South American sensation, Ernesto Viso (Cambridge / Caracas, Venezuela) battled through two frustrating qualifying sessions and tricky track conditions to secure 7th place in Round 3 of the 2004 Avon Tyres British Formula 3 Championship at Silverstone yesterday.
Unfortunately for Ernesto, he was denied the opportunity to go for a podium finish in the second race of the day, when heavy rain forced the cancellation of Round 4 of the Championship.
Said Ernesto:
"This has not been a great weekend for us. Qualifying was frustrating for both me and my team mate - and in F3 qualifying is so very important. The first race was tough because my car was not very good, but we scored points and that's important. As a team we are now going to work hard to put ourselves in a better position during qualifying from the next races at Croft."
QUALIFYINGRound Three - 7th Round Four - 12th
Having been sixth quickest in the official F3 test at Silverstone on Friday, Ernesto was looking forward to qualifying around the 2.25-mile Silverstone International Circuit. However a combination of team tyre strategy and variable wind conditions resulted in an ultimately frustrating two qualifying sessions for the South American hotshoe.
With rain threatening for later in the day, the team decided to use the majority of their allocated new tyres in the first session, so gaining a theoretical tyre advantage. Unhappily for Ernesto, this advantage was destroyed when he ran into track debris on his new rubber, mid way through the first session. Consequently forced to pit for remedial work, Ernesto blasted out of the pitlane in an attempt to lower his lap time, however by now the track was at its slowest and there was just no more time to be found. He therefore ended the first session in 7th place overall.
The second session started much more promisingly, with Ernesto and team mate Adam Carroll trading places at the very top of the time sheets for the first ten minutes. However, the team's tyre strategy from the first session meant that, unlike his rivals, Ernesto did not have the advantage of a full set of new rubber in the second qualifier. Consequently, as the rest of the F3 grid brought their times down as the session progressed, Ernesto was unable to respond. Demoted further and further down the order, Ernesto ended up a very disappointed 12th overall, albeit just half a second off pole position.
ROUND THREE - 7th
The rain that had threatened all day Saturday finally reached Silverstone on Sunday morning and it was a wet track that greeted the F3 grid for their first race of the day.
Despite the conditions, the whole grid got away at the lights with Ernesto having to give best to team mate Adam Carroll who blasted into fourth place. However it wasn't long before Ernesto was back up to his grid position of 7th, taking the place at the end of lap two at the expense of Fairuz Fauzy. He then entered into a mighty battle with Australian Will Davison. A terrific move down the inside into Copse Corner at the start of lap four promoted Viso up to 6th and he then set about Danny Watts in the Lola-Dome. But it wasn't long before Ernesto had his mirrors full of Clivio Piccione and, on lap eight, Piccione challenged successfully into Bridge Corner, pushing him back down to 7th. With nothing between Watts, Piccione and Ernesto for 5th, 6th and 7th respectively, there was all to play for. However it was soon clear that Ernesto's lap times were suffering as the circuit dried out and, with tyre wear clearly an issue, it was a case of consolidation for the final part of the race. A very committed Ernesto managed to keep the chasing pack at bay to take the chequered flag in a well-deserved 7th place overall.
ROUND FOUR Cancelled due to heavy rain
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