First-year Formula 3 racer Antonio Giovinazzi claimed his, and Double R Racings, second victory of the 2013 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series at a rain-lashed Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, Saturday, 27th July, to brilliantly cap off a very strong weekend for the Woking team.Added to fifth position in round four on Friday, 26th July, achieved despite an enforced visit to the pits early in the race to fix the rear rain-light on his Dallara-Mercedes, and third place in round five, the Italian 19-year-old ended the second weekend of the campaign still third in the championship.
In a nice touch, he also received his round six winners trophy from ex-Double R driver and former FIA Formula One World Championship racer Bruno Senna the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna in action himself at the Belgian track this weekend in the Total 24 Hours of Spa endurance race.Indonesian youngster Sean Gelael also enjoyed deserved rostrum success with his third podium in four races during the opening Spa encounter. The 16-year-old then raced to fifth place in the second encounter, and eighth in the treacherous third contest, to move into the series top four. Colombias Tatiana Caldern, the sole female competitor in the field, claimed a season-best top four finish in the first race, taking the flag just behind team-mate Gelael, and matched that result in round five with a fantastic drive only three seconds shy of the podium. In the final outing, the 20-year-old came home in sixth to round-off her best event yet in F3 an improved fifth in the standings. What a great weekend, said Double R Racing team principal Anthony Boyo Hieatt, Its fantastic to be on the top step of the podium for the second British F3 event in succession, Antonio did an outstanding job in very difficult conditions to control race three from the front. It was seriously challenging, there was a lot of standing water, but he found the grip brilliantly a fantastic win. Everything started well for us in the first race with Seans third podium of the year, hes improving all the time and the confidence results like that bring is what he needs so early in his career. Tatiana, too, really did race well she was incredibly consistent and deserved a podium really. Taking her first top four, and then matching it in race two, was great and a real sign of her improving pace. Giovinazzis path to victory in the wet sixth round was set-up at the start as he made a tremendous getaway from fourth on the grid to lead into the first turn, La Source. Leading by a huge margin of nearly two seconds by the end of lap one, the Double R driver managed to find the required grip and opened up an advantage of 2.5 seconds by the end of lap three. Seeing off a mid-race challenge from Jann Mardenborough, who had a spin on lap eight, Giovinazzi went on to take the chequered flag on lap 12 almost four seconds clear to claim a superb win. Just after the finish, however, celebrations were almost spoiled when an errant Mardenborough clipped the left-rear of Giovinazzis car after the chequered flag had fallen!
Calderon, starting sixth on the grid after a strong qualifying performance, slipped to eighth on the first lap but moved into seventh on lap three and then profited from an excursion for team-mate Gelael on the 10th tour to take sixth place.
Although coming under pressure from series leader Will Buller as he advanced during the closing stages, Calderon wasnt to be denied the top six. Gelael, meanwhile, ended the race in eighth position following his unfortunate moment, having run in a comfortable sixth place up to that point.
During the opening encounter of the weekend on Friday morning, round four, Gelael starred in the conditions to secure his fourth career F3 podium. Giovinazzi led the way for Double R in fourth place early on but he was shown the black and orange flag by officials due to his defective rain-light.After pitting for the light to be repaired, the Italian climbed back through to take fifth place at the finish. Following Giovinazzis pit-stop, Gelael assumed fifth position and Calderon climbed up into sixth. Then, on lap seven, Gelael grabbed fourth from Mardenborough with a great pass in the spray.Although slipping behind the Briton the next time around, the Double R racer moved up into third when Mardenborough and his team-mate Nicholas Latifi tangled at Eau Rouge. The Safety Car was deployed for a single lap and over the final 4.3-miles of racing, Gelael held third ahead of Caldern.Giovinazzi led Fridays fifth round early on, having started fourth on the grid, and looked set for a victory challenge but on lap six he was elbowed back to second and then succumbed to an attack from the experienced Buller soon after. Third position, though, marked another very strong result.Calderon, lining-up in fifth position, moved into the top three off the start but was edged back to fourth by Buller on lap four. Thereafter, the Bogota-born racer delivered a fantastically consistent and competitive drive to remain in the top four to the flag on lap 13 just three seconds shy of the sister car of Giovinazzi. Beginning round five in sixth position, Gelael initially climbed into fourth but after slipping to fifth on lap two he, like Calderon, held onto his place and both lapped quicker than team-mate Giovinazzi during the closing stages. British F3 will return to UK shores for rounds seven, eight and nine of the season just a fortnight from now over the weekend 10th/11th August at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in Kent Double Rs home venue
Provisional 2013 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series Standings (after Rd6):3rd Antonio Giovinazzi, 73pts; 4th Sean Gelael, 53pts; 5th Tatiana Caldern, 46pts
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