...But frustrated at SnettertonCambridge-based South American young gun Ernesto Viso (Cambridge / Caracas, Venezuela) did not enjoy the best of fortunes at his 'home' circuit this weekend, as the 2004 Avon Tyres British Formula 3 Championship made its annual visit to Snetterton Circuit.

Although Ernesto was part of the fight for pole position during qualifying on Saturday, he just wasn't in a position to challenge for race wins this weekend.

A first corner clash in Saturday's Silverstone replacement race meant he had to battle up the field from last - and after two tremendous efforts in today's (Sunday's) twin encounters, the talented youngster battled through some handing difficulties to secure fifth and ninth places.

Winner last time out at Knockhill in Scotland, Ernesto was understandably frustrated not to be back on the winners' rostrum this weekend.

Said Ernesto:

"It's been a really difficult weekend.  We've had the pace to be right up there, but we've also had a few problems and some bad luck.  There are four more races this month, so the team and I will re-group and hopefully be back where we belong next time out at Castle Combe."

QUALIFYINGRound Nine - 5th  Round Ten - 13th

From the very start of first 25-minute qualifying session, Ernesto and team mate Adam Carroll were the men to beat.  Ernesto was first to top the timesheets, but team mate Carroll then laid claim to the position, with both P1 Motorsport drivers nearly half a second clear of the rest of the pack.  Ernesto, responding to the challenge from Carroll, brilliantly reclaimed pole a couple of laps later, only for Carroll to again re-take the position.  As the rest of the field closed the gap to the front-row men, Ernesto was pushing hard and looked set to jump back up to the top of the times.  But, frustratingly, he got baulked by traffic on a brace of his fast laps and was so pushed down to third position when the session was stopped due to incidents on track.

Things remained fairly static when the session was restarted, with 14-minutes left to run.  Although none of the front-runners seemed able to improve upon their times, Ernesto proved the exception, shaving 1/100th of a second off his time to equal James Rossiter's time for second.  As Ernesto set his time later, he stayed in third.

As the chequered flag came out, so the sun went in, producing the most ideal track conditions of the session.  Ernesto took the flag in third place but just moments later first Nelson Piquet Jnr and then Lucas Di Grassi snatched pole away from team mate Carroll - and in doing so pushed Ernesto down to fifth position.

The dry and sunny conditions prevailed into the second qualifying session of the day.  With track temperatures so critical for the F3 pack, both P1 Motorsport drivers spent the first eight minutes in the pitlane waiting for the right moment to take to the track.  As the cloud cover came over for the first time, so Ernesto powered out of the pitlane and into the race for pole position. 

Ernesto gradually played himself in the session, taking seventh place with his second flying lap which saw him just 2/10th of a second off provisional pole.  Unfortunately for Ernesto, he then found himself in a lot of traffic and when the session was stopped with ten minutes to go due to an incident, he was in eighth.

At the restart, Ernesto immediately attacked the circuit in his quest for a front row rid position.  But, still struggling with traffic, Ernesto was frustratingly unable to find a clear lap - and was gradually bumped down the order to 13th.  Having simply run out of time to put in a representative lap, Ernesto ended the session in a hugely disappointed 13th place.

ROUND FOUR REPLACEMENT (Silverstone) - 12th

The British F3 grid lined up for their first of three races this weekend late on Saturday afternoon, for the replacement Silverstone Round Four.

With grid positions as set at Silverstone, Ernesto would start from 12th position - but with the talented young Venezuelan showing such great turn of speed during qualifying earlier in the day, the P1 Motorsport team was looking forward to a strong points finish.

Unfortunately for Ernesto, his race was almost over before it began.  Having made a good start, he was in the frantic mid-pack action going into the first corner when Karun Chandhok made contact with his car mid-corner.  The resulting spin meant Ernesto rejoined the race down in last position.

The rest of the 23-lap race was a huge battle for the Ernesto.  Having forced his way past the entire Scholarship Class field, he set about catching and then passing cars for position.  A solid move on Chandhok down the back straight enabled Ernesto to claim 13th and then a tremendous move several laps later down the inside of Will Davison under braking for the Esses saw him up to 12th.  Although a top ten points finish was tantalisingly close, with James Walker and Will Power less than one second ahead, Ernesto simply ran out of laps - and so took the flag in 12th.

ROUND NINE - 5th

The first F3 encounter today (Sunday) was another frustrating one for Ernesto, although he did secure valuable fifth place points.  Clutch problems at the start meant he struggled to make any places over the opening lap, but with typical determination, Ernesto held onto his fifth place grid position.  Right behind the battle for third between Alvaro Parente and Clivio Piccione, Ernesto was having to defend his line from the chasing pack headed by Will Power and Danilo Dirani.  But when Parente went off on the second lap, the young Venezuelan suddenly found himself swamped by Power and Dirani who had not backed off under the yellow caution flags.  Understandably livid when both cars went through, Ernesto retained fifth place when Piccione dropped down the order.

With the top six remaining static for the majority of the race, Ernesto kept his head down and continued to chase Dirani for fourth, whilst soaking up the pressure from Watts behind.  Although Watts briefly demoted him for position towards the end when they ran into traffic, Ernesto took the position back with a great move into Coram.  Viso therefore held onto fifth place at the flag.

