Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series racer Bart Hylkema made a successful start to his debut season in the category over the weekend, 16th/17th April, at Monza in Italy by sealing a pair of Rookie Class wins in what was a truly incident-packed event.With less than a week to go until the second race meeting of the 2011 season, which will take place at the picturesque Oulton Park Circuit in Cheshire, England, the 21-year-old holds a 33 point lead and aims to build further on this when the action resumes just five days from now.In actuality Bart, who hails from Delft in The Netherlands, did scoop a hat-trick of Rookie Class wins at Monza but his round one success was unfortunately negated post-race. Having comfortably set the class pole position by 1.4 seconds, 19th place on the overall grid, he started Saturday's opener well and found himself running as high as 13th overall and looking particularly strong.The Safety Car was required due to a start-line incident but no sooner had the race resumed on lap three than a big question mark appeared over Bart's continued involvement - class rival Kotaro Sakurai slammed into the back of the Dutchman's Mugen-Honda powered Dallara F307 on the run into the Variante Della Roggia and his car was launched over the top of Bart's.Destroying the rear end of the T-Sport machine, Bart still managed to limp back to the pits and after a sensational effort by the mechanics to make repairs he rejoined round one, albeit four laps down. Running well and climbing back into the top 16 overall, Bart took the class win but was later taken out of the final results as he was deemed not to have completed sufficient race distance.Disappointed, but unperturbed, he hit back with class wins in rounds two and three. Racing well to finish 16th overall in the first of Sunday's encounters, the Geothex, TORO, Club Car, Ditch Witch and Annika Schultz Communications backed driver went on to finish 19th overall in round three."Overall I'm happy and satisfied with my first weekend in F3, we achieved our goals and made very good progress so I have to be pleased with that", he said, "Our pace got better and better through testing, qualifying and the races. It's certainly quite a challenge to fight the A Class cars but to win my class in all of the races and to race strongly too is a great start for me."It's a shame the officials decided I hadn't completed enough laps in the first race after I was hit by (Kotaro) Sakurai but these things happen, you have to accept it. The T-Sport guys did an amazing job to get me back out into the race after the accident - it was quite a moment as I felt a big hit to the rear of my car and then I could see his car just flying over the top of me! Luckily he was ok though."With the first event of the 2011 season concluded, there is no rest for Bart and his rivals with less than a week to wait until rounds four, five and six take place at Oulton Park International Circuit in Cheshire. Qualifying and the first race of the weekend will be held on Saturday, 23rd April, with rounds five and six scheduled for Monday, 25th April - there is no track action on Easter Sunday.Looking ahead to the event, Bart added: "Oulton will be another whole new challenge for me and I can't wait to race there. It's one of the greatest tracks in the UK, a real rollercoaster ride with a lot of challenges. It'll be hard to fight the A Class cars due to their downforce advantage but my aim is to just progress and hopefully take the Rookie Class wins again."