British Formula 3 rookie, Felix Serralles secured his second win of the season in a wet and treacherous Monza.
Such were the conditions, the race was held under the safety car for the opening two laps, before it was deemed safe enough to race.
When the race did get underway, Serralles built early lead over T-Sport’s Nick McBride, before Jack Harvey assumed 2nd place at Ascari on the fourth lap, although Serralles’ gap was already 4.8 seconds
The Carlin racer took just over one second out of the lead, but no more than that when Harvey hit clean air in the remaining laps.
The luckless McBride was in line for his first podium finish until he succumbed to pressure from Pietro Fantin (Carlin) on lap 7; however the Australian would easily hold onto 4th place over the line.
Carlin’s Jazeman Jaafar ended the day three seconds adrift of McBride in 5th. The Malaysian led a string of cars across the line, with Pipo Derani (Fortec, 6th), Alex Lynn (Fortec, 7th), Carlos Sainz Jr (Carlin, 8th) and Harry Tincknell (Carlin, 9th) all covered by less than five seconds.
Amidst the group, Derani and Lynn fought hard for 6th spot, with the Fortec duo even clashing wheels entering the Rettifilo chicane. Lynn, however, missed the chicane and pulled out an advantage that would be later be disallowed by the stewards.
Such was the lack of visibility; Derani missed the chequered flag, leading to yet another clash on the slow down lap that damaged both Mercedes-powered machines.
Fahmi Ilyas started on the front row, but spun out early on, eventually recovering to finish 10th some 21 seconds ahead of Double R teammate, Geoff Uhrhane.
After a solid opening race, Hannes van Asseldonk endured a non-race when he crashed into the barriers at the Parabolica during the parade lap.
Duvashen Padayachee kept his Double R Mugen Honda on the road to record his first National Class victory. The Australian brought his car to a welcome finish after rival Spike Goddard spun into retirement on the sixth tour.
2012 British F3 Round of Monza (Rd 2, Race 2, 9 laps)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc 21m09.965s
2. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW + 3.702s
3. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW + 10.915s
4. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 15.235s
5. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW + 18.264s
6. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc + 19.823s
7. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc + 19.959s
8. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW + 21.313s
9. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW + 22.692s
10. Fahmi Ilyas Double R Dallara-Merc + 26.107s
11. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc + 47.433s
12. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen* + 56.468s
Retirements:
Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen* 5 laps
Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc 0 laps
Italics = National Class
Carlos Sainz Jr grabbed his first British Formula 3 victory in bizarre circumstances at the legendary Monza circuit on Saturday.
The Spaniard was originally to start the race 2nd alongside poleman Felix Serralles; however increasing rain on the parade lap prompted the entire field to pit, rather than take to the grid.
Sainz Jr emerged from his pitbox at the head of the pack and assumed an easy lead as the lights at the end of the pitlane shown green.
The Carlin racer initially had Double R’s Fahmi Ilyas on his tail, but that did not last. With each tour, Sainz Jr increased his lead substantially, eventually growing to 6.6 seconds when Ilyas dropped behind Pipo Derani (Fortec) on the fifth lap.
Undeterred, Sainz Jr extended his gap to ten seconds come the flag; although the briefest of off’s on lap four kept his concentration in check. Naturally the Spaniard was delighted with his day’s running:
“It’s always special to take your first win in a series, especially as I said before at a historic circuit like Monza. There was very light rain at the start and we thought we might have to stop for wet tyres but then it started to rain more on the green flag lap which made conditions really tricky. The team did a great job on the pit stop; it was perfect and got me out of the pit lane first.
“From the start I was focusing on looking after the tyres and being patient with them and building out a gap little by little. I had one scary moment on lap 4, but with so many breaking points it is easy to make a mistake here. To score my first F3 win in these conditions feels really great.”
It was also a stellar race for Derani, who left the pits a distant 8th following his change to wet Cooper tyres. A charging first lap gave the Brazilian 5th spot, before moves on Nick McBride (T-Sport, lap 2), Pietro Fantin (Carlin, lap 3) and Ilyas gave him a well-deserved runner-up spot.
Jazeman Jaafar made it two Carlin’s on the podium after fighting his way up from 7th to 3rd by mid-distance.
Fortec’s Hannes van Asseldonk secured 4th after taking the alternate start in 12th, while Jack Harvey (Carlin) assumed 5th despite a sluggish stop (dropping him to 13th).
Both battled their way up the order remarkably well, only for Harvey to be handed a 10-second penalty post-race for jumping a chicane. The Englishman would be classified 7th following the decision by the race stewards.
Harvey’s penalty would promote Alex Lynn (Fortec) into the top five. The 18-year-old garnered some luck when he tripped across the gravel at the Parabolica just prior to the halfway point – he survived, although he fell to 10th, but immediately began to scythe through the field with guile and expertise.
Fantin was one of the few to lose spots amidst the action. Despite getting out of the pits in 3rd, the Brazilian would eventually fall to 6th come the flag. Fantin’s mid-race battle with Carlin teammate Harry Tincknell would result in retirement for the latter, when a heavy hit over one of Monza’s high kerbs at the Lesmo’s damaged his suspension beyond reason.
McBride also fell through the field in the tough and tricky conditions, taking 8th just ahead of Ilyas and Serralles.
Originally on pole, Felix Serralles (Fortec) lined up 10th following a disastrous stop; however the winner in Oulton Park was not to repeat that surprise in Race One, as the Puerto Rican became a mere dot in the mirrors of his opponents.
It was another difficult race for Double R’s Geoff Uhrhane, who endured a long stop due to a stuck rear wheel. The Australian did not recover and finished the day 12th.
In the National Class, Spike Goddard led Duvashen Padayachee each lap around; however determined to grab his first 2012 victory, Padayachee made a move to pass at the second chicane on the final lap, only for the pair to collide as Goddard reasserted his position.
Goddard continued, but Padayachee slammed the barriers, gifting Goddard his fourth National Class victory.
2012 British F3 Round of Monza (Rd 2, Race 1, 15 laps)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW 30m32.179s
2. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc + 9.889s
3. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW + 12.509s
4. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc + 17.418s
5. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc + 18.892s
6. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW + 20.575s
7. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW + 28.608s*
8. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 34.042s
9. Fahmi Ilyas Double R Dallara-Merc + 43.095s
10. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc + 1m01.445s
11. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen* + 1m48.060s
12. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc + 3 laps
Retirements:
Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen* 14 laps
Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW 11 laps
Italics = National Class
*10-second post-race penalty for skipping a chicane.
^Notes compiled from live updates and team releases.
Alex Lynn topped practice for the second round of the British Formula 3 Series at a dry, but cool Monza.
Indeed, it was good day for Fortec in general, as the Formula Renault UK champion headed a Fortec 1-2-3 ahead of Pipo Derani and Hannes van Asseldonk.
A late effort by Lynn – clocking in 1:46.607 – knocked Derani off the top spot, thanks – in part – to a mistake by the Brazilian on his fast lap.
It ensured something of a confidence boost for the 18-year-old Lynn following a tough opening weekend at Oulton Park; however he was also keen to establish practice is merely that – practice.
Jazeman Jaafar led the Carlin contingent from 4th place, despite being troubled by a persistent engine misfire.
