Felix Serralles took victory in an action packed British Formula 3 sprint race at Silverstone this morning.
The Fortec racer kept ahead of Carlin duo Jack Harvey and Jazeman Jaafar, earning the Puerto Rican a narrow two-point advantage over Harvey.
In a sense, the race fell toward Serralles. Starting 3rd on the grid, Serralles held the spot until Harvey and poleman Pipo Derani clashed at Brooklands on the opening lap, gifting the lead to the 20-year-old from Central America.
Derani suffered terminal damage to his left front suspension, while Harvey lost another spot to Alex Lynn while in recovery.
From there, Serralles maintained a nervous lead from Lynn and Harvey, with the gap rarely extending beyond half-a-second; however it so nearly came a cropper for the leading pair on the penultimate lap.
Round the loop, Serralles ran wide and off, while Lynn spun in an attempt to avoid his Fortec teammate – somehow the ultra keen Harvey threaded his way through the melee unscathed.
Keeping his composure, Serralles escaped from the slide with the lead still in tact; the same could not be said for Lynn who watched helplessly as Harvey, Jaafar, Pietro Fantin (Carlin) and Rupert Svendsen-Cook (Double R) all flew by.
Despite this, Harvey could not steal the lead from Serralles, who would draw a 0.4 seconds gap come the chequered flag.
Lynn meanwhile found himself locked in 6th spot, too far behind Svendsen-Cook to make any late gains and too far ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr to feel threatened.
For Jaafar, the Malaysian cut his way through the field, thanks in part to a stunning start from the fifth row. A move on teammate Fantin brought the Carlin racer to 4th, before picking up the last podium when Lynn fell off.
Fantin held close to Jaafar for the duration, while also holding Svendsen-Cook behind, although the Double R racer scythed by the Brazilian on the penultimate tour at Stowe, only to be aggressively retaken several corners later – a move that rather annoyed the returning Svendsen-Cook.
Sainz Jr drove a rather anonymous race to claim 7th place, ahead of Hannes van Asseldonk (Fortec). Following a mechanical failure in yesterday’s race that caused van Asseldonk some heating issues in his nether regions, the Dutch racer shot off the line, rising from 15th to 10th in one lap.
With Derani out and Harry Tincknell receiving a drive through penalty (he was out of position on the starting grid), van Asseldonk assumed 8th place. Tincknell trailed home 13th, unable to make amends for his startline error.
Geoff Uhrhane led Nick McBride home to 9th and 10th, while Duvashen Padayachee ended the 11th and the winner of the National Class. Spike Goddard drove to 12th, while Pedro Pablo Calbimonte came home 14th following a mid-race spin.
[Results to follow…]
