Racecar customer - Double R Racing - currently lead the British F3 championship through Matheus Leist after a dramatic race one at Donington......
The pendulum in the 2016 BRDC British F3 title race swung dramatically in Matheus Leist’s favour after race one of the Donington Decider (September 10/11), as the Brazilian took victory with championship rival Ricky Collard retiring following a clash with Enzo Bortoleto in a wild encounter. The HHC Motorsport pairing of Harrison Scott and Ben Hingeley completed the podium as Leist now takes a 20-point lead in the overall standings with just two races remaining tomorrow (Sunday).
It was Ben Hingeley who was the star of a wet qualifying session at Donington Park as he claimed his maiden pole position in British F3. Early morning rain had left the 2.5-mile Grand Prix Circuit sodden as the 20-minute session got underway. An early red flag cut into the amount of time the drivers had to set their best times but it was title contender Leist who set the initial pace.
Ben Hingeley soon responded though, besting the Brazilian by 0.056s as qualifying headed towards its conclusion. That brought a swift rebuttal from the Double R Racing man who snatched back top spot with what looked to be an unbeatable lap time of a 1m43.815s. Hingeley however had other ideas and as the session headed into its final two minutes, lapped the Donington track in 1m43.539s, 0.276s quicker than Leist’s time.
As title contender Leist attempted to beat Hingeley’s provisional pole time, he pushed too hard at the Fogarty Esses and ran off into the gravel. That brought out the red flags and a halt to the session, before qualifying was declared over with just one minute remaining on the clock. Hingeley’s HHC Motorsport team-mate Scott jumped up to third on his final lap with standings leader Collard just managing to complete his lap before the red flag came out to move up from seventh to fourth.
For the scheduled 14-lap contest the conditions were dry and as the lights went out, Hingeley held on to the lead through the first turn. The drama was further back however as standings leader Collard ran wide through Redgate, dropping a number of positions.
Hingeley’s lead wouldn’t last long though as Matheus Leist took over at the front as he slid his Double R Racing car down the inside of the HHC man to claim the spot at the Melbourne Hairpin. Harrison Scott also made his way past Hingeley and that was the order as they crossed the line following the opening tour. The Melbourne Hairpin would see yet more drama on the first lap as Douglas Motorsport’s Enaam Ahmed made contact with Ricky Collard, dropping the standings leader to 14th as he came across the timing line. Post-race, Ahmed was handed a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow's reverse-grid race.
Thomas Randle meanwhile ran into the back of Lanan Racing’s Toby Sowery, damaging his front-wing and was forced into returning to the pit lane. Sowery was able to keep going without being hindered too much and soon made his way up to fourth ahead of Thomas Maxwell and Jeremy Wahome.
After his major setback, Carlin’s Collard soon began to mount a recovery drive and scythed his way up to 10th on the second lap before disposing of Al Faisal Al Zubair on lap three to take ninth. Just ahead, Chris Dittmann Racing’s Jeremy Wahome was enjoying his best drive of the year as he passed the Sean Walkinshaw Racing car of Thomas Maxwell to take fifth but the Kenyan’s superb race would soon come to an end as he spun off at the Fogarty Esses and into retirement.
With the red-and-yellow car stranded in a dangerous position, the safety car came out to temporarily bring a halt to the racing after six frantic laps. Collard had continued to make strong forward progress and as he crossed the line, he found himself in sixth position, just behind the Double R Racing car of Enzo Bortoleto.
After two laps under neutralised conditions, the race resumed and Leist attempted to break away from the rest of the field. Further back, Ben Hingeley had a train of cars behind him in third but positions remained the same after the first lap back under green. However heading into Redgate, Ricky Collard made contact with the back of Enzo Bortoleto, with both cars spinning into the gravel and retirement. At the same moment, Leist ran off track to allow Harrison Scott to take the lead but he gained a major reprieve as the red flags came out with Bortoleto and Collard’s cars in a dangerous position and that brought the race to an end. Post-race, Collard was handed a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow's reverse-grid race.
With the order taken from the previous lap, Leist was declared the winner ahead of Scott, Hingeley, Toby Sowery and Thomas Maxwell. Enaam Ahmed finished sixth with Aleksanteri Huovinen seventh, as Eugene Denyssen claimed eighth and reverse grid race two pole. The top-10 was completed by Omar Ismail and Akhil Rabindra, with Bortoleto and Collard not classified as they were not running when the race was stopped.
In the overall standings, a 35-point swing sees Leist now lead the way from Collard by 20 points, with a maximum of 60 up for grabs on Sunday. Toby Sowery moves ahead of Thomas Randle and now lies third, but both are now mathematically out of contention meaning either Leist or Collard will be crowned the 2016 BRDC British F3 Champion tomorrow.
Speaking after the race, Leist said: “It is the best result that could have happened for me. I am happy with the win and now I will start from seventh in race two tomorrow, with Collard starting from the back so I have a great opportunity to finish in front of him. I am going to keep calm and just do my job race-by-race but I am looking forward to it. I will try to keep calm tomorrow, keeping doing what I’ve been doing and hope to win the British F3 title.”
The action on Sunday gets underway with the reverse-grid race two at 10:50 with lights out in the season finale, which will be broadcast live on Motors TV, at 16:20.
BRDC British Formula 3 - Donington Park - Qualifying Top-10
1. Ben Hingeley, HHC Motorsport, 1m43.539s2. Matheus Leist, Double R Racing, +0.276s3. Harrison Scott, HHC Motorsport, +0.405s4. Ricky Collard, Carlin, +0.495s5. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, +0.846s6. Thomas Randle, Douglas Motorsport, +0.870s7. Enaam Ahmed, Douglas Motorsport, +1.059s8. Enzo Bortoleto, Double R Racing, +2.321s9. James Pull, Carlin, +2.395s10. Thomas Maxwell, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +2.955s
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BRDC British Formula 3 - Donington Park - Race One Top-10
1. Matheus Leist, Double R Racing, 9 Laps2. Harrison Scott, HHC Motorsport, +1.081s3. Ben Hingeley, HHC Motorsport, +2.313s4. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, +3.715s5. Thomas Maxwell, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +4.760s6. Enaam Ahmed, Douglas Motorsport, +5.624s7. Aleksanteri Huovinen, Double R Racing, +8.719s8. Eugene Denyssen, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, +9.308s9. Omar Ismail, Chris Dittmann Racing, +9.930s10. Akhil Rabindra, Lanan Racing, +11.192s
2016 BRDC British Formula 3 Standings after race 22 of 24
1. Matheus Leist, Double R Racing, 458 points2. Ricky Collard, Carlin, 438 points3. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, 397 points4. Thomas Randle, Douglas Motorsport, 387 points5. Enaam Ahmed, Douglas Motorsport, 305 points6. Tarun Reddy, Fortec Motorsports, 255 points7. Lando Norris, Carlin, 247 points8. Aleksanteri Huovinen, Double R Racing, 238 points9. Thomas Maxwell, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, 233 points10. Ben Hingeley, HHC Motorsport, 225 points
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