The Malaysian’s best was nearly half-a-second shy of the top spot; however Jaafar held off the ambitions of Carlos Sainz Jr (5th), Harry Tincknell (6th), Jack Harvey (7th) and Pietro Fantin (9th), with a mere four tenths covering the Carlin quintet.
Nick McBride assumed 9th in his Nissan-powered T-Sport Dallara, just one-tent up on Oulton Park race winner, Felix Serralles (Fortec, 10th).
Double R duo Fahmi Ilyas and Geoff Uhrhane rounded out the International Class standings, although a gap of six-tenths to Serralles may leave them scratching their heads.
It was a case of the same again between the National Class pairing, as T-Sport’s Spike Goddard outpaced Double R rookie Duvashen Padayachee by a clear second.
Sainz claimed the fastest lap in the opening practice, despite a trip through the gravel on cold, gripless tyres, with the Carlin man complaining of a lack of tyre temperature. The Spaniard proved two-tenths quicker than Derani, before lunch drew the session to a close.
The session was brought to an early end when Goddard went backwards into the barriers at Ascari, rendering chassis severely damaged; however the T-Sport mechanics worked wonders to rebuild Goddard’s chassis in time for the afternoon session.
2012 British Formula 3 Round of Monza (Rd 2, Free Practice) Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m46.607s 2. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m46.721s + 0.114s 3. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m46.995s + 0.388s 4. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 1m47.067s + 0.460s 5. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW 1m47.166s + 0.559s 6. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW 1m47.178s + 0.571s 7. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 1m47.209s + 0.602s 8. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW 1m47.484s + 0.877s 9. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 1m47.554s + 0.947s 10. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m47.619s + 1.012s 11. Fahmi Ilyas Double R Dallara-Merc 1m48.286s + 1.679s 12. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc 1m48.490s + 1.883s 13. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen 1m50.234s + 3.627s 14. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen 1m51.293s + 4.686s Italics = National Class ^Notes compiled from live updates and team releases.
TV Notes
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes veteran Michael Schumacher made the best of tricky conditions to top the opening practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Although Hamilton ran quickest in the morning, it was the wily Schumacher who stole the day’s fastest lap of the Shanghai International Circuit.
Schumacher ended FP1 in 3rd spot after completing only 14 laps, but stretched his legs somewhat during a qualifying stint in the afternoon session.
It has not been unusual to see the Mercedes squad excel in low fuel runs; however long distance stints have seen pace fall away from the German manufacturer.
During the dual ninety-minute sessions, Mercedes team focussed on a deeply technical programme, applying numerous set-up changes to the F1 W03. Much of the schedule was dedicated to race simulations and tyre comparisons.
Schumacher’s Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg, briefly topped the opening session in the dying moments, while he swapped quickest laps with Hamilton. Rosberg would end the sessions 2nd (FP1) and 5th (FP2).
Hamilton headed an opening session dominated by changeable conditions, as the Woking squad brought a new rear wing package and an updated floor to Shanghai.
The cool conditions nullified any potential for optimum tyre comparisons; however Hamilton still registered some relatively competitive times. The 2008 World Champion was unable to assume the top spot in FP2, finishing instead 2nd, just under two-tenths slower than Schumacher.
It was a more difficult day for Jenson Button, who struggled to “switch his tyres on” in the low temperatures, leaving the king of Melbourne stranded down in 8th (FP1) and 6th (FP2).
Alterations to the front wheel cambers and brake discs appeared not to cure Button’s understeer problems – something that appeared to quietly frustrate the former champion.
There were split strategies in the Red Bull camp, as Mark Webber continued with the latest version exhaust and Sebastien Vettel contended with a variation of the exhaust from the Barcelona test.
The afternoon saw Red Bull change Vettel’s front suspension units, while Webber endured temporary KERS issues.
At Ferrari, both Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa tested new aerodynamic components in FP1, before moving to tyre evaluations in the afternoon.
While Ferrari’s disappointing lack of performance and balance has been noted on numerous occasions, Massa’s tyre struggles would continue through the opening day, as his soft compound Pirelli’s fell away early in each of his stints.
Lotus also brought developments to Shanghai (new barge boards, diffuser, floor and front wing), although their day was destabilised by severe understeer due to the cool temperatures, while Raikkonen suffered with malfunctioning DRS.
A spin for Grosjean in the second session interrupted what had been a rather busy day for the Frenchman. He would register 39 laps over the two sessions, ending 17th (FP1) and 15th (FP2) respectively.
Force India concentrated on tyre evaluations and long runs in the afternoon, although their morning was cut short by the circuit conditions. Indeed Jules Bianchi – replacing Paul di Resta during FP1 – managed only eight laps, severely limiting the Frenchman’s learning potential.
The team brought some small aerodynamic updates to Shanghai that received full evaluation in the afternoon.
Set-up work was the order of the day at Sauber, as the Swiss squad push for better overall balance on the circuit’s slippery surface. While Kamui Kobayashi enjoyed a trouble-free day, Sergio Perez suffered from braking problems and locking front wheels – the latter of wheel caused the entire front section of his C31 to rattle violently down the back straight.
Daniel Ricciardo reported that he was happier with his Toro Rosso than he was in Malaysia three weeks ago, despite an on going power steering problem. The Australian split the set-up programme with teammate Jean-Eric Vergne throughout the afternoon, who claimed to be “…not entirely happy with the feeling (…) from the car.”
Evaluations of the aerodynamic and mechanical workings of the FW34 were the order of the day at Williams, with long runs and tyre comparisons mixed into the programme for good measure.
It was especially productive for reserve driver Valtteri Bottas, who completed his first Formula 1 session in damp condition, when he took over Bruno Senna’s car in the morning.
For Senna, it proved to be another minor frustration, on a track that he admitted to be largely unfamiliar with. Indeed, this was the second of fifteen practice sessions that Senna must give to Bottas throughout 2012, potentially destabilising his progress further.
Caterham brought a new floor for the Chinese Grand Prix; however the lack of optimum conditions somewhat hindered knowledge gained from the new component.
As with many other teams, the green-and-yellow squad ran tyre comparison programmes, as they strive to learn more about the new Pirelli’s. Caterham also brought in a reserve driver for FP1, as Giedo van der Garde sat in for Vitaly Petrov in what was his first competition session in Formula 1.
It was a day of some disappointment for Marussia. Following a bout of solid running, lead driver Timo Glock hit the barrier at the end of turn one sideways, when his nosebox mysteriously dislodged itself on the approach to the corner.
Thankfully, Glock appeared to be unhurt, despite banging his hand hard in the cockpit and while there was no overly serious damage to the MR01, his session was clearly over early.
Beyond that, the day was a positive one for the Marussia team, who brought some promising front wing and floor updates, as well as new brake drums to Shanghai.
HRT enjoyed a significant improvement, thanks to an updated front wing that the Spanish team surmised gave them a bonus of up to seven-tenths; however drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan still found deficiencies with the braking of the F112 machine.
This session was easily HRT’s most co-ordinated of the season yet, with the team moving swiftly into race set-up programmes with the rest of the field come the latter third of FP2.