ROUND TEN - 9th

From 13th on the grid, Ernesto was once again in the thick of the action from the off.  Although the top two made a break quite early on, the battle from third place down to Ernesto in 13th was intense.  But the sheer competitiveness of the F3 runners this weekend meant that any advantage was hard to find.  Despite relentlessly firing in consistent and quick laps, Ernesto was frustratingly static in terms of track position.  Although he was promoted up to 11th at mid-distance - due to problems for Danilo Dirani and Clivio Piccione - any further progress was only going to be possible if someone made a mistake.  Whilst Ernesto kept his cool and race speed for the duration, Will Davison and Marko Asmer both fell down the order over the last couple of laps, promoting him to ninth at the flag. Rounds 11 and 12 of the 2004 Avon Tyres British Formula 3 Championship take place at Castle Combe Circuit, Wilts, on 19th and 20th June. 

QUALIFYING - ROUND NINE

1   23   Lucas DI-GRASSI   BRA   Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo   1:01.619   2   33   Nelson A PIQUET   BRA   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.654   3   18   Adam CARROLL   GBR   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.672   4   7   James ROSSITER   GBR   Dallara F304 Opel Spiess   1:01.690   5   19   Ernesto VISO   VEN   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.690   6   2   Alvaro PARENTE   POR   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.735   7   10   Will POWER   AUS   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.770   8   1   Clivio PICCIONE   MON   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.869   9   21   Danilo DIRANI   BRA   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.949   10   32   Karun CHANDHOK   IND   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.980  QUALIFYING - ROUND TEN

1   7   James ROSSITER   GBR   Dallara F304 Opel Spiess   1:01.703   2   18   Adam CARROLL   GBR   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.808   3   23   Lucas DI-GRASSI   BRA   Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo   1:01.813   4   33   Nelson A PIQUET   BRA   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.830   5   10   Will POWER   AUS   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.910   6   11   Danny WATTS   GBR   Lola-Dome F106-4 Mugen-Honda   1:01.948   7   4   Marko ASMER   EST   Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo   1:01.984   8   21   Danilo DIRANI   BRA   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:01.991   9   3   Andrew THOMPSON   GBR   Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo   1:02.025   10   39   Fairuz FAUZY   MAL   Dallara F304 Opel Spiess   1:02.153   11   1   Clivio PICCIONE   MON   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:02.153   12   2   Alvaro PARENTE   POR   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:02.200   13   19   Ernesto VISO   VEN   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   1:02.209 

RACE RESULT - ROUND FOUR REPLACEMENT

1   33   Nelson A PIQUET   BRA   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   26:49.593   23  2   18   Adam CARROLL   GBR   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   26:51.500   23  3   23   Lucas DI-GRASSI   BRA   Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo   26:53.043   23  4   21   Danilo DIRANI   BRA   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   26:54.737   23  5   11   Danny WATTS   GBR   Lola-Dome F106-4 Mugen-Honda   26:55.311   23  6   2   Alvaro PARENTE   POR   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   26:57.039   23  7   39   Fairuz FAUZY   MAL   Dallara F304 Opel Spiess   26:58.862   23  8   1   Clivio PICCIONE   MON   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   26:59.676   23  9   3   Andrew THOMPSON   GBR   Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo   27:00.271   23  10   10   Will POWER   AUS   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   27:06.799   23  11   24   James WALKER   GBR   Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo   27:07.255   23  12   19   Ernesto VISO   VEN   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   27:07.802   23

RACE RESULT - ROUND NINE

1   33   Nelson A PIQUET   BRA   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   25:01.173   22  2   18   Adam CARROLL   GBR   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   25:01.773   22  3   10   Will POWER   AUS   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   25:04.857   22  4   21   Danilo DIRANI   BRA   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   25:05.531   22  5   19   Ernesto VISO   VEN   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   25:11.478   22  6   11   Danny WATTS   GBR   Lola-Dome F106-4 Mugen-Honda   25:11.854   22  7   39   Fairuz FAUZY   MAL   Dallara F304 Opel Spiess   25:13.137   22  8   5   Will DAVISON   AUS   Dallara F304 Opel Spiess   25:13.843   22  9   1   Clivio PICCIONE   MON   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   25:14.356   22  10   24   James WALKER   GBR   Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo   25:17.864   22

RACE RESULT - ROUND TEN1   18   Adam CARROLL   GBR   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   21:05.660   20  2   7   James ROSSITER   GBR   Dallara F304 Opel Spiess   21:06.025   20  3   10   Will POWER   AUS   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   21:07.983   20  4   33   Nelson A PIQUET   BRA   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   21:08.452   20  5   11   Danny WATTS   GBR   Lola-Dome F106-4 Mugen-Honda   21:14.826   20  6   39   Fairuz FAUZY   MAL   Dallara F304 Opel Spiess   21:16.743   20  7   23   Lucas DI-GRASSI   BRA   Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo   21:26.592   20  8   2   Alvaro PARENTE   POR   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   21:26.826   20  9   19   Ernesto VISO   VEN   Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda   21:27.270   20  10   5   Will DAVISON   AUS   Dallara F304 Opel Spiess   21:27.814   20