2011 British Formula 3 Round of the Nurburgring (Rd 5, Race 2, July 3rd)

© Creative Commons / Will Pittenger

In a race punctuated by an early safety car, Britain’s Jack Harvey secured his first win in the British Formula 3 series.

The 18-year-old rookie – driving for Carlin Motorsport – beat teammate Rupert Svendsen-Cook off the line to launch into the lead, only for it to be neutralised moments later.
As the field poured into the Ford Kurve, Fahmi Ilyas lost the rear end of his Fortec, before clambering into Pietro Fantin (Hitech).
The precarious positioning of the stricken vehicles left the race organisers with little choice but to deploy the safety car – for Ilyas and Fantin it mattered little; both were out on the spot.

Harvey led away from the fourth lap restart and began to eke out a gap over Svendsen-Cook over the final half-dozen laps, eventually taking the win by 2.8 seconds.

GP3 regular Pedro Nunes came home 3rd some four seconds adrift of Svendsen-Cook. Nunes faced a rearward challenge from championship leader Felipe Nasr for the duration, but a sublime drive saw the Hitech pilot hold off Nasr’s charge.
Both Brazilian were the beneficiaries of a mid-race clash between William Buller and Antonio Felix da Costa that left the Portuguese driver lingering in 7th place. Buller, meanwhile, hobbled back the pits to retire.

Two more Carlin driver filled out the top six with Jazeman Jaafar keeping race one winner Kevin Magnussen at bay, while da Costa came home in their shadow.
Fortec’s Harry Tincknell took another points finish in 8th, but may be disappointed after losing out following the safety car restart. The Englishman was running 6th following the early melee, quick restarts from Magnussen and Jaafar dropped Tincknell down the order.
The Fortec pilot still finished some two seconds ahead of the battling Double R Racing teammates Pipo Derani (9th) and Scott Pye (10th).

Lucas Foresti will be rueing another difficult day. Nasr’s main championship challenger came home a disappointing 11th, only two seconds ahead of Sino Vision pair, Adderly Fong (12th) and Hywel Lloyd (13th).
Yann Cunha came home a distant 14th in his T-Sport machine, only five seconds ahead of Rookie Class winner Bart Hylkema (15th, T-Sport). Kotaro Sakurai finished his Mugen Honda-powered Hitech car in 16th, nine seconds adrift of Hylkema.

Both Carlos Huertas (Carlin) and Menasheh Idafar (T-Sport) ran lowly in the early stages of the race; however both had retired by the completion of the fourth tour.

This result leaves Foresti some 65 points adrift of Nasr in the standings, meaning there will need to be a dramatic surge late on to keep his title hopes alive. Jaafar sits a single point behind Foresti in 3rd, having delivered consistent results for much of the season.

British Formula 3 Rd of the Nurburgring (Rd 5, Race 2, July 3rd)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
 1.  Jack Harvey             Carlin Dallara-VW         21m18.954s (10 laps)
 2.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook    Carlin Dallara-VW           + 2.800s
 3.  Pedro Nunes             Hitech Dallara-VW           + 6.910s
 4.  Felipe Nasr             Carlin Dallara-VW           + 7.319s
 5.  Jazeman Jaafar          Carlin Dallara-VW          + 10.021s
 6.  Kevin Magnussen         Carlin Dallara-VW          + 10.820s
 7.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Hitech Dallara-VW          + 11.443s
 8.  Harry Tincknell         Fortec Dallara-Merc        + 14.181s
 9.  Pipo Derani             Double R Dallara-Merc      + 16.009s
10.  Scott Pye               Double R Dallara-Merc      + 16.439s
11.  Lucas Foresti           Fortec Dallara-Merc        + 18.234s
12.  Adderly Fong            Sino Vision Dallara-Merc   + 20.710s
13.  Hywel Lloyd             Sino Vision Dallara-Merc   + 21.499s
14.  Yann Cunha              T-Sport Dallara-VW         + 25.381s
15.  Bart Hylkema            T-Sport Dallara-Mugen      + 30.812s
16.  Kotaro Sakurai          Hitech Dallara-Mugen       + 39.872s
Retirements:
     Menasheh Idafar         T-Sport Dallara-VW            4 laps
     Carlos Huertas          Carlin Dallara-VW             4 laps
     William Buller          Fortec Dallara-Merc           4 laps
     Pietro Fantin           Hitech Dallara-VW             0 laps
     Fahmi Ilyas             Fortec Dallara-Merc           0 laps

British Formula 3 Championship Standings
Pos Driver Team Points
Championship Class
 1. Felipe Nasr           Carlin   176
 2. Lucas Foresti         Fortec   111
 3. Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin   110
 4. Carlos Huertas        Carlin    95
 5. Kevin Magnussen       Carlin    87
 6. Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin    73
 7. William Buller        Fortec    71
 8. Harry Tincknell       Fortec    61
 9. Pietro Fantin         Hitech    55
10. Riki Christodoulou    Hitech    51
11. Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport   29
12. Scott Pye             Double R  26
Rookie Class
 1. Bart Hylkema          T-Sport  194
 2. Kotaro Sakurai        Hitech   143

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