Round 23 race report
Just as at Spa-Francorchamps a week ago, a wet track provided the ideal platform for Carlos Sainz to shine at Snetterton this afternoon, the 17-year-old Spanish driver collecting his fifth win of the 2012 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series season.Sainz, who started from second on the grid behind pole man Jack Harvey, took control of the race at the start, leading into Riches after making a better getaway than the championship leader. By the end of the opening lap Red Bull Junior Team driver Sainz was 1.4s clear of his closest rival and that was as close as anyone would get to the Carlin man for the duration.Harvey slipped to third behind his chief title rival, Fortecs Felix Serralles, on the opening lap and a frustrated Jack was unable to live with the leaders pace, even though he did salvage a point for fastest lap on the penultimate lap. Harvey holds on to the championship lead he regained from Serralles with his Saturday Snetterton victory, but its a slender advantage of just four points with six races remaining.Its been a good weekend, said Jack. But Im a bit disappointed by the result of the final race. Our pace was not as good as it should have been and Im not really sure what went wrong; the damage was done pretty much after five laps. I just couldnt keep up with the guys in front despite giving it everything. To be positive, Im back leading the championship, which is what its all aboutSerralles admitted his race target was to get ahead of Harvey: I wasnt really pushing because I was ahead of Harvey, said the Puerto Rican. That was the main thing: to keep him behind me and gain as many points as I could.Sainz was delighted by his 12.4-second victory: Im very pleased to be back on top of the podium again. I really like these conditions, and I had a really good car for themAlex Lynn lost out to his team-mate Serralles on the opening lap to fall back to fourth from P3 on the grid; Alex held on to that spot to the end, ahead of Jazeman Jaafar. The Malaysian came under pressure initially from Hannes van Asseldonk, until a mid-race spin dropped the Dutchman back; he nonetheless finished sixth.Morning race victor Harry Tincknell was another to drop back on lap one; he fought back from eighth past his team-mate Pietro Fantin to secure seventh despite a puncture, with Fantin slipping behind his Brazilian countryman Pipo Derani to finish ninth. Double Rs Fahmi Ilyas collected the final point in 10th.The conditions again suited Adderly Fong down to a tee, and CF Racings Chinese driver took his third National class win of the Snetterton weekend, well clear of T-Sports Pedro Pablo Calbimonte.Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International SeriesRound 23, Snetterton 5/8/201221 laps / 62.35 milesProvisional results International class1 Carlos SAINZ / ESP, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 41m 18.082s / 90.57mph2 Felix SERRALLES / PUR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +12.413s3 Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +19.182s4 Alex LYNN / GBR, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +35.565s5 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +45.719s6 Hannes VAN ASSELDONK / NED, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +52.926s7 Harry TINCKNELL / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +1m 08.437s8 Pipo DERANI / BRA, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes +1m 09.382s9 Pietro FANTIN / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen +1m 10.815s10 Fahmi ILYAS / MAS, Double R Dallara-Mercedes +1m 24.037s11 Geoff UHRHANE / AUS, Double R Dallara-Mercedes +1m 24.173s12 Nick McBRIDE / AUS, T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 20 lapsNational class1 Adderly FONG / CHI, CF Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda +1m 28.988s2 Pedro Pablo CALBIMONTE / BOL, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda +1m 55.303s3 Spike GODDARD / AUS, T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 20 laps4 Duvashen PADAYACHEE / AUS, Double R Dallara-Mugen Honda 20 lapsFastest lap Harvey 1m 54.080s / 93.68mphhttp://bit.ly/QhS5K8Provisional championship standings1 Harvey 252 points; 2 Serralles 248; 3 Jaafar 232; 4 Sainz 197; 5 Lynn 186; 6 Tincknell 169; 7 Fantin 145; 8 Derani 117; 9 van Asseldonk 99; 10 McBride 79 etc.
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