Duvashen Padayachee celebrated his fifth National Class victory of the 2012 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on Friday, 27th July, with the addition of fourth position in the second of the weekends races consolidating his title challenge for Double R Racing.The Australian, who headed into the seventh event of the season 38 points shy of the class lead, rounded out his maiden visit to the challenging 4.3-mile Grand Prix venue an improved 31 points away from the top of the National Class standings.Marking Padayachees first outing since the British F3 event at the Norisring in Germany four weeks ago, having elected to miss the recent RTL GP Masters of Formula 3 in The Netherlands, the category rookie made a superb return to action during the dry 18th round.Starting the first of Fridays two scheduled races which also featured teams and drivers from the FIA European F3 Championship third in the National Class, he made a great start to quickly move into the lead at the wheel of his Dallara Mugen-Honda.Running unchallenged throughout, Padayachee produced one of his very best performances of the year on his way to an excellent seven second National Class victory over experienced F3 campaigner Adderly Fong. The Double R man was also 1.5 seconds to the good over European F3s Luis Sa Silva.Heavy rain, added to thunder and lighting, led to an initial delay for round 19 on Friday afternoon but with no let up at all, and worsening standing water on the track, officials rightly chose to totally cancel the second of the weekends races.Round 20 this morning, Saturday, 28th July, took place in the wet with more rain later in the race making conditions very tough. Lining-up third in the National Class again, Padayachee ran ahead of title rival Spike Goddard initially but slipped to fourth on lap two where he remained to the flag.Duvashen did a great job in Fridays race, he drove really well and produced some very good and consistent lap times, said Double R Racing team principal Anthony Boyo Hieatt, Were delighted he took another win, especially at a track as challenging as Spa. Its great for his confidence and Im sure more wins will follow during the last three events of the season.Unfortunately for the Woking squad, there wasnt such good news for International Class pairing Geoff Uhrhane and Fahmi Ilyas although the former did post a weekends best of eighth position in the British F3 classification during the opening encounter on Friday.Uhrhane produced a strong drive at the wheel of his Dallara-Mercedes in round 18, climbing from 12th on the British F3 grid. Moving up a couple places on the opening lap, one of those coming at the expense of team-mate Ilyas who stalled on the line, the Australian rookie was eighth by lap four.On the seventh tour, Uhrhane did take seventh in the British rankings from Pietro Fantin before closing up on Hannes van Asseldonk although he slipped back to eighth three laps from the finish after being passed by the recovering Harry Tincknell.Malaysian racer Ilyas race was ruined after the unfortunate stall but he still mounted an impressive and determined fightback from 28th overall into 21st place, 11th of the British F3 drivers, by the finish on lap 13 just five seconds shy of the British championship top 10.Both of Double Rs Dallara F312 drivers were shuffled back at the beginning of the treacherous 20th round but any hopes Uhrhane had of staging a recovery came to a premature end on the fifth tour with a spin into retirement. Ilyas, meanwhile, did make some progress and concluded the race 11th in the British F3 International Class results.
Hieatt reflected: Its been a tough weekend for both Geoff and Fahmi, although they each raced well on Friday. Were disappointed with the way things have turned out for them here but were all determined to bounce back with better when were back in the UK next weekend.With all of the mainland European races from the 2012 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series now concluded, Double R Racing will be back in action on UK soil for rounds 21, 22 and 23 of the season at Snetterton 300 Circuit in Norfolk on 4th/5th August.2012 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series Driver Standings (after Rd20):11th Fahmi Ilyas, 39pts; 12th Geoff Uhrhane, 25pts2012 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series National Class Standings (after Rd20):2nd Duvashen Padayachee, 263pts
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