Round 18 race report
Felix Serralles swept to his fourth win of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series season this afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps, Fortecs rookie racer battling past early leader Carlos Sainz to claim the victory and move into championship second.The stage was set for a thriller when Carlin driver Sainz outgunned pole man Serralles away from the start to lead the 29-car field into La Source hairpin. Puerto Ricos Serralles was neither surprised nor disheartened: There was more grip in the tyres than I was expecting at the start so I bogged down a bit. But I wasnt worried too much if I stayed P2 because I knew that I could slipstream Carlos later.Serralles trailed Sainz for two laps before lining up the Spaniard for a spectacular pass into Les Combes on the third lap. Thereafter Felix was in a class of his own, setting fastest lap on the way to a one-second lead over Sainz by the end of the following lap. At the chequered flag Serralles was the victor by five-and-a-half seconds. His thoughts are not yet on the championship, he says: Not really. I have nothing to lose This is only my first year of British F3; I go race by race and will fight to the end. We will see then.It was not Sainz who followed Serralles home, however: FIA European F3 title hopeful Daniel Juncadella (Prema) followed Felix example at Les Combes on lap five to secure second place overall. Yesterday we struggled for pace in qualifying, said the Spaniard, today the car was not so bad but we are still trying to get on top of the best set-up.Sainz was third on the road and a confidence-boosting second among the British F3 men, his best result since Pau in May. At the start I did exactly what I had been planning all night to do, and it worked out, so I can be really happy with my first two laps. After that, I didnt have the best pace and it was a case of trying to survive with the tyre degradation.Championship leader Jack Harvey endured a difficult day yesterday, missing most of the first practice session with an engine misfire and crashing out of qualifying after a collision with the car of Hannes van Asseldonk. The Racing Steps Foundation driver started 10th and made up four spots on the opening lap, then moved into fifth ahead of Alex Lynn on lap five.Jack then chased down his title rival and Carlin team-mate Jazeman Jaafar, snatching fourth overalland third in championship termsfrom the Malaysian on the final lap. Yesterday was not a great day but today, fourth from 10th is pretty good, says Jack.Jaafar placed fifth ahead of Fortecs Lynn, with the British championship top 10 completed by Pipo Derani, Harry Tincknellwho lost out at the start with a slow getawayGeoff Uhrhane (Double R), Pietro Fantin and T-Sports Nick McBride.Double Rs Duvashen Padayachee led the four-car National class battle from start to finish, the 22-year-old Australian collecting his fifth class win of the year ahead of CF Racings Adderly Fong and T-Sport duo Spike Goddard and Pedro Pablo Calbimonte. I didnt know where I was in relation to the other guys, said Duvashen. I was in a pack of International cars and it was a free-for-all. I just tried to stay with them and my race pace was great.Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International SeriesRound 18, Spa-Francorchamps (BEL) 27/07/201213 laps / 56.58 milesProvisional results British International & *FIA Euro classes1 Felix SERRALLES / PUR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 29m 45.219s / 114.08mph2 *Daniel JUNCADELLA / ESP, Prema Dallara-Mercedes +5.657s3 (2) Carlos SAINZ / ESP, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +10.462s4 (3) Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +12.678s5 (4) Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +14.364s6 (5) Alex LYNN / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +14.515s7 *Michael LEWIS / USA, Prema Dallara-Mercedes +16.009s
8 (6) Pipo DERANI / BRA, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +16.776s9 *Felix ROSENQVIST / SWE, Mcke Dallara-Mercedes +18.081s10 *Tom BLOMQVIST / GBR, ma-con Dallara-Volkswagen +20.037s13 (7) Harry TINCKNELL / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +27.009s15 (8) Geoff UHRHANE / AUS, Double R Dallara-Mercedes +29.233s16 (9) Pietro FANTIN / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +31.052s18 (10) Nick McBRIDE / AUS, T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +33.004s21 (11) Fahmi ILYAS / MAS, Double R Dallara-Mercedes +38.501s23 (12) Hannes VAN ASSELDONK / NED, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +45.415sNational class1 Duvashen PADAYACHEE / AUS, Double R Dallara-Mugen Honda +54.785s2 Adderly FONG / CHI, CF Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda +1m 01.814s3 Spike GODDARD / AUS, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda +1m 01.912s4 Pedro Pablo CALBIMONTE / BOL, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda +1m 03.490sFastest lap Serralles 2m 16.123s / 115.08mphFull timesheets ` Provisional championship standings1 Harvey 198 points; 2 Serralles 197; 3 Jaafar 192; 4 Sainz 155; 5 Lynn 152; 6 Fantin 139 etcNational class: 1 Goddard 282; 2 Padayachee 253; 3 Fong 77; 4 Calbimonte 10.
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