The Grid

EmiliodeVillota.com Motorsport’s Will Bratt raced strongly at Albacete in south eastern Spain this morning, Sunday, 29th June, to secure a battling top seven finish in the sixth round of the 2008 FIAT Spanish Formula 3 Championship.

The Banbury based 20-year-old, who started the race from 13th on the grid after a difficult fifth round of the campaign on Saturday afternoon, moved into ninth place on the opening lap and gained a further position on the third tour at the expense of experienced F3 racer Christian Ebbesvik.

Tucked up behind Spanish driver German Sanchez Flor for almost the entirety of the rest of the 16-lap race, Will was able to get past on the final tour to secure a seventh place finish. Following the sixth round of the season, the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Rising Star is now eighth in the championship standings.

“Seventh isn’t a bad result at all today from 13th on the grid”, commented Will, “There were a couple of incidents at the start, we managed to avoid those and make up some places but for the majority of the race the order was pretty unchanged. We set the fifth fastest race lap while in traffic so, again, we showed we have race-winning pace.

“Albacete is a very tough circuit to overtake on, especially in a Formula 3 car. You need a good car aerodynamically out of the last corner but if you go too far that way on set-up, you compromise yourself down the straights. I think with another couple of laps we could have been in the top five as some of the cars ahead were getting a bit out of shape.”

In further news at Albacete this morning, officials, competitors, teams and spectators observed one minute of silence in memory of former Spanish rallying great Pep Bassas who passed away this weekend at the age of 47 following a long illness.

Returning to Spanish F3 action, there are now four weeks to wait until the seventh and eighth rounds of the 2008 championship which will take place on the brand new Valencia street circuit over the weekend 26th/27th July.

Marking the first time racing cars will have taken to the phenomenal new venue, the Spanish F3 event will actually be utilised as something of a rehearsal for Formula One’s European Grand Prix which will take place at the street circuit in late August.

“I’m really looking forward to the next race, the Valencia street track should be awesome and it will be good to race at another Formula One venue”, said Will, “Hopefully we can get our season fully back on track there and achieve some major points.”

FIAT Spanish Formula 3 Championship title contender Will Bratt saw hopes of challenging for his second podium finish of the season dealt a bitter blow during the fifth round of the campaign at Albacete on Saturday, 28th June, when he was served with a controversial drive-through penalty.

Qualifying fourth on the grid for the first of the weekend’s races with a time of 1m 24.251 seconds (151.220 km/h), less than two 10ths of a second shy of pole position, the Banbury sensation looked well on course to fight for podium honours at least and, potentially, his maiden Spanish F3 race victory.

However, event officials acted to serve a drive-through penalty on the EmiliodeVillota.com Motorsport racer during round five in response to an accident involving Will in the pit-lane during the earlier qualifying session.

Called into the weight-check area midway through the session, 20-year-old Will correctly complied with the request but an unfortunate incident transpired when a race official had his foot caught under one of the car’s wheels. Resulting in a highly unfortunate and regretful injury, the incident was nonetheless a simple accident.

Several hours later, a retrospective decision was taken to impose a drive-through penalty on Will during the race which totally compromised his bid to challenge for a podium and consolidate third position in the championship standings.

Falling to the tail of the field following the penalty, the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Rising Star showed great speed, tenacity and determination to climb from 21st position to 13th place at the chequered flag on a track known for its overtaking difficulty. He also posted the third fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m 25.791 seconds (148.506 km/h).

Will commented: “We’re all a bit confused really with the drive-through penalty. What happened during qualifying wasn’t intentional at all, it was purely an unfortunate and regretful accident but the officials decided before the race to hand out a punishment to us.

“It’s frustrating as we had a great chance to be on the podium from fourth on the grid. I did everything I could to regain as many places as possible after the drive-through and while I was pleased with our pace and performance, especially on a track which is as difficult to overtake on as Brands Hatch Indy, I’m really disappointed with the outcome.”

He added: “Tomorrow we start from 13th on the grid. The aim will obviously be to try and score some points but it will be tough. As always, we’ll do the best we possibly can and hopefully climb back up the championship table.”

