After race stewards took Alex Lynn’s first British F3 win away yesterday evening, the Fortec man won again at Silverstone today ahead of Jazeman Jaafar, doing so in specular style. This time, there were no mistakes.
Harry Tincknell fought off a determined Hannes van Asseldonk to assume the last podium position.
Starting on pole, Lynn ran wide at the exit of Copse allowing not only Jaafar through, but also Tincknell and Carlos Sainz Jr.
The Essex born Lynn was not content to simply sit in the order, as he forced his way beyond Sainz Jr (lap 2) and Tincknell (lap 3) before chasing after Jaafar.
It would not be for another thirteen laps before Lynn to finally get by the Malaysian for the lead, but in the meantime Lynn pressed Jaafar repeatedly, ensuring the gap remained around the four-tenths mark.
Despite the pressure from behind, Jaafar held the gap for the most part until Lynn made the decisive move down the inside of Brooklands three laps from the end.
For Jaafar, the race was a mixture of disappointment and relief. While the Malaysian was somewhat downbeat after losing the victory, Jaafar came away from the weekend with some positives.
Tincknell was grimly relieved to come away with 3rd. Much like the leading pair, the 20-year-old enjoyed a tense fight with first Sainz Jr and then van Asseldonk.
Once Lynn has passed Tincknell, the Carlin racer held the attentions of Sainz Jr in check, until the Spaniard was himself overtaken by invigorated van Asseldonk. The Dutch racer was not interested in the slightest by a 4th place finish and repeatedly reminded Tincknell of that fact.
After a few nervy moments, Tincknell locked down, solidifying a confidence building podium spot.
For van Asseldonk, the points were welcome, bolstered by a performance that showed precisely what he can do when everything goes his way. Sainz Jr meanwhile fell to a 5th place limbo – too distant to threaten van Asseldonk’s charge, yet not overly pushed by Pietro Fantin (Carlin, 6th).
It marked another somewhat anonymous weekend for the Spaniard, whose performances have ping-ponged throughout the season. There’s consistency there somewhere to go with the natural talent; it just needs to be discovered and nurtured.
Sadly, the battle for 7th and 8th may go some distance to deciding the championship fight. Fought out between title protagonists Jack Harvey and Felix Serralles, there was more to this race than Jaafar merely extending his points lead.
The Puerto Rican Serralles ran 6th early on, battling with van Asseldonk for honours when a spin dropped him to 8th behind Harvey. For the next sixteen laps, Serralles clung to the rear of Harvey, forcing the issue at every opportunity. Several times, the Fortec racer came close to slipping past the Racing Steps Foundation driver at either Copse or Brooklands, only to have the door closed each time by.
Serralles finally extracted the position from Harvey on the final lap, diving through at Copse; however an incident two laps earlier marred any celebrations when Harvey went wheel-to-wheel with Serralles in Copse, with the latter clattering the kerbs hard.
Getting slightly airborne over the rumble strips, Serralles came down hard, bruising his coccyx in the landing. Sheer adrenaline kept the 20-year-old going for the final two laps, but in Parc Ferme the pain on Serralles’ face was telling as pain shot through his lower back.
Just behind the fighting duo, Rupert Svendsen-Cook grabbed 9th and another couple of points, showing that there is some speed in that Double R car when good driver gets behind the wheel…
Geoff Uhrhane grabbed the final point thanks to a long coming move on an asleep Pipo Derani on lap 14. Nick McBride ended the day 12th, not far down the road from the National Class trio, led by Spike Goddard.
Duvashen Padayachee and Pedro Pablo Calbimonte rounded out the fifteen runners.
2012 British F3 Round of Silverstone (Rd 9, race 3) Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc 39m03.812s 2. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW + 1.810s 3. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW + 11.877s 4. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc + 12.262s 5. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW + 15.666s 6. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW + 18.939s 7. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc + 25.656s 8. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW + 28.503s 9. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Double R Dallara-Merc + 28.947s 10. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc + 35.071s 11. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc + 48.679s 12. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 48.923s 13. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen* + 49.429s 14. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen* + 49.994s 15. Pedro Pablo Calbimonte T-Sport Dallara-Mugen* + 51.057s
2012 British F3 Championship (Round 9, race 3) International Class Pos Drivers Points 1. Jazeman Jaafar 282 2. Felix Serralles 276 3. Jack Harvey 259 4. Carlos Sainz Jr 226 5. Alex Lynn 226 6. Harry Tincknell 193 7. Pietro Fantin 173 8. Pipo Derani 119 9. Hannes van Asseldonk 113 10. Nick McBride 81 National Class Pos Drivers Points 1. Spike Goddard 388 2. Duvashen Padayachee 345 3. Adderly Fong 161 4. Pedro Pablo Calbimonte 82