The opening session created a number of issues. Having rained overnight, the circuit was not wet enough for full wet tyres, yet still too damp to make the move for dries. Some eventually took to the track on the Pirelli intermediates, although this did not bring a huge increase in running.
Practice was also dominated by thick smog that lingered amongst the tops of the Shanghai grandstands and rooftops.
The circuit itself was also heavily littered, albeit with discarded Pirelli rubber, as cars shed layers of tyre in the cooler temperatures, creating a definite single racing line before the end of day.
2012 Chinese Grand Prix (Round 3, Free Practice 1) Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.106 7 2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.116s + 1.010 14 3. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m38.316s + 1.210 14 4. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.584s + 1.478 13 5. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.911s + 1.805 12 6. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m38.977s + 1.871 15 7. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m39.198s + 2.092 12 8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m39.199s + 2.093 6 9. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.748s + 2.642 16 10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.768s + 2.662 14 11. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m40.056s + 2.950 14 12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m40.153s + 3.047 14 13. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m40.298s + 3.192 8 14. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m40.328s + 3.222 13 15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m40.540s + 3.434 12 16. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m41.071s + 3.965 14 17. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m41.204s + 4.098 14 18. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m42.330s + 5.224 14 19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m42.521s + 5.415 11 20. Jules Bianchi Force India-Mercedes 1m44.118s + 7.012 8 21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m44.227s + 7.121 10 22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m44.500s + 7.394 15 23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m47.204s + 10.098 12 24. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m50.465s + 13.359 11 ^Notes compiled from live updates and team releases.
2012 Chinese Grand Prix (Round 3, Free Practice 2) Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m35.973 32 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.145s + 0.172 29 3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.160s + 0.187 26 4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m36.433s + 0.460 23 5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m36.617s + 0.644 30 6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.711s + 0.738 27 7. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m36.956s + 0.983 28 8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m36.966s + 0.993 30 9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m37.191s + 1.218 30 10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.316s + 1.343 32 11. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.417s + 1.444 22 12. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m37.616s + 1.643 33 13. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m37.836s + 1.863 30 14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m37.930s + 1.957 31 15. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m37.972s + 1.999 25 16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m38.176s + 2.203 34 17. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m38.293s + 2.320 30 18. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m38.783s + 2.810 37 19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m38.990s + 3.017 36 20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m39.346s + 3.373 19 21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m39.651s + 3.678 15 22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m40.343s + 4.370 24 23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m40.753s + 4.780 30 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m41.125s + 5.162 26 ^Notes compiled from live updates and team releases.
Despite the troubles of the past fourteen months, the Bahrain Grand Prix has been confirmed by the FIA in China this morning, irrespective of the ongoing violence in parts of the tiny country.
I disagree wholeheartedly with this decision. Motorsport has always been about business – ever since day one – but now it is entering the realm of political football, and is being used heavily as a tool in a territory fighting to define its future.
The moment the “Unif1ed – One Nation in Celebration” poster was unveiled, this race should have been called. This decision by the FIA to plough on regardless, despite the highly sensitive political situation in the region displays a shockingly poor level of judgement.
That much of the talk regarding safety has focussed purely on the drivers and teams shows utmost disrespect for the fans, marshals and independent media who will be frequenting the event without the aid of security guards and armoured cars.
The drivers exist in a bubble, underneath several sheets of cotton wool. They will be fine. What happens to everybody else is seemingly unimportant to the governing body of motorsport.
That the FIA have painted a message of “all is well” despite contrary reports from human rights organisations and independent media is also a depressing sign of weakness.
I have barely missed a Grand Prix since the mid-80s. In this instance, I think a long walk on April 22nd may be a requirement.
This site will not host any opinion coverage of the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Press Release
FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX
13/04/2012The FIA is the governing body of motor sport and therefore of Formula One. As such, it sets the season’s calendars following the proposal of the Commercial Rights Holder (CRH) in accordance with the local national authorities in all matters relating to safety.
Within that context, the FIA ensures that any event forming part of an FIA World Championship is organised in compliance with the FIA Statutes and the relevant Sporting and Technical Regulations and that the safety of the public, officials, drivers and teams is secured at all times during an event.
The FIA must make rational decisions based on the information provided to us by the Bahraini authorities and by the Commercial Rights Holder. In addition we have endeavoured to assess the ongoing situation in Bahrain.
President Jean Todt led a fact-finding mission to the Kingdom in November 2011, meeting a large number of decision-makers and opinion formers, including elected Shia members of parliament, the president of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, ambassadors from the European Union countries, the Crown Prince, the Interior Minister and many members of the business community.
All expressed their wish for the Grand Prix to go ahead in 2012, and since then, the FIA has kept in close touch with all these stakeholders. Away from the public eye, the FIA has received regular security briefings from the most senior diplomatic officials based in the Kingdom as well as from other independent experts.
The 2012 calendar, as presented by the CRH, was ratified by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in September 2011. Since then no request from the F1 Commission or the CRH has been made to the WMSC to either postpone or cancel the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Based on the current information the FIA has at this stage, it is satisfied that all the proper security measures are in place for the running of a Formula One World Championship event in Bahrain.
Therefore, the FIA confirms that the 2012 Gulf Air F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain will go ahead as scheduled.
Felix Serralles claimed his first British Formula 3 victory of the season at a breezy and cool Oulton Park.
The Puerto Rican drove an immaculate race to finish 2.8 seconds ahead of Carlin’s Jack Harvey. Harry Tincknell finished over nine seconds adrift in 3rd.
It all came down to the start. From the front row, Serralles jumped the sluggish Harvey off the line, ensuring the position into Old Hall corner.
From there, Serralles slowly extended his lead with each tour, ensuring a second Fortec victory of the weekend, following Pipo Derani’s earlier win.
Despite the constant presence of Harvey, Serralles drove a sublime race; never at any stage looking as if he might buckle under the pressure of his Carlin pursuer.
In this instance, Harvey had no answer, leaving Serralles to pick up his first British F3 win in only his third race.
At this point, one must point out that this race did not feature a single overtaking manoeuvre following the start, nor did it truly look like any drivers were going to lunge for position.
So in order, Harvey pulled keenly away from his Carlin teammate Tincknell, who himself had drawn a gap to Carlos Sainz Jr in 4th place.
Sainz Jr complicated his race slightly when he ran off track at Cascade, returning to the race just ahead of Jazeman Jaafar. From there, the Spanish youngster built a lead over Jaafar to secure his top four spot.
Close behind Jaafar were Fortec’s Alex Lynn and Pietro Fantin in his Volkswagen-powered Carlin – the duo neatly trailed Jaafar for the duration.
Hannes van Asseldonk was running 8th until he fell off the road at Druids on lap five, allowing Fahmi Ilyas (Double R) to slot up a place.
Nick McBride brought his T-Sport-Nissan home 9th, some 11.5 seconds up on Double R’s Geoff Uhrhane. It proved to be a solid race for Uhrhane, who finally got some racing miles into him after no testing, although the Australian seemed a little the worse for wear, following what was by far his longest race.
Richard ‘Spike’ Goddard laid on an admirable challenge for the tiring Uhrhane in the final few tours, but the National Class racer could not force a pass.
Goddard ended the race just under 20 seconds clear of Duvashen Padayachee to claim all three National Class victories over the course of the weekend.