FIAT Spanish Formula 3 Championship front-runner Will Bratt saw an opportunity to claim his first career F3 race win slip from his grasp at Spa-Francorchamps yesterday, Sunday, 1st June, but the 20-year-old still ended the weekend third in the driver standings.

Producing the fastest time in pre-event practice on Friday, securing his first ever F3 pole position on Saturday morning and then going on to record his maiden category podium later in the day at the Belgian venue, hopes were very high in the EmiliodeVillota.com Motorsport camp Will could challenge for victory during Sunday’s fourth round.

Lining up fourth on the grid for Sunday’s race, Will made a superb getaway to move into second position and he soon started to put pressure on race leader Bruno Mendez. Unfortunately, contact from Mendez as Will looked to the outside into the Bus Stop Chicane resulted in Bratt being forced off the track.

He recovered in 11th position and fought back into the top nine but a battery failure then forced Will out of the race a couple of laps from the chequered flag.

Reflecting on the race, Will said: “I came up behind (Bruno) Mendez in the slipstream but as he was defending the inside line I had no plans to try and pass at that point, I just wanted to pressurise him but he jinked into me and I bounced across the Tarmac. It dropped me to 11th and when I’d climbed back into ninth we then had the battery failure.

“It’s possible the problem could have been caused from the contact with Mendez but we’re not sure yet. I’m confident we would have won the race, we had the speed and I know once in the lead I could have driven away. Over the course of the weekend we’ve been the quickest package again so I’m very happy with that and confident for the next rounds.”

Will Bratt has taken the lead in the 2008 FIAT Spanish Formula 3 Championship standings after securing his first career F3 podium at Spa-Francorchamps this afternoon, Saturday, 31st May.

Climbing onto the rostrum after only his third race in Formula 3, the 20-year-old from Banbury now heads into tomorrow afternoon’s fourth round of the season with a one point advantage over Bruno Mendez and is a further point ahead of erstwhile leader Victor Garcia.

Having taken his first ever F3 pole position earlier in the day with a truly stunning lap some seven 10ths of a second clear of his nearest rival, Will didn’t make the best of starts in his EmiliodeVillota.com Motorsport F308 Dallara but fought back well to finish in third position, just nine 10ths of a second shy of second place at the chequered flag.

“It’s fantastic to be on the podium but I had hoped to try and get my first win today after taking pole position”, said Will at the end of round three, “I didn’t have the best of starts, it wasn’t as bad as the one I had at Jarama but still not great. I dropped to fourth but managed to fight back into third and at the finish the top three were all very close.

“Considering the circuit is still new to me and I’m learning all of the time I’m still pretty pleased with how today has gone. The bonus is to be leading the championship after three races. There’s still a long way to go as far as the title goes but it’s nice to be on top this early in the season.”

Conditions for today’s encounter were quite cold and foggy. In actual fact, rain did start to fall over the back part of the circuit during the last couple of laps but thankfully the moisture didn’t cause any problems. Reflecting on lap times in the race, Will’s best came on his fifth tour and was a time of 2m 19.314 seconds (180.964 km/h).

Leaping from sixth in the championship heading into this weekend’s event at the home of the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix to the top of the standings thanks to today’s podium, coupled with a bonus point for pole position, Will now plans to consolidate his lead tomorrow afternoon during round four of the season.

With the top six finishing order from the first race of any given FIAT Spanish F3 weekend reversed to form the first three rows on the grid for the second encounter, Will lines up in fourth position for round four.

FIAT Spanish Formula 3 Championship front-runner Will Bratt concluded his maiden weekend of F3 action sixth overall in the driver standings after claiming a fighting top four finish during the second round of the season at Jarama today, Sunday, 4th May.

Added to his fifth place result from round one on Saturday, the Banbury driver is happy with his first ever race meeting at an international level and is confident he can become a regular contender for podium finishes as the 2008 Spanish F3 campaign progresses.

Racing for EmiliodeVillota.com Motorsport, 20-year-old Will lined up on the front row of the grid for today’s race but at the start he couldn’t quite get away from the line as cleanly as he wanted, slipping down to fifth place.

