The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998
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Lloyds TSB British Formula 3 Championship Alguersuari gives himself a great 18th birthday present After the disappointment of missing out on a podium in round 1, Jaime Alguersuari converted his second pole position of the weekend into a race win, finishing ahead of Swedish duo Marcus Ericsson and Sebastian Hohenthal. Brendon Hartley was the first driver past the chequered flag but was demoted to 4th after it was judged he overtook during a safety car period. Andy Meyrick made it two out two in the National Class, finishing ahead of Salman Al Khalifa and Niall Quinn. Alguersuari made a good start to lead the 27 car grid away for the second race of the weekend. Behind the Spaniard Esteban Guerrieri in the Ultimate Motorsport Mygale got a great getaway to move up into 2nd after the first corner from 5th on the grid ahead of Ericsson and Hartley. 6th placed Max Chilton had a poor start and ended up losing seven places on the opening lap. At the front Alguersuari started to open up a gap to 2nd placed Guerrieri as the Argentine had to defend his position from a very determined Marcus Ericsson in the Fortec Dallara, this battle allowing the leader to move further ahead of the field. At the end of lap 2 4th placed Brendon Hartley came under pressure from Ericsson’s teammate Sebastian Hohethal and in a demon move at Old Hall the Swede moved up into 4th place at the expense of the New Zealander. For the next six laps the 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed cars circulated the Oulton Park circuit separated by less than a second, with Guerrieri using his vast racing know how to keep the Fortec duo at bay. However a mistake on lap 10 drop the Argentine down to 6th place behind Walter Grubmuller. Jaime Alguersuari continued to improve and set fastest lap times on the 5th, 6th and 7th laps and then on lap 10 went even faster, setting a new British F3 lap record by 0.116 seconds. Further back down the field John Martin (#24 Double R) and Nick Tandy (#28 JTR) tangled at Hislops, pushing some of the tyres onto the racing line at the chicane and forcing the deployment of the safety car, reducing Alguersuari’s lead from 9.1 seconds to zero. However confusion reigned as some of the drivers thought that the safety car had been withdrawn and Brendon Hartley and Esteban Guerrieri moved into 1st and 3rd respectively. The Argentine realised his mistake and moved back to 6th place but Hartley stayed out in front of the pack as the safety car circulated. As the safety car was withdrawn at the end of lap 14 Hartley continued to lead from Alguersuari, Ericsson, Hohethal and Grubmuller, with everyone expecting the New Zealander to move over and allow the others past. How Hartley doggedly maintained his lead on the road and with 19 laps completed the chequered flag came out, which he duly took ahead of Alguersuari. However a swift decision by the stewards put Hartley back to 4th place and the win went to Hartley’s Red Bull teammate Jaime Alguersuari, his first in British F3 and his first on a British circuit. In the National Class Andy Meyrick made it look so simple, taking another decisive win ahead of Salman Al Khalifa, the Bahraini driver happy to get his season underway after problems in race 1 denied him of any points. Irish driver Niall Quinn was the third podium finisher and as a late entry to the championship he was happy to gather as many championship points as possible. The next two races take place at Croft, North Yorkshire on Sunday 27 April. Motors TV and Channel 4 are showing highlights of the two races. Round 2 – Provisional result
Turvey and Meyrick win first round at Oulton Park A snow shower 30-minutes before the opening round of the 2008 British F3 International Series caused a few headache for the 27 drivers as the wet track dried out during the 30-minute race. Oliver Turvey (#17 Carlin) came through to take chequered flag after taking the lead off the line. Max Chilton (#1 Hitech) took his first ever British F3 podium after teammates Jaime Alguersuari (#4 Carlin) and Brendon Hartley (#3 Carlin) went off after fighting for 2nd place. Atte Mustonen (#26 Double R) finished 3rd after starting from a lowly 10th place on the grid. Andy Meyrick (#56 Carlin) took the National Class win, making it a double for Carlin Motorsport. Pole position holder Jaime Alguersuari, who celebrated his 18th birthday on Easter Sunday, held the advantage as the red lights went out to start the first race of the 2008 season, but his Red Bull sponsored Dallara got a slow getaway and was passed by Oliver Turvey and Max Chilton before the first corner at Old Hall. Turvey led the pack down the hill as behind the leaders 9th place Nick Tandy span, breaking the nose cone of his JTR Mygale. Marcus Ericsson (#8 Fortec) also ran wide at Old Hall, dropping the Swede down a couple of places in the running order. As the cars heading out to the back of the circuit, Turvey was leading but Chilton came under pressure from Alguersuari, the Spaniard making his move to pass the 16-year-old Hitech driver. Chilton’s teammate Walter Grubmuller (#2 Hitech), who had qualified at the head of the second row, failed to complete the opening lap and retired to the pitlane with a misfiring engine. As the cars crossed the line for the first time it was Turvey just ahead of Alguersuari. Chilton was third but had the second Red Bull Dallara of Brendon Hartley filling his mirrors as they began the second lap. Further back Mustonen had made a demon start to finish the opening lap in 5th from 10th on the grid. Esteban Guerrieri (#11 Ultimate) was another driven reveling in the tricky conditions, the Argentine making up eight places on his lowly 18th place on the grid. Hartley continued to challenge Chilton and on lap 3 the New Zealander put the nose down the inside of the Hitech Dallara as they headed into Old Hall to sweep into 3rd place. Guerrieri continued his rise up through the order, moving ahead of Sebastian Hohenthal (#7 Fortec) and Sergio Perez (#9 T Sport) on lap four. Things settled down but the top three cars were separated by just 0.9 seconds as the they moved ahead of the rest of the field. Turvey defended against Alguersuari, who in turn had to watch that he didn’t leave the door open for Hartley. In the National Class Andy Meyrick (#56 Carlin) got a good start from Pole but behind him Salman Al Khalifa (#57 T Sport) made a demon start to move up to second in class ahead of Jay Bridger (#50 Fluid). The Bahraini driver consolidated his position but it all came to nothing as he disappeared from the timing screens on lap 5, promoting Bridger back in 2nd ahead of Hywel Lloyd (#52 CF Racing). For lap after lap the top three remained glued to each other as the track continued to dry and the lap time came down. Hartley was right on the rear wing of Alguersuari’s Dallara as they exited Old Hall for the 14th time and as they headed out of view the Kiwi driver seemed to be attempting to try and pass his teammate at Shell. However they failed to come back into view and Max Chilton was now 3rd followed by Atte Mustonen. Turvey now had a four second gap with just three laps remaining. The Racing Steps Foundation backed driver held on despite Chilton closing the gap to less than 2 seconds at the chequered flag. Mustonen was 2 seconds further up the road in 3rd, just ahead of the Ultimate Motorsport duo of Michael Devaney and Esteban Guerrieri. Australian John Martin (#24 Double R) was just outside the points in 11th place but took the extra point for setting the fastest lap of the race on the final lap. The National Class was won by Andy Meyrick in a dominant display, three places ahead of Jay Bridger, who had the consolation of taking the extra point for setting the fastest lap of the race in the National Class. Round 1 – Provisional Result
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