Pipo Derani’s rear brakes locked on the starting grid, necessitating a safety car on the opening lap. After winning so brilliantly early in the afternoon, the Brazilian did not even move one foot in the final event.
With 41 points, the result gives Harvey a 6-point lead over Jaafar in the point standings, with Tincknell a further three adrift; however this is only the first of ten race meetings. It is still far too early to even think about the title race.
2012 British F3 Round of Oulton Park (Rd 1, Race 3)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc 40m34.462s
2. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW + 2.843s
3. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW + 9.303s
4. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW + 12.522s
5. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW + 22.392s
6. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc + 23.632s
7. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW + 24.348s
8. Fahmi Ilyas Double R Dallara-Merc + 41.523s
9. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 58.214s
10. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc + 1m09.723s
11. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen + 1m10.331s
12. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen + 1m30.255s
Retirements:
Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc 5 laps
Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc 0 laps
2012 British Formula 3 Series (Rd 1, Race 3) Pos Driver Points International Class 1. Jack Harvey 41 2. Jazeman Jaafar 35 3. Harry Tincknell 32 4. Carlos Sainz Jr 30 5. Felix Serralles 29 6. Pipo Derani 23 7. Pietro Fantin 22 8. Alex Lynn 14 9. Fahmi Ilyas 9 10. Hannes van Asseldonk 4 National Class 1. Spike Goddard 63 2. Duvashen Padayachee 45
Fortec’s Pipo Derani secured his first British Formula 3 in a manic second race this afternoon, ahead of Pietro Fantin and Jazeman Jaafar.
Starting 4th, the Brazilian easily drew passed poleman Duvashen Padayachee, before forcing an error from T-Sport’s Nick McBride to assume 2nd on the following lap.
Four laps behind then leader Spike Goddard bottled the field up, with the top twelve within four seconds of the front for the opening third of the race.
Come the end of lap five, Goddard finally cracked, dropping to 6th before the end of that tour. Now clear ahead, Derani pulled a two-second lead over Fantin, only for it to be wiped when the safety car emerged on lap eight to remove Alex Lynn’s stricken Fortec.
Restarting with only one lap remaining, Derani held a gap over Fantin, eventually taking the win by eight tenths.
“The result back home was really good for the team, it was our first win. [McBride] has a really bad exit [in the second last corner] and it was the only opportunity that I saw could try something; it was quite risky, but in the end I managed to do it. I was nervous when I saw the safety car board, but just managed to do a good restart and that was it. These Carlin guys are not easy and there was only one lap and I made no mistakes.”
For Fantin, a frustrating feeling of “what if” lingered after the race. The Carlin racer began to reel in Derani before the safety car period, but the Brazilian ran out of time to make a move for the lead.
“It was a crazy race, because we had the Rookie Class cars in front, but I knew as soon as I got passed them, it would be fine. Without the safety car, it could have been possible to close the gap and maybe pass [for the lead]. It’s good to be on the podium already, because it boosts my confidence for Monza.”
Behind Fantin, Jaafar pressed forward to take an incredible 3rd after starting on the sixth row. The Malaysian got a wonderful start, jumping to 8th by the end of the opening lap. He took two more spots when Fortec duo Felix Serralles and Alex Lynn placed wheels on Oulton Park’s gripless grass run-off areas.
A lap four pass on Harry Tincknell (Carlin) made that 4th, before inheriting 3rd from a spinning McBride. Jaafar attempted to force the issue with Fantin on the final lap in Old Hall corner; however the Brazilian held a comfortable advantage over the course of Oulton Park’s 2.6-miles.
Nonetheless, Jaafar was delighted with the performance:
“Nothing is impossible obviously, but 11th to 3rd is all right. We collected good points, but it was a crazy race. It was good, because you learn more racecraft [in a compressed pack] and it keeps you thinking, but it can be a bit dangerous sometimes at some circuits, so there is good and bad in it.”
Tincknell ended the afternoon 4th, a mere three-tenths up on Carlos Sainz Jr, while race one winner Jack Harvey closed out the top six.
Serralles kept his car on the road following his early off to assume 7th. The Puerto Rican kept teammate Hannes van Asseldonk at bay late on, despite a stellar effort that saw the Dutchman finish 8th after starting a distant 13th.
Goddard fell down the order in the second half of the race, although the Rookie Class racer will remember this for holding the front of the pack for four laps in the older generation Dallara.
Geoff Uhrhane rounded out the top 10 with a drive from 13th on the grid. The ex-Formula Ford GB racer climbed steadily up the order with a pass on Padayachee on lap seven and gained a further two spots when Lynn and Fahmi Ilyas fell off late on.
It was a tale of what could have been for McBride. After falling behind Fantin on lap two, the Australian suffered a second off-track excursion at Druids on lap six, tumbling to 13th. McBride made that 12th when he passed Padayachee on lap seven, before a retiring Ilyas promoted McBride to 11th.
After garnering a strange pole position, Padayachee plummeted down the order, eventually finishing 12th and last; however the Australian was setting some reasonable laptimes come the chequered flag.
Ilyas stalled on the dummy grid, demoting himself to last position. The Malaysian had climbed to 10th by the safety car period, only to disappear on the final tour.
Lynn held 7th spot in the early running, but retired when he slid off and hit the tyre barrier at Hislop’s chicane, bringing out the safety car.
“I made a mistake taking too much kerb and obviously that cost me so I’m really disappointed with that but it’s a long season and I’ll pick myself up. It was a really crazy race, though – everyone was so close in the midfield it was unbelievable but that’s what a reversed grid can do for you.”
2012 British F3 Round of Oulton Park (Rd 1, Race 2, 12 laps)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc 20m31.214s
2. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-VW + 0.850s
3. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW + 1.491s
4. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW + 2.693s
5. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW + 3.079s
6. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW + 3.511s
7. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc + 3.594s
8. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc + 3.952s
9. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen + 6.705s
10. Geoff Uhrhane Double R Dallara-Merc + 7.911s
11. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 8.823s
12. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Dallara-Mugen + 9.633s
Retirements:
Fahmi Ilyas Double R Dallara-Merc 11 laps
Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc 6 laps
2012 British Formula 3 Series (Rd 1, Race 2) Pos Driver Points International Class 1. Jazeman Jaafar 27 2. Jack Harvey 26 3. Pipo Derani 23 4. Carlos Sainz Jr 20 5. Harry Tincknell 20 6. Pietro Fantin 18 7. Alex Lynn 8 8. Felix Serralles 8 9. Fahmi Ilyas 6 10. Hannes van Asseldonk 4 Rookie Class 1. Spike Goddard 42 2. Duvashen Padayachee 30
Jack Harvey opened the British Formula 3 season by winning in style at a damp Oulton Park, well ahead of teammates Jazeman Jaafar and Carlos Sainz Jr.
The 18-year-old enjoyed a stellar getaway from the line to open a 2.7 second lead by the end of the first tour of the circuit.
Alone out front, Harvey continued to extend his lead and indeed set fastest lap after fastest lap, eventually building a gap of 9.5 seconds after a dozen laps.
From there, the Englishman eased his pace, although the drying conditions allowed the laptimes to shrink with every circulation.
