A jubilant Harry Tincknell grabbed his first British F3 of 2012 thanks to a stellar drive at Rockingham Motor Speedway this morning.
Tincknell’s Carlin teammate Pietro Fantin took the runner-up prize, while Jack Harvey came home 3rd to make it a Carlin 1-2-3 at the end of 15 laps.
The second-season driver shot passed poleman Nick McBride* off the line, settling into an early – if narrow – lead from Fantin, who also benefitted from sluggish opening lap by the pole sitter.
The gap between the leading pair rarely extended beyond one-and-a-half seconds, yet Tincknell at no point appeared fussed by the presence of his Brazilian teammate.
And Fantin was pushing – a warning for breaching track limits was issued at least once as the Carlin racer flung his Dallara around Rockingham’s tight infield. Each time Fantin reduced the gap, Tincknell responded in kind.
It mattered little for the Essex native, who eventually took the win by six-tenths of-a-second.
A rather lonely Harvey filled out the podium place. The Lincolnshire man skipped by McBride on the fifth lap, but never looked likely to catch the Tincknell / Fantin fight.
Meanwhile, McBride continued to fall backward, eventually falling to 9th. The T-Sport racer would soon lose out to Felix Serralles (lap 7), Hannes van Asseldonk (lap 8), Jazeman Jaafar (lap 9), Alex Lynn (lap 10) and Pipo Derani (lap 15).
Serralles claimed 4th – another solid result for the Puerto Rican, helped somewhat by an early move on teammate van Asseldonk.
The Dutchman fell back toward the pack as the race aged, but not far enough for Jaafar or Lynn to take advantage. For the final few laps, the trio crossed the line virtually line astern and were covered by a mere 1.5 seconds as the chequered flag flew.
Derani assumed 8th with McBride in his mirrors, while Fahmi Ilyas rounded out the top ten, despite clouting Carlos Sainz Jr four laps in, dropping the Spaniard to 13th – although the kerfuffle promoted Geoff Uhrhane up to 11th.
Sainz Jr claimed a spot from Duvashen Padayachee at the midpoint; however it is unlikely to have troubled Padayachee too much, who won the National Class irrespective.
* {note 1}
The pre-race grid formation resembled some odd chaos. Penalties from race one were still being appealed as cars lined up on the grid, meaning original poleman Pipo Derani was dropped to 9th.
Carlos Sainz Jr was then awarded pole, only to have it taken away from his moments later, when his race one penalty was confirmed, promoting Nick McBride – who was punted by Derani yesterday – to the top spot.
It resulted in a rather ridiculous situation of several cars being wheeled up and down the grid, ensuring the race began 15 minutes late.
2012 British Formula 3 Series (Rd 4, Race 2) Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW 20m03.332s 2. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW + 0.645s 3. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW + 11.211s 4. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc + 15.599s 5. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc + 21.835s 6. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW + 22.700s 7. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc + 23.323s 8. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc + 29.726s 9. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 31.077s 10. Fahmi Ilyas Double R Dallara-Merc + 31.342s 11. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc + 31.687s 12. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW + 44.168s 13. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen + 54.468s 14. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen + 1m13.664s
Italics = National class
2012 British Formula 3 Series points standings (Rd 4, Race 2) Pos Driver Points International Class 1. Jazeman Jaafar 127 2. Carlos Sainz Jr 106 3. Jack Harvey 103 4. Felix Serralles 95 5. Alex Lynn 83 6. Harry Tincknell 72 7. Pietro Fantin 70 8. Pipo Derani 67 9. Hannes van Asseldonk 44 10. Nick McBride 27 National Class 1. Richard Goddard 176 2. Duvashen Padayachee 139