Fighting back into the top four on lap three, Will remained there to the chequered flag, which came on lap 18, and saw a maiden F3 podium just elude him by a mere six 10ths of a second. Setting the fourth fastest race lap along the way, Will pushed incredibly hard but with the front-running quartet so evenly matched overtaking proved impossible.

Pursued himself by round one race winner Jaime Alguersuari, Will kept the Spanish driver at bay and in the end managed to pull out a very impressive three second margin over his more experienced F3 rival.

“At the start I dropped down to fifth unfortunately but then fought back into the top four where all of us at the front were running very similar lap times”, explained the Oxford University scholar, “Even though we couldn’t quite get on the podium, I’m happy with the pace we’ve shown.

“Jarama is a very difficult circuit to overtake on so we have to be pleased with fourth today and the fifth place we achieved on Saturday. We have to remember, this is our first ever race weekend in Formula 3 and today was only my fourth day at the wheel of the new car.”

Will added: “I need to improve my starts in an F3 car but that will all come with experience, all in all it’s been a satisfying weekend and I know we will only get stronger as the season moves forward. I’m really enjoying working with Emilio (de Villota) and the rest of team and now I can’t wait to get back in the car to learn more.”

The world-famous home of the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps, hosts the third and fourth rounds of the 2008 FIAT Spanish Formula 3 Championship four weeks from now on Saturday, 31st May, and Sunday, 1st June.

Will Bratt produced a remarkable recovery drive during the first round of the 2008 FIAT Spanish Formula 3 Championship at Jarama this afternoon, Saturday, 3rd May, to seal a richly deserved top five finish on his international race debut.

The 20-year-old Apotex UK backed British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Rising Star made a good start to the race initially but after being boxed-in due to a couple of spinning cars, he found himself down in 11th position on lap two and with plenty of work to do.

Fighting his way through the order with terrific determination, Will picked off the positions one by one and managed to climb his way into the top five with a typically impressive performance. He also set the sixth fastest race lap along the way, very encouraging pace considering he spent almost the entire race in traffic battling his way through the field.

Speaking after his maiden F3 encounter, the EmiliodeVillota.com Motorsport driver said: “Finishing in the top five was as much as we could have hoped for after the problems early on and although we’re still learning and trying to find the optimum set-up for the car, I’m happy with how things went in the race. Tomorrow, I’m aiming for the podium for sure.”

Qualifying this morning didn’t go as planned for Will and his Tecnocasa supported team when a delaminated rear tyre resulted in the F3 rookie not being able to repeat the timesheet topping performance he produced during testing on Friday.

Ending the session eighth fastest with a best lap of 1m 29.983 seconds (154.028 km/h), Will was 0.659 seconds shy of pole. Alongside him on row four was Jaime Alguersuari, the Spaniard less than five 100ths of a second quicker.

Will’s first ever Formula 3 race start was good and having consolidated eighth place on the opening tour, lap two was where the problems started due to the brace of spinning cars which resulted in the Oxon racer losing three positions.

He then produced the sort of quality drive which has become a hallmark during recent seasons in Formula Renault UK, Will not daunted by the challenge ahead and racing beautifully to achieve a top five finish at the Madrid venue.

“It was a real shame we had the problem with the tyre in qualifying”, added Will, “It’s such a rare thing to happen so we were incredibly unlucky. I’m confident we’d have been much further up the order like we were in testing on Friday without that but, even so, we showed in the race the sort of pace we’re capable of by climbing from 11th to fifth at the flag.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow’s race, with the top six finishers from today reversed on the grid tomorrow it means I’m starting on the front row so I have a great opportunity to score my first ever Formula 3 podium.”

With the classified order from the first race on any given Spanish F3 weekend forming the grid for race two, it’s critical for each driver to finish well during the opening encounter. Taking into account the reversal of the top six though, which places Will second on the grid for tomorrow’s outing, round two could potentially deliver a terrific result.

The second race of the 2008 FIAT Spanish Formula 3 Championship is scheduled to take place at 12.30 (local time) tomorrow, Sunday, 4th May.

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