“In the race I pushed when I needed to and in the last few laps I radioed the team and asked ‘how big is the gap?’ and they said it was about ‘nine seconds’ at the time. So I reined it in to get the win.
“The car was really good and allowed me to get a gap and then at the end I just drove to make sure I got home. The tyres were really good. I set my fastest lap on my last, not because I was pushing harder, but simply because the track was getting drier.”
Jaafar held 2nd for the duration, following a storming start. From 3rd, the Malaysian shot through a gap, taking fellow Carlin runner Harry Tincknell off the start as they entered the sweeping Old Hall corner.
Tincknell pressed Jaafar for several laps, before he too began to feel the pressure from Sainz Jr, allowing Jaafar to escape.
Sainz Jr finally swept by Tincknell over the line at the halfway point, giving the Spaniard an extra impetus to race for 2nd; however Jaafar had just enough to stay ahead of the Red Bull junior driver.
On the podium, Jaafar was rightly pleased with his performance:
“My eyes were on the lights, but my ears were on the revs, so I was just focussing on having a good start and a good finish. The car felt really good and we were focussing on finishing and 2nd is a good start to the year.
“It was tricky, but you can see some dry marks on the track and overheat the tyres sometimes, so you have to find the right balance. I knew there were guys that were quicker than me behind, but the gap was good enough.
“Holding Harry wasn’t easy in the beginning, because we finding the grip. Carlos was catching up quite a lot, but he has van Asseldonk, so there were different kinds of pressures behind.”
Sainz Jr fell behind Jaafar as the race drew to a close, allowing Fortec’s Hannes van Asseldonk to close in the final tours.
Van Asseldonk continued to press Sainz Jr hard, only for the Dutch pilot to fall off at the chicane on the last lap, gifting the Carlin rookie a free run to the flag. Understandably, Sainz Jr happy with the finish.
“We had a positive day. At the start of the championship, it’s never easy to start at Oulton Park – it is a difficult track in the rain, so I have to be happy, but we were really fast in the wet conditions, but not so fast at the end.
I was trying to catch [Tincknell] and was tight behind him, but he was just a bit faster than me in the last sector and I was faster into the first and second, which made it difficult to overtake. Finally he made a small mistake and I managed to pass him.”
Van Asseldonk’s off gave 4th to Tincknell. The Englishman had been passed by van Asseldonk eleven laps in, falling toward the next Fortec of Alex Lynn in the late laps. Lynn pressed Tincknell several times, repeatedly attempting to take the Carlin racer around the outside of Old Hall.
On the run to the finish line, Lynn enjoyed a good run from the final corner; however not enough to overtake Tincknell before the flag.
Fahmi Ilyas took a credible 6th ahead of Felix Serralles (Fortec, 7th) and Pietro Fantin (Carlin, 8th), while Pipo Derani (Fortec) rumbled home 9th some ten seconds later. Both Serralles and Derani spun entering the last corner on the final lap, after putting a wheel on the still damp grass.
T-Sport’s Nick McBride rounded out the top ten, after losing two spots in another off on the last lap.
Ricard ‘Spike’ Goddard won the Rookie Class, nearly one lap ahead of his sole class competitor Duvashen Padayachee.
Geoff Uhrhane went off at Druids corner, ending his race prematurely.
Following the podium draw for the second race, Harvey will be starting a distant 12th – a difficult prospect at most circuits, but moreso at Oulton. On the flipside Padayachee has claimed pole position for race two, with Goddard along side.
2012 British F3 Round of Oulton Park (Rd 1, Race 1, 19 laps)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Jack Harvey Carlin-Volkswagen 31m35.051s
2. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin-Volkswagen + 7.736s
3. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin-Volkswagen + 11.165s
4. Harry Tincknell Carlin-Volkswagen + 23.070s
5. Alex Lynn Fortec-Mercedes + 23.119s
6. Fahmi Ilyas Double R-Mercedes + 37.052s
7. Felix Serralles Fortec-Mercedes + 39.354s
8. Pietro Fantin Carlin-Volkswagen + 42.102s
9. Pipo Derani Fortec-Mercedes + 53.068s
10. Nick McBride T-Sport-Nissan + 54.727s
11. Spike Goddard T-Sport-Mugen + 1m05.418s
12. Duvashen Padayachee Double R-Mugen + 1 lap
Retirements:
Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec-Mercedes 18 laps
Geoff Uhrhane Double R-Mugen 4 laps
2012 British Formula 3 Series (Rd 1, Race 1) Pos Driver Points International Class 1. Jack Harvey 20 2. Jazeman Jaafar 15 3. Carlos Sainz Jr 12 4. Harry Tincknell 10 5. Alex Lynn 8 6. Fahmi Ilyas 6 7. Felix Serralles 4 8. Pietro Fantin 3 9. Pipo Derani 2 10. Nick McBride 1 Rookie Class 1. Spike Goddard 21 2. Duvashen Padayachee 15
Alex Lynn topped the sole British Formula 3 practice session at a cool Oulton Park this morning ahead of Fortec teammate Felix Serralles and Carlin’s Jack Harvey.
The Formula Renault UK champion went to the top of the standings two-third’s of the way through the session, before going even quicker still before the chequered flag flew.
Lynn’s best of 1:27.795 gave him nearly a half-second advantage over Serralles, with Harvey a few hundredths shy of the Fortec pairing.
For some, the low temperatures made tyre temperature an issue, although the increased downforce helped bring the times down somewhat following on from last weeks test at the same circuit.
Behind the top three, Harry Tincknell strengthened Carlin’s presence on the timesheets in 4th, while Pietro Fantin (6th), Carlos Sainz Jr (7th) and Jazeman Jaafar (8th) followed up.
Fortec’s Hannes van Asseldonk split the Carlin pack in 5th place, with a time some seven-tenths shy of his teammate. Pipo Derani (Fortec) and Fahmi Ilyas (Double R) rounded out the top ten.
Nick McBride claimed 11th in his Nissan-powered T-Sport machine, while a late quick run by Double R’s new boy Geoff Uhrhane brought him up to 12th.
Richard ‘Spike’ Goddard headed the Rookie Class duo in the T-Sport Mugen Honda. The Australian ended the session six-tenths clear of his sole rival Duvashen Padayachee.
Pos Driver Team Time / Gap 1. Alex Lynn Fortec-Mercedes 1:27.795 2. Felix Serralles Fortec-Mercedes 0.494 3. Jack Harvey Carlin-Volkswagen 0.537 4. Harry Tincknell Carlin-Volkswagen 0.627 5. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec-Mercedes 0.711 6. Pietro Fantin Carlin-Volkswagen 0.760 7. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin-Volkswagen 0.856 8. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin-Volkswagen 0.879 9. Pipo Derani Fortec-Mercedes 1.079 10. Fahmi Ilyas Double R-Mercedes 2.252 11. Nick McBride T-Sport-Nissan 2.279 12. Geoff Uhrhane Double R-Mercedes 3.395 13. Richard Goddard T-Sport-Mugen Honda 3.420 14. Duvashen Padayachee Double R-Mugen Honda 4.063
What a nice day to be inside, eh? From my vantage point, surrounded by dull cream walls and painless grey cupboards, the sun can be seen – just.
