James Rossiter set a new British Formula 3 lap record at Castle Combe as he took points out of series leader Nelson Piquet Junior in the championship’s latest two rounds on Sunday (20 June).
James finished the two races in eighth and fifth positions. Piquet was seventh in the first but in the second crashed out. As a result, the 21-point gap that was between them is now down to 13. Adam Carroll is between them, just eight points ahead of James.
The weekend started with a difference – a single, 45-minute test session on the Saturday morning in place of the usual three hours of running on a Friday. On his first visit to Castle Combe, James used the session to learn the circuit and fine-tune his Fortec Motorsport team’s Dallara. In first qualifying, he was 13th fastest - just four tenths of a second from pole position, so close are times in F3. In second qualifying he improved considerably to fifth.
James said: “After second qualifying we knew we were in good shape and getting better all the time – it was just a shame we were down in 13th for the first race. I had to pass people if I wanted points.”
A series of ruthless overtaking manoeuvres enabled Celerant/BRDC-backed James to climb to eighth by the middle stages of the 20-lap race. In its second half, he was the driver to watch as he repeatedly lapped faster than any of his rivals. On the final lap he set a new lap record in 59.561 seconds (an average speed of 111.81mph).
James said: “I had a fantastic dice with Lucas Di Grassi and eventually got past with two wheels on the grass when he squeezed me – it should look very exciting on TV! I lost about three seconds behind him and then a bit more with a backmarker getting in the way. Without that, I would have been close to Piquet before the end and challenging him. My laps times prove that.”
The second race was held in treacherously wet conditions. From fifth on the grid, James maintained his position to the chequered flag, while behind him Piquet spun into retirement. The race was partly run behind the safety car as other drivers also crashed out. James added: “We guessed the rain would stop and the track would dry out so set up the car to come good in those conditions. It looked like our gamble would pay off – it did start to get drier and I started to lap quicker than the others. But then the safety car came out and it started to rain again. It put us back to square one and in the closing laps I really had to work hard to keep my place.
“It’s not been our best weekend, but we’ve still taken some good points and closed the gap back to Piquet. The Fortec team did an excellent job this weekend – it was the first time here for me and my team-mate Marcus Marshall so to come away with what we did is a credit to them.”
British Formula Three Points (after 12 of 24 rounds): 1st, Nelson Piquet Jnr (BRA), 123 points; 2, Adam Carroll (GBR), 118; 3, James Rossiter (GBR), 110, etc.
James is next in British Formula 3 action this coming weekend, 25-26-27 June at Donington Park, Leicestershire, with one race on the Saturday and the other on Sunday. Qualifying to decide the starting grid order for race one is at 14.20 on Friday. Second qualifying is at 13.00 on Saturday. Race one is at 18.45 on Saturday and race at 17.55 on Sunday. Both races are 18 laps long.
