth on the grid, and dropping back to 11th on the opening lap, Nasr kept his head and picked his way through the order. There followed a fierce tussle for the lead between Felipe and his countryman Lucas Foresti, but Nasr proved unstoppable. His third-round victory, second-round podium and first-round win add up to a healthy championship lead. For good measure Nasr was voted the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend.
Said Nasr: “This race was really exciting for me. I lost a lot of places on lap one so I had to try to stay out of trouble and take each car one by one. I was really quick so I saw the win was possible. I had a great battle with Lucas; he was the hardest one to pass. This has been a really great start to my season, I am very pleased.”
Jazeman Jaafar was the early leader, the Malaysian making a lightning getaway from fourth on the grid to overhaul pole man Will Buller into turn one. Buller then ran wide and through the gravel as he attempted to retake top spot, plunging back to 10th, just ahead of Nasr, who got boxed in at the start.
Jaafar held on in front until the 7th of the 21 laps, when Foresti jumped him into the first turn. His mirrors full of the pursuing Carlos Huertas and Kevin Magnussen, Jaafar had little time to think of mounting a challenge to retake the lead.
Nasr was meanwhile picking them off. By lap seven he was sixth, then the Brazilian passed Pietro Fantin, then Magnussen, whose car had suffered front wing damage, and then Felipe popped past both Jaafar and Huertas on the 11th lap to claim second spot.
The tussle between Nasr and Foresti for the lead was the highlight of a great race, Felipe trying everything he knew to get past and eventually managing it four laps from home through the second chicane. Fantin was delighted with his second place - his first British F3 podium. “Felipe was very tough to keep behind me and in the end he passed me, but this is a great result for me and for Fortec.”
Jaafar saw off strong assaults from both Huertas and the recovering Buller to hang on to third, with Buller leading home the Colombian to collect fourth. Second-round victor Rupert Svendsen-Cook was sixth, ahead of Pietro Fantin and Magnussen. Double R’s Pipo Derani collected his first points with ninth, as did Fortec man Fahmi Ilyas, who placed 10th. Dutch driver Bart Hylkema brought his T-Sport car home 19th to take the Rookie class honours.
British Formula 3 enjoys the headlining support of Cooper Tires and is additionally backed by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and OAMPS.
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International SeriesRound 2, Monza ITA 17/4/201112 laps / 43.195 miles
Provisional results Championship class1 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-VW 21m 30.188s / 120.546mph2 Felipe NASR / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +1.045s3 William BULLER /GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +1.568s4 Riki CHRISTODOULOU / GBR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen +6.636s5 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +7.713s6 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +15.692s7 Hywel LLOYD / GBR, Sino Vision Dallara-Mercedes +20.050s8 Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +20.506s9 Pietro FANTIN / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen +22.013s10 Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +22.205s
Provisional results Rookie class1 Bart HYLKEMA / NED, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda +32.581s
Fastest lap: Buller 1m 46.377s / 121.789mph
Round 3, Monza ITA 17/4/201121 laps / 75.592 miles
Provisional results Championship class1 Felipe NASR / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 40m 37.942s / 111.60mph2 Lucas FORESTI / BRA, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +2.114s3 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +5.542s4 William BULLER /GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +6.125s5 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +6.437s6 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +7.879s7 Pietro FANTIN / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen +8.707s8 Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +9.473s9 Pipo DERANI / BRA, Double R Dallara-Mercedes +13.602s10 Fahmi ILYAS / MAS, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +14.152s etc
Provisional results Rookie class1 Bart HYLKEMA / NED, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda +41.861s
Fastest lap: Nasr 1m 46.298s / 121.91mph
Provisional championship standings1 Nasr 51 points; 2 Jaafar 33; 3 Buller 30; 4 Huertas 25; 5 Svendsen-Cook 24; 6 Foresti 17 etcRookie class: 1 Hylkema 33.
TV schedule: Channel 4: 0730 23 April; Motors TV UK 1958 23 April + repeats
Next rounds: Oulton Park 23 & 25 April