I was even outside earlier, baking in the sprawling sunlight, while the heavy city air seems at ease to peruse my lungs, weaving ably through the tissue and fibre. If one summons the energy, the words “oh golly” might be heard. Might.
Recently, there are scare stories in the newspapers about a possible snowy onslaught. Fair enough, should snow arrive, it will be an inconvenience, but one is rarely frightened by weather.
I most certainly hope any potential weather fronts disturb the opening round of the British Formula 3 Series – which starts this Friday at Oulton Park. While it might improve the action at a circuit notoriously difficult for overtaking, but it would be rather depressing start to the Easter holidays.
Doubtful that Geoff Uhrhane will want poor weather. The Australian has just signed a deal to race with Double R Racing for this weekend; however Uhrhane missed all pre-season testing, although he had a limited test with a European F3 Open team recently.
The ex-Formula Ford GB racer will get a single outing at Pembrey, before going straight to Oulton Park for the opening weekend – this will be a truly daunting task for Uhrhane. The only thing the 20-year-old will want is steady mileage.
Meanwhile, the car count for the opening British F3 round is now fourteen. Recently, there have been many posts regarding the cracks within junior formulae lately; it’s something I’ve been meaning to finish off, but announcements regarding Formula 3 engines for 2013 onwards are currently pending, so one will hold off for now.
Suffice to say; what I have heard recently from a very solid source is quite interesting indeed.
Getting back to the weather, some rather more reasoned (and trustworthy) forecasters are predicted rain for a short time – tomorrow at least. Annoying as that may be, it’s only rain – and to be frankly honest, Britain has enjoyed a very mild winter with precious little of the wet stuff. A few droplets will only be beneficial.
In saying that, tabloids love scare stories. The Daily Mail Online did not become the UK’s most active news site in 2011 by being centred and realistic. Sad, but unfortunately true – if you piss off enough people, they will come to your site to complain, and then spread the word to others who will also visit to complain.
It may be worth pointing out that some advertisers rarely see the complaints, they just see the big numbers and in tough times, big numbers sell. Although I have yet to decide if the Daily Mail is better or worse than a number of sites that posted April Fools’ pranks as actually news – the mind boggles, but only sometimes.
For now, one must spare a thought for Mads Ostberg. The Norwegian took his first WRC win yesterday at the Rally Portugal when Citroen works driver Mikko Hirvonen was disqualified for a minor technical infringement.
While naturally happy to see the Ford privateer finally get that victory he craved for, all competitors wish to celebrate in the open after taking the flag first. To be declared a winner due to a technicality hours after the event when everyone has packed off home, is something of a damp squid by comparison.
Meanwhile, today will be spent working away, while Radio Le Mans’ podcasts of the opening round of the European Le Mans Series sound off in the background.
© Creative Commons / Will Pittenger
TV Notes
The 2012 GP2 (Main) Series ventured to Malaysia for the first time last weekend, with series veteran Luiz Razia and rookie James Calado taking impressive wins.
Feature Race
Arden’s Luiz Razia grabbed his first GP2 race victory since September 2009 to lead the GP2 Series after the opening round in Sepang, Malaysia.
The Brazilian surged ahead of poleman Davide Valsecchi into the first corner, while his Italian rival bogged down off the line.
From there, Razia was rarely challenged and with clean air ahead, the Arden racer gradually pulled away from pack, until he stopped for a new set of rear tyres on lap 14.
His gap up front extended to 9.6 seconds at one point, although Razia allowed that to shrink slightly in the final tours as victory became certain.
A sluggish getaway confined Valsecchi’s* race to one of damage limitation. As his DAMS machine stuttered, Valsecchi fell to 4th behind Fabio Leimer (Racing Engineering) and Stefano Coletti (Coloni).
Valsecchi applied plenty of pressure on Coletti, who eventually made an error in turn eight, giving the DAMS pilot 3rd.
It would only take a further eight corners for the DAMS man to grab 2nd, when Leimer – now struggling on aging tyres – succumbed to Valsecchi’s pressure, as the Italian forced his away around the outside through turn one.
Max Chilton filled out the final podium spot for Carlin. The Briton fell to 5th after a poor start, but he would soon climb to 4th with a lap nine pass on the pitting Leimer. Coletti also stopped, losing precious time as he changed all four tyres, while Chilton – pitting two laps later, changed just the rears, gaining 3rd in the process.
Despite being on aging front tyres, Chilton held Leimer at bay for the duration, with the pair rarely split by more than a second.
Coletti – 5th after the stops – was initially part of the battle for 3rd, but he disappeared from sight, as he fought to keep Felipe Nasr (DAMS) at bay.
The impressive Nasr sailed by Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) and Johnny Cecotto Jr (Addax) early on, before taking James Calado (Lotus) during the pitstops.
It is possible that Nasr may have had Coletti in the final laps, had he not been under the watchful gaze of Esteban Gutierrez**. Following a poor qualifying (15th on the grid), Gutierrez rose to 9th by the end of the opening lap, before a move on Cecotto Jr made that 8th on lap three.
Luck stayed with the Mexican when nearly crashed in the pitlane by entering the narrow lane far too quickly; however he managed to hold his position. Forcing Calado into a mistake six laps from the end gave him 7th, but Gutierrez could not do the same to Nasr.
Calado would come 8th, taking pole position for the Sprint Race, after holding off the recovering van der Garde during the final five tours, until he too fell backwards with worn Pirelli’s.
Fabrizio Crestani gave Venezuela GP Lazarus their first GP2 points in their debut event, while fighting hard to keep Nathanael Berthon at bay.
Both Stephane Richelmi (Trident) and Simon Trummer (Arden) earned 20-second post-race penalties for collisions, while Caterham’s Rodolfo Gonzalez (“Future World Champion™”) was unpenalised, despite driving like the world’s most expensive pinball machine until his lap 13 retirement.
Cecotto Jr retired a few corners after his stop when his untightened right rear wheel fell off and Jon Lancaster pulled after one lap with a damaged car.
Jolyon Palmer (iSport) and Tom Dillmann (Rapax) stalled on the dummy grid, forcing a second parade lap.
* {note 1}
DAMS’ Davide Valsecchi nabbed the first pole of the GP2 season with an early run on the hard Pirelli tyres. The Italian’s quick lap of 1:45.494 was enough to keep ahead of Luiz Razia (2nd), Max Chilton (3rd), Stefano Coletti (4th) and Fabio Leimer (5th), although the quintet would be covered by less than a tenth.
It may well have been pole for both Razia or Leimer had it not been for time dropped in the final corner. Razia lost precious momentum when he was blocked slightly by Fabrizio Crestani in the tight turn fifteen hairpin, while Leimer simply overshot the corner, as he was about to finish his hot lap.
James Calado, Jolyon Palmer and Giedo van der Garde filled out the next three spots on the grid, just ahead of Coloni’s Fabio Onidi. Unfortunately for Onidi, the Italian was penalised three-places for blocking “Future World Champion™” Rodolfo Gonzalez, thereby promoting Felipe Nasr and Johnny Cecotto Jr to 9th and 10th respectively.
