Championship leader Felipe Nasr scored a surprise feature race victory Sundayafternoon at Paul Ricard to make it two wins from three in the Cooper TiresBritish Formula 3 International Series' French weekend. Will Buller won thereverse-grid sprint race for Fortec to rack up his maiden F3 victory.Carlin man Nasr leaves France with a much enhanced points lead as a resultof his efforts. Meanwhile his team-mate Kevin Magnussen, who was odds-on forthe race three win only to lose it within sight of the chequered flag, goeshome disappointed yet again.Round 17Will Buller made it to the top step of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3International Series race podium this morning at Paul Ricard, the Ulstermanbreaking his duck with a commanding drive for the Fortec-Mercedes team frompole position to the fall of the chequered flag.Eighteen-year-old Buller, who is in his second British F3 season, was giftedthe pole for the 'reverse-grid' sprint race when his first-race finishingposition, seven, was pulled in the random draw. Will did not waste theopportunity and had to make not one, but two good starts to underline hisclass.The first start was an abortive affair with the lights flashing amber afterthe reds were extinguished; some drivers took this is a cue to start, otherswere more hesitant. Inevitably there was contact in the pack, with the twoDouble R cars of Pipo Derani and Scott Pye in collision and Bart Hylkema'sT-Sport machine striking the rear of a slower starter. The race wasabandoned and a six-lap restart ordered; none of the three damaged Dallaraswas able to go.Buller did it all perfectly once again when the lights this time worked asanticipated and built a first-lap lead of half a second over Carlin's RupertSvendsen-Cook, with Saturday podium man Antonio Felix da Costa slotting intothird for Hitech ahead of Carlin boys Kevin Magnussen and Carlos Huertas onthe opening lap.And that's how the top five stayed for the duration of the truncated race,with Buller able to double his lead by the fourth lap and to pull out a 1.6sadvantage over Svendsen-Cook by the finish line."It's so good to get the first one," said a victorious Buller. "I've waitedso long. I've been fast but things just haven't gone our way. Finally I haveit and I'm so happy about it; it's good to be on that top step and I plan tocontinue from here. The second start was very good for me; I pulled away andit was all good from then on.""I had a great start," said Rupert, "but Will did also and I couldn't gethim into the first corner. I was really pushing him for the first three lapsbut after that I couldn't follow so closely. Will then pulled out a biggergap, I think because he had fresher tyres. But it's my third podium fromthree weekends, so all in all it's good."The battle for sixth was a highlight of the race, with Fortec's LucasForesti holding it for the opening three laps until Racing Steps Foundationdriver Jack Harvey seized it from him. Harvey had lost several places on theopening lap and was on lap two at the centre of a further incident. As HarryTincknell attempted to pass him, Harvey was hit by the pursuing PietroFantin and the Brazilian was bounced back into Tincknell which knocked Harryinto a spin. Fantin recovered to deliver late-race pressure on Foresti, butLucas retained seventh at the line.Felipe Nasr slipped from seventh to 10th on the second lap after a spin, butthe championship leader relieved Sino Vision's Hywel Lloyd of ninth with anaggressive fourth-lap move. Jazeman Jaafar, who along with Menasheh Idafarwas relegated to the back of the grid for driving standards infringements inrace one, battled through to claim 10th, and the final point, from Lloyd twolaps from the end. Hitech's Kotaro Sakurai enjoyed an untroubled anduncontested run to victory in the Rookie class.*Post-race, Felipe Nasr was handed a 30-second penalty for not respectingtrack limits while overtaking, dropping him to 16th and promoting Jaafar toninth, Lloyd to 10thRound 18Nasr was as surprised as anyone to be first past the chequered flag in Round18 of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series at Paul Ricardthis afternoon, for his Carlin team-mate Magnussen looked to have the racevictory in the bag.Magnussen led the race all the way from pole position to the final corner,only to crash out within sight of the finish line after a clash of cars withthe hotly pursuing Antonio Felix da Costa. It was another miserable end to arace weekend for the Dane, who was robbed of a near-certain third-racevictory in Germany a fortnight ago.Nasr had already tried everything he knew to get past Magnussen; theBrazilian shadowed him closely all the way to the 10th lap - too closely, infact, as Felipe's front wing touched Kevin's rear at Beausset as he tried tofind a way past. Slightly delayed by the bump, Nasr fell prey to da Costa'sHitech machine on the next lap and lost second spot to him.The top three circulated as one for several more laps, with Nasr tryingeverything possible on lap 15 to wrest second