South American hotshoe, Ernesto Viso (Cambridge / Caracas, Venezuela) showed his championship credentials this weekend at Donington Park in the opening two rounds of the 2004 Avon Tyres British Formula 3 Championship.
The 2003 F3 Scholarship Class Champion proved he's got what it takes to mount a serious title assault in this, his first season of main Championship Class competition, by taking two hard-earned fifth place finishes.
But having run as high as third in the second race - and qualifying a superb fourth overall for race one - Ernesto was understandably a little disappointed not to secure a podium result this weekend.
Said Ernesto:
"I've scored some decent points today, but I'm pretty frustrated with the results because I know they could have been better. We struggled with our set up in the wet and have to work hard as a team to overcome this problem. Qualifying in Formula 3 is so very important and my second session was not good, which made things harder than they should have been. But overall we take a lot of positive things to the next round and I'm looking forward to Silverstone in two weeks time."
QUALIFYINGRound One - 4th Round Two - 10th
A tremendous opening qualifying session saw Ernesto challenging for pole position from the start. Indeed, Ernesto and his P1 Motorsport team mate, Adam Carroll, traded positions at the very top of the time sheets for the majority of the session, with Ernesto responding to Carroll's every lap. With Ernesto looking to match his more experienced teammate all the way, the pressure was on as the session moved to its climax. Unhappily for the young Venezuelan, just as the front-runners were pushing on their final laps, so he ran into traffic. First Nelson Piquet Jnr demoted him for second, then Carlin Motorsport's Alvaro Parente pipped them both at the flag, pushing Viso down to a very disappointed fourth at the end of the session.
The second qualifier was even more frustrating for Ernesto. First, he made contact with an errant Scholarship Class car on his out lap and was so forced to pit for a new front wing. Then, soon after he'd rejoined the track, it began to rain so he pulled back into the pits. The rain lasted just one lap and soon all the cars on circuit were improving their times. Realising that he'd made an error of judgement in coming into the pits, Ernesto fired back out of the pit lane intent on re-establishing himself amongst the leaders. A typically aggressive flying lap enabled him to get within half a second of pole position but his very final lap was looking even better, good enough for a top four grid position - until he made a mistake at the very final chicane. He therefore ended the session in tenth position.
ROUND ONE - 5th
The first race of the day was played out in dry but windy conditions, with Ernesto having to fight long and hard for a well deserved fifth place overall. From fourth on the grid, he was out-dragged down to the first corner by James Rossiter and had to give best to the Fortec Motorsport driver through Redgate Corner. In the opening lap scramble for position he lost a further place to fellow South American Danilo Dirani and so ended the first tour down in sixth. A tremendous fight back saw Ernesto subsequently engaged in a mighty three-way battle with Rossiter and Carlin Motorsport's Alvaro Parente, Ernesto taking fourth place at mid distance. But just as a podium finish looked possible, with Ernesto closing to within half a second of third position, so he came under pressure from Dirani who was fighting back after an early incident. Contact with Parente earlier in the race had unfortunately damaged Ernesto's front wing, so when Dirani made his move at McLeans Corner, Ernesto was unable to respond. Disappointed to lose a position on the very final lap, the impressive young South American was nevertheless pleased to take the flag in a fine fifth place overall.
ROUND TWO - 5th
Almost monsoon wet weather conditions greeted the F3 grid as the cars lined up for their second encounter of the day. And as soon as the starting lights turned green, it was action and F3 thrills and spills all the way.
Although Ernesto made it through the first few corners unscathed in the ensuing melee, he had suffered a miserable start due to a sticking clutch and lost eight places in the process. However by the end of the first lap he was back up to eighth and on a charge, taking fourth place just a lap later. Clearly revelling in the conditions, Ernesto was keeping pace with the top three and on lap 11 he took third at the expense of Australian Will Power. Although he held third place for the next four laps, Ernesto began to come under pressure from Nelson Piquet Jnr, who was making his way back up the field after an incident on lap two. And on lap 16 Piquet took the position at the Old Hairpin Corner. Although Ernesto was making superb progress in the dreadful conditions, it was clear that he was struggling with his car's handling and it wasn't long before he fell into the clutches of Power - who, like Piquet, was battling his way back up the order. Despite Ernesto's best efforts to the contrary, Power squeezed through under braking for the chicane with two laps to go, so demoting Ernesto down to 5th place at the flag.
Rounds Three and Four of the 2004 Avon Tyres British Formula 3 Championship take place at Silverstone Circuit, Northants, on 17th & 18th April.
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