** {note 2}
The weekend had started poorly for Esteban Gutierrez. The Lotus racer ran only ten minutes of free practice on Friday morning, when he was hit by an over ambitious Cecotto Jr on the exit of turn nine, damaging Gutierrez’ front right beyond repair.
Having lost precious set-up time, Gutierrez struggled in qualifying, ensuring the Mexican could only manage a best of 15th place.
Cecotto Jr would rubber stamp his appearance in the practice session as the clock hit zero, by spinning limply on the exit of turn fourteen, bringing out waved yellow flags.
2012 GP2 Round of Malaysia (Rd 1 Feature Race, 30 laps, March 24th)
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Luiz Razia Arden 56m00.250s
2. Davide Valsecchi DAMS + 7.817s
3. Max Chilton Carlin + 27.366s
4. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering + 28.291s
5. Stefano Coletti Coloni + 32.217s
6. Felipe Nasr DAMS + 33.378s
7. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus + 33.679s
8. James Calado Lotus + 36.449s
9. Giedo van der Garde Caterham + 41.519s
10. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus + 43.240s
11. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering + 43.720s
12. Rio Haryanto Carlin + 53.303s
13. Marcus Ericsson iSport + 1m01.683s
14. Josef Kral Addax + 1m02.683s
15. Julian Leal Trident + 1m09.180s
16. Nigel Melker Ocean + 1m10.399s
17. Jolyon Palmer iSport + 1m12.861s
18. Tom Dillmann Rapax + 1m27.810s
19. Stephane Richelmi Trident + 1m35.206s*
20. Fabio Onidi Coloni + 1m39.125s
21. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax + 1m48.025s
22. Giancarlo Serenelli Lazarus + 1 lap
23. Simon Trummer Arden + 1 lap*
Did not finish:
Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham 13 laps
Johnny Cecotto Jr Addax 7 laps
Jon Lancaster Ocean 1 lap
*20-seconds post-race penalty for collisions
^Notes compiled from live updates and team releases.
Sprint Race
James Calado secured his second GP2 victory for Lotus GP on Sunday, but his first points scoring victory***.
The Englishman led all twenty-two laps, although it was far from a sure thing, with Calado holding teammate Esteban Gutierrez and DAMS rookie Felipe Nasr at bay for the duration.
Realistically, the race was won off the line – Calado got away well from the start, but Gutierrez was better, as he edged ahead toward turn one.
Calado grabbed the inside into the slow first turn, then the outside of turn two, before folding back to the inside – and an assured lead – as turn three opened out.
From there, the gap gradually widened, eventually holding steady at just under a second in the opening 15 tours. As Gutierrez became preoccupied with a threat from Nasr, Calado pulled slightly further away to win an important and tense battle.
For the most part, Nasr ran behind the leading pair, before initiating an attack on Gutierrez in the final half-dozen laps. Driving like a veteran, the Brazilian held his tyres well, but there simply wasn’t enough left to overturn Gutierrez’ slight advantage.
Like the Calado / Gutierrez, Nasr enjoyed a winding battle in the opening turns with Stefano Coletti (Coloni); however Coletti seeing a gap, pressed to hard into the seventh turn of the race, dropping to 6th.
Giedo van der Garde took 4th for Caterham. The Dutch pilot enjoyed a good start (he jumped five places to the top four), initially holding the aggressive Max Chilton (Carlin) and Fabrizio Crestani (Venezuela GP Lazarus) at bay.
As the trio entered the second lap, Crestani tried a wild lunge into turn one, clouting van der Garde in the process – Crestani damaged his front wing and received a drive through penalty for his woes. Attempting to avoid the melee, Chilton ran wide, allowing Fabio Leimer and several others through.
Leimer could not hold 5th though – that prize went to Luiz Razia. The Brazilian held off the charging Davide Valsecchi in the opening half of the race, with the Italian finally making his move on lap 14.
A dive down the inside of Razia in turn four saw Valsecchi off track, but returning on the approach to turn five. Seeing an opening, iSport’s Marcus Ericsson attempted a move, only to clip Valsecchi’s left rear, prompting the Italian into a violent barrel roll. Both emerged uninjured from their broken machines; however Ericsson was slapped with 10-place grid penalty for the next round – wherever that may take place.
Three laps later, Chilton tried the same manoeuvre on Razia and he too went off, dropping behind Nathanael Berthon, although the Englishman had the good manners not to damage himself.
Coletti held 6th for a time, but fell backwards as he lost out to Razia on lap 18 as his Pirelli’s faded.
Not content with a mere top-six, Razia took Leimer for 5th at the end of the penultimate lap, as the Swiss racer struggled on dead tyres. On the final tour, Razia pulled to within one-second of van der Garde, but not enough to take advantage.
Chilton retook Berthon for 7th on lap 19, as Coletti continued to drop backward, with the Italian giving up the ghost and retiring two laps from the end.
Josef Kral (Addax) and Rio Haryanto (Carlin) rounded out the top ten, with Rapax’s Tom Dillmann unlucky to miss out on 10th, following an impressive climb up the order from 18th.
After the race, the stewards gave the other Rapax driver, Ricardo Teixeira, a special €1,000 prize fine for going off at turn 15 and rejoining the circuit by driving the wrong down the access road, while facing racing traffic. Well done.
*** {note 3}
Although not a championship event in 2011, James Calado won the Abu Dhabi Sprint Race at the Yas Marina circuit last November, just ahead of Marcus Ericsson. Tom Dillmann – then driving for iSport – took third place, some seven seconds adrift of the top spot.
2012 GP2 Round of Malaysia (Rd 1 Sprint Race, 22 laps, March 25th)
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. James Calado Lotus 41m08.048s
2. Esteban Gutierrez Lotus + 2.004s
3. Felipe Nasr DAMS + 3.440s
4. Giedo van der Garde Caterham + 10.760s
5. Luiz Razia Arden + 11.430s
6. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering + 14.689s
7. Max Chilton Carlin + 15.685s
8. Nathanael Berthon Racing Engineering + 16.578s
9. Josef Kral Addax + 18.175s
10. Rio Haryanto Carlin + 24.033s
11. Tom Dillmann Rapax + 24.086s
12. Jolyon Palmer iSport + 25.547s
13. Fabio Onidi Coloni + 32.206s
14. Nigel Melker Ocean + 34.500s
15. Julian Leal Trident + 34.629s
16. Simon Trummer Arden + 35.226s
17. Jon Lancaster Ocean + 40.340s
18. Rodolfo Gonzalez Caterham + 44.700s
19. Stephane Richelmi Trident + 47.133s
20. Giancarlo Serenelli Lazarus + 1m10.466s
21. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus + 1m21.035s
22. Johnny Cecotto Jr Addax + 1 lap
23. Stefano Coletti Coloni + 2 laps
24. Ricardo Teixeira Rapax + 3 laps
Did not finish:
Marcus Ericsson iSport 13 laps
Davide Valsecchi DAMS 13 laps
^Notes compiled from live updates and team releases.
Drivers Championship (Round 1):
1. Luiz Razia 31 Points
2. Davide Valsecchi 24
3. James Calado 19
4. Esteban Gutierrez 18
5. Felipe Nasr 18
6. Max Chilton 17
7. Fabio Leimer 16
8. Giedo van der Garde 10
9. Stefano Coletti 10
10. Rio Haryanto 2
Teams' Championship (Round 1):
1. DAMS 42 Points
2. Lotus 37
3. Arden International 31
4. Carlin 19
5. Racing Engineering 17
TV Notes
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took a shock victory in a rain-interrupted race at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.
