Cooper Tires British Formula 3 Championship driver Andy Chang remains in the series top three for Double R Racing after the second event of the season at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit – although the Macanese teenager was robbed of second in the points standings after contact in round five.
Producing another consistent run of performances at the Northamptonshire track, British F3 rookie Chang rounded out the weekend on Sunday, 25th May, just a single point shy of the championship runner-up spot having finished fourth in round four and fifth in round six.
Camren Kaminsky consolidated fifth in the standings for Woking’s Double R, although he too didn’t have a totally straightforward weekend after an unfortunate non-finish in round five. After posting a top six result on Saturday in the opening race, he matched a season’s best fourth in round six.
“Both drivers have built on their experience again this weekend and that’s all you can ask”, said team principal Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt, “Andy and Camren have both taken more solid points for the championship and it’s just a shame the way race two worked out for each of them. We’ll go testing for a few days before the next round to do some work on race starts and to rack up some miles.”
Heavy rain and very challenging spray blighted the track action on Friday and Saturday, with the first race of the weekend – round four – actually starting behind the Safety Car due to the sheer amount of standing water on track.
Chang and Kaminsky lined-up fourth and seventh on the grid respectively and when the action proper got underway at the start of lap four, with over 10 minutes of the allotted half-hour having elapsed, the Macanese racer immediately pressurised Marvin Kirchhofer for third.
Swarming all over the back of the German racer’s car at Aintree, Chang boldly attempted to pass around the outside of Brooklands and remained close in the rooster tail of spray for the next couple of laps before ultimately settling for fourth position – which elevated him to second in the standings.
Kaminsky also managed to make progress during the early running and after closing on China’s Peter Li Zhi Cong, the American Double R driver passed for sixth place on lap five where he remained to the chequered flag on lap 11.
Chang started the ‘reverse grid’ fifth round on Saturday afternoon from the front row but a sluggish getaway meant he slipped to fourth place by the time the pack rounded Copse Corner. Then, on the exit, he was the unfortunate victim of contact as Egor Orudzhev – who had run wide through the first turn – rejoined the circuit.
Collecting the left-hand side of Chang’s Dallara-Mercedes, the incident forced the Double R driver off onto the sodden grass on the opposite side of the track and the damage sustained ultimately led to a bitterly disappointing retirement to the pits. Orudzhev was correctly penalised for the incident.
Team-mate Kaminsky didn’t fare much better, unfortunately, with his race coming to an all-too-early conclusion just before mid-distance. Running in fourth early on, the Arizona native lapped close behind third-placed Matt Rao but as rain started to fall approaching the halfway point of the race, the American was caught-out at Copse and pitched into a spin into the barriers.
With both Double R drivers determined to conclude the weekend with strong points results in round six on Sunday afternoon, Chang ended the final race of the meeting in fifth position with Kaminsky an improved fourth.
Starting third on the grid, the Macanese racer had an entertaining opening lap. After slipping to fourth at Copse, he fought back into third on the exit before being edged to fourth again into Stowe. Then, on the run to Village, Chang got slightly out of shape which dropped him to fifth. Elbowed down to sixth on lap two, he then moved back into fifth on lap six – where he remained to the finish – when Orudshev retired.
Kaminsky got away well from sixth on the grid to climb into the top five before nabbing fourth from team-mate Chang after the latter’s lap one moment. Demoted to fifth by Orudzhev on lap two, the Double R man was able to reclaim fourth a few laps later when the Russian retired.
Snetterton in Norfolk will host the third race meeting of the British F3 season on 21st/22nd June. In the meantime, Double R Racing will be back on track this coming weekend, 31st May/1st June, in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship at the Hungaroring in Hungary.
Provisional 2014 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 Championship Standings (after Rd6):3rd Andy Chang, 55pts; 5th Camren Kaminksy, 48pts
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