back from da Costa. Felipenosed ahead for a corner but the Portuguese driver was in no mood toconcede. This tussle gave Magnussen the opportunity to pull a second clear,but da Costa was right back on the leader's tail for the final lap.Da Costa's view of the Virage du Pont clash with Magnussen was this: "Kevinwas much slower than me, and I was going to go for it. My view is that hedecided too late not to let me past, or maybe he didn't see me. I don't liketo be in this situation; I like Kevin a lot." Da Costa survived the brush tocross the finish line second on the road, a second and a half behind Nasr.Race stewards later docked him a 30-second penalty for the incident,dropping him to ninth."It was quite a gift for me," said Felipe. "I knew that those guys weretrying too hard. I had the chance earlier on to get Kevin, but I know thatKevin has nothing to lose right now; he's too far back in the championship.He was really aggressive with me and I think went too far, defending toomuch. I just kept my car clean after that and drove the whole race waitingfor a moment to come. It happened in the last corner and I got the win,which is good for me."Ricard race two victor Will Buller made an excellent start from eighth onthe grid to shoot up to fourth on the opening lap, and he stayed ahead ofthe pursuing Jack Harvey for the duration to collect what became third withMagnussen's demise and second with da Costa's penalty. Buller's efforts wererewarded with the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend award.The race was marred by a first-turn shunt between Jazeman Jaafar and PietroFantin which led to several clashes and spins in the pack and a five-lapsafety car period. Jaafar, Fantin, Scott Pye and Harry Tincknell all retiredwith damaged cars, and Bart Hylkema was forced to the pits for brief repairsbefore continuing.Carlin men Rupert Svendsen-Cook and Carlos Huertas followed their team-mateHarvey home, with Fahmi Ilyas next up for Fortec to collect his best placingof the year and his first championship points. Hywel Lloyd was classifiedseventh for Sino Vision Racing, ahead of International class debutantHylkema (T-Sport) and Double R's Pipo Derani.Kotaro Sakurai placed 11th on the road for his third Rookie class win of theweekend, ahead of T-Sport's Menasheh Idafar, who was delayed by a clash withthe car of Lucas Foresti which led to the Brazilian's 12th lap retirement.British Formula 3, which next heads for the Belgian Grand Prix circuit ofSpa-Francorchamps on its European mini-tour, enjoys the headlining supportof Cooper Tires and is additionally backed by Sunoco Racing Fuels, AngloAmerican Oil Company and OAMPS.Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series Round 17, Paul RicardFRA 17/7/20116 laps / 21.78 milesProvisional results Championship class1 William BULLER /GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 12m 25.918s / 105.14mph2 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +1.621s3 Antonio Felix da COSTA / POR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen +2.288s4 Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +3.289s5 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +6.186s6 Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +9.693s7 Lucas FORESTI / BRA, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +12.409s8 Pietro FANTIN / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen +13.009s9 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +16.888s 10 HywelLLOYD / GBR, Sino Vision Racing Dallara-Mercedes +18.748s etcRookie class1 Kotaro SAKURAI / JPN, Hitech Dallara-Mugen Honda +39.201sFastest lap Buller 2m 02.977s / 106.25mph
Round 1817 laps / 61.71 milesProvisional results Championship class1 Felipe NASR / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 40m 52.715s / 90.60mph2 William BULLER /GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +3.248s3 Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +3.734s4 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +9.626s5 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +10.327s6 Fahmi ILYAS / MAS, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +17.462s7 Hywel LLOYD / GBR, Sino Vision Dallara-Mercedes +24.990s8 Bart HYLKEMA / NED, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen +26.775s9 Antonio Felix da COSTA / POR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen +31.504s 10Pipo DERANI / BRA, Double R Dallara-Mercedes +32.711s etcRookie class1 Kotaro SAKURAI / JPN, Hitech Dallara-Mugen Honda +43.028sFastest lap da Costa 2m 02.604s / 106.56mph RecProvisional championship standings1 Nasr 237 points; 2 Huertas 133; 3 Lucas Foresti 127; 4 Jazeman Jaafar 115;5 Kevin Magnussen 113; 6 Buller 106; 7 Svendsen-Cook 104; 8 Harry Tincknell64; 9 Pietro Fantin 61; 10 Riki Christodoulou & da Costa 51 etc Rookie class1 Bart Hylkema 182; 2 Sakurai 213.TV schedule Motors TV UK 2122 23 July + repeats; Channel 4: 0700 30 JulyNext rounds Spa-Francorchamps BEL 28-30 July
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