Wymondham-based P1 Motorsport’s British Formula 3 star, Adam Carroll (Northampton/Portadown), secured the 2004 Avon Tyres British Formula 3 Championship Runner-up position at Brands Hatch yesterday (Sunday) after two determined drives in difficult conditions.
Quickest in official testing on Friday, Carroll struggled to match his testing form during qualifying, and faced an uphill battle from relatively lowly grid positions in both races.
Having taken the championship battle right down to the very last F3 race weekend of the season, Carroll was unable to prevent Nelson Piquet Jnr claiming the title after the first race. But, in true form, the British star of Formula 3 this season bounced back in race two, to climb from tenth place on the grid to fourth and, in so doing, confirm himself as Championship Runner-up.
Said Carroll:
“We came to Brands knowing that we needed a lot of luck to take the title – and it wasn’t to be. However, the fact that we forced it to come down to this weekend says a lot about how we’ve worked as a team this year and I must say a big thank you to Roly Vincini and everyone at P1 Motorsport for their unstinting efforts this season. When you look back, we had four non-finishes early on that made things difficult. But we never gave up and I’m delighted for the team that we finished as Runners-up.”
Teammate Fairuz Fauzy (Northampton/London), in just his fifth race weekend with the P1 Motorsport squad, showed his championship potential in the first race, running in a strong fifth place before a broken wing forced his retirement. Despite stalling on the grid for the second race, he put in a terrific showing to claw his way up from 17th place to finish just outside the points in 11th.
QUALIFYING
Rd 23: Adam Carroll – 6th, Fairuz Fauzy – 10th Having been q quickest in official testing on Friday, nearly half a second clear of championship rival Nelson Piquet Jnr, Carroll was looking forward to a repeat performance in official qualifying. However it wasn’t to be. Although his first flying lap saw him just 1/10th of a second off provisional pole, he then ran into traffic around the busy 1.2-mile Brands Hatch Indy circuit – and before he had a chance to go for another quick lap, the session was stopped due to incidents on track. As the red flags came out, so it started to drizzle and although the rain had stopped by the time the circuit was re-opened, it meant a limited opportunity to post any significant times. Although some runners were able to go quicker in the dying minutes of the session, Carroll was left frustrated – and down in sixth place.
Fauzy endured a similarly disjointed session and, despite being less than 1/10th of a second behind his teammate, would line up in tenth position for the first of the weekend’s races.
Rd 24: Adam Carroll – 10th Fairuz Fauzy – 8th The second qualifying session proved as disappointing as the first for the P1 Motorsport duo. Carroll, who professed himself ‘confused’ as to his performance, could only manage the tenth quickest time, albeit just 3/10th of a second off pole. Fauzy eclipsed Carroll’s time by 2/100th of a second, so securing eighth place overall.
ROUND 23Adam Carroll – 9th, Fairuz Fauzy – DNF
Undeterred by Piquet’s pole position for the first race, Carroll was prepared to give his all in the first of the weekend’s encounters and so force the championship to go down the wire to the very last race of the season.
Although the points situation was such that only a straight win would do - coupled with a retirement for Piquet - the resilient Carroll was thinking only of the winner’s laurels as placed his slick-shod P1 Motorsport Dallara onto the wet grid.
Ironically, both Piquet and Carroll made poor starts in the tricky conditions, but Carroll’s lowly grid position meant he was immediately in the high-risk, mid-field pack and facing a perilous and uneasy battle for position.
But battle on he did, clawing his way up the field to sixth before being demoted two places at mid-distance by wet-tyre runners James Walker and Rob Austin. Although the track dried sufficiently for Carroll and his slick-tyre shod rivals to make progress as the race came to its climax, Carroll could manage only ninth place at the flag.
Fauzy made a great start from tenth place on the grid, claiming fifth position by the end of the opening lap. But as the feisty youngster started his second tour, he had a coming together with a rival at Druids hairpin, damaging his front wing. Faced with another 26 laps of wheel-to-wheel combat, Fauzy knew he would be at a real disadvantage as the track dried out and aerodynamic downforce became more critical. Despite being demoted down to sixth a few laps later, Fauzy was doing a terrific job to keep with the leading pack and looked good for a strong points finish. Unhappily, as he entered the daunting Paddock Hill Bend on lap 11, his damaged front wing began to work loose, causing him to lock his brakes on entry – and firing him off into the gravel trap and retirement.
ROUND 24Adam Carroll – 4th, Fairuz Fauzy – 11th
Another wet track greeted the Formula 3 field as it formed up on the grid for the final race of the 2004 championship. With all runners on wet weather tyres, Carroll knew he had to attack the start from his lowly tenth position on the grid if he was to stand a chance of a decent points-scoring result.
Judging the starting lights to perfection, Carroll stormed off the grid and into the first corner, avoiding his stalled teammate and blasting up through the field. Up to sixth on the exit of the second corner, just moments later Carroll took fifth place, thanks to a fantastic move on Danny Watts into Graham Hill Corner.
With nothing to choose between the leading train of cars, Carroll began to settle into the race and look for any weaknesses in his rivals. Lap after lap the leaders circulated as one until, at the half way point, leader Clivio Piccione dropped down the order, promoting Carroll to fourth. The terrific battle for a podium place continued apace, with Carroll all over the gearbox of Lucas Di-Grassi who was likewise hassling second placed James Rossiter for position. Although Carroll dived down the inside of Di-Grassi into Paddock Hill Bend as the race came to its climax, the Brazilian closed the door and Carroll was forced to look for another way past. And that opportunity so nearly came to fruition on the very last lap, when Carroll, forcing Di-Grassi to defend going into Druids Hairpin, made a brave move round the outside. But with Di-Grassi aggressively running wide on the exit, Carroll was forced to back off in order to guarantee fourth place points – and second overall in the championship.
Having stalled at the start, Fauzy found himself down in 17th place on the opening lap – and with a lot of work to do! But the impressive youngster wasted no time in dealing with the slower Scholarship Class cars and was soon mixing it with the mid-field Championship Class entries. After a hard-fought and tough 28 laps, Fauzy took the flag in a fine 11th place overall, having deposed Rob Austin with a brilliant move into the final corner on the very last lap.