However, while Alonso may have picked up an unexpected victory, much of the post-race plaudits have – rightly – been thrust upon Sauber’s Sergio Perez, who came home a stunning 2nd place.
Red flags and doused rags
As rain began to teem down prior to the race start, a majority of the field changed to Pirelli’s intermediate tyres. Yet it was Alonso who made the most opening laps to climb from 8th to 5th, until the once niggling shower became a full on downpour several minutes in.
With the field converting to full wets, Alonso found himself back in 5th and chasing Red Bull’s Mark Webber, but opportunities to charge passed the veteran Australian were denied by ever worsening conditions.
As more drivers began to fall off track – despite their wet tyres – the safety car emerged on lap 7, before the race was finally red flagged two tours later.
The race restarted behind the safety car 52 minutes later, with the field being held in slow order for five laps. A little too long per chance – the field began to pit for intermediates once the pristine Mercedes-Benz SLS departed the live circuit.
A clean stop from the Ferrari mechanics at the start of lap 15 propelled Alonso to the lead, while the Sauber mechanics did an equally impressive job one lap later to get Perez out in 2nd ahead of Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull).
It was a position Alonso would hold to the end, although Perez ensured the Spaniard would not have an easy time of it.
With the field filtering out, Alonso headed the consistent Perez by 2.4 seconds (lap 16), extending the gap to 7.8 seconds (lap 30) as the Ferrari sought and found grip from its Pirelli’s.
As witnessed in previous events, Perez’ consistency, also delivers a potent longevity and where Alonso’s tyres began to lose their precious edge, the intermediates that clothed the Sauber still held theirs.
Thus the gap came down and down, shrinking with every circulation of the Sepang circuit, until the gap was mere car lengths.
Fast, but temperamental
Meanwhile, the circuit – at one time washed out – was now drying considerable and slick tyres would soon be inevitable; however Sauber were about to receive their first strategic sting.
With the threat of a further shower on the horizon, several cars stayed out in the hope they would not get caught out on the wrong tyres, but every passing lap saw the rain clouds dissipate, leading Ferrari to call Alonso in on lap 40 for a set of scrubbed mediums.
Sauber held Perez out for another lap, losing the Mexican six seconds in the process as he changed to a new set of hard Pirelli’s.
From here, the race should have been wound up with ease in Alonso’s favour, but Perez still sensed victory. Where the gentle touch of the Sauber C31 helped Perez keep his tyres intact, the rugged and insensitive nature of Alonso’s F2012 ensured his medium’s fell away.
On lap 42, the gap was 7.2 seconds; three tours later, it was 3.2 seconds – the final charge was on. Perez pulled further chunks out of Alonso in the following five laps, getting the gap down to 0.575 seconds at the start of lap 50.
Surely it would only be a matter of time?
Interestingly, as the earlier the red flag period turned, Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn was interviewed on Sky Sports F1 during which she noted that:
“…with Checo (Perez), we have to watch out a bit more, being a bit more temperamental, but it’s very important (…) that they keep their calm.”
With a win a distinct possibility, Perez’ radio crackled into life, warning the Mexican that the position was needed and not to make a mistake.
Alas, as the leading pair – still almost together – approached the difficult turn 14, Alonso took the corner with his normal brutal efficiency; Perez, not so.
Indeed, the Sauber driver was lucky. As he closed in on the off-camber right-hander, Perez took his C31 too close to the still damp kerb, instantaneously losing grip. His traction lost, Perez assumed a brief fling with the run-off area – perilously close to the gravel trap – but regained control to restart his chase.
Too little, too late
It was too late though. The gap now five seconds, was enough for Alonso, although Perez closed the margin to 2.2 seconds come the chequered flag, ending a wonderful battle. Alonso, ecstatic with an unexpected haul of 25 points, had nothing but praise for his team.
“It was an incredible race! While we have been going through this difficult time, no one gave up, in fact everyone has doubled their efforts to try and catch up. To win with all the problems we have got is something quite extraordinary. In the wet, I was going very well, but then when the track dried out, our weaknesses showed themselves,”
said the Spaniard. He then added:
“Sergio got very close and I was trying to stay on the only dry line: if he wanted to pass me, he would have had to take a risk. Yesterday, he and I ended up ninth and tenth and today we found ourselves fighting for the win, which shows how unpredictable is this championship.”
While disappointed to have not won, Perez claimed the runner-up spot in magnanimous fashion. It was a startling drive by a young driver keen to assert himself amongst the Formula 1 elite.
“It is a great day for me. The team did a very good job and I feel very happy for them. It is a really nice feeling to have been on the podium here, but I think victory was also within reach. On the final (…) I went wide and touched a curb. I actually was lucky not to go off.”
Sauber are very suddenly much in the fight for 4th / 5th in the Constructors Championship – remember of course that Renault’s 5th place in 2011 owed much to two podiums in the opening races of the season. Thus far, Mercedes have stalled and Lotus (nee Renault) are collecting minor points… but that’s something for later on.
Others were racing
Lewis Hamilton had a far more straightforward day to finish 3rd place, despite grabbing pole in qualifying and leading ably until his first tyre stop on lap 14.
As the former world champion slotted in to his pitbox, the McLaren slid beyond its marking, causing a brief delay while mechanics moved to accommodate. Hamilton’s cause was not helped when his escape had to wait an extra moment for a clear spot to emerge in the pitlane.
It would drop the McLaren man behind the Alonso / Perez battle for the duration – a battle that proved to be insurmountable for the Englishman.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber had a somewhat similar experience on his way to 4th place. The Australian was another to lose out in manic tyre change on lap 14 and soon began to struggle on the intermediate tyres.
Running 7th for sometime, Webber made it passed Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) on lap 24, later taking 5th as pit strategies unfolded.
The Australian made that 4th when teammate Sebastian Vettel collided with the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan on lap 47, forcing a late stop from the reigning champion due to a shredded left rear tyre.
A late charge by Webber on a set of used mediums came too late to truly threaten Hamilton’s podium spot; however the Red Bull man may still be happy with a tidy bundle of points from a chaotic race.
As for Vettel’s fall down the order, it was a silly and unnecessary accident. Lapping the sluggish HRT driver, Vettel appeared to forget Karthikeyan was not fully behind him, swinging back on to the racing and over the HRT’s front wing.
For an unknown reason, Karthikeyan – the innocent party – was handed a 20-second post-race penalty, leaving Vettel to showcase a fine degree of petulance in the interviews after the race.
Vindication
Kimi Raikkonen recovered from a post-qualifying penalty (dropping the Finn to 10th) to come home 5th after the 56 tours of Sepang.
The Lotus racer jumped to 8th on the opening tour, only to lose out badly during the opening round of stops at the end of the fourth lap. Falling to 13th did little to deter F1’s returning champion, with Raikkonen being one of the first to change to intermediates, bring the Finn to 6th.
From there the Lotus pilot raced a tidy Grand Prix, assuming 5th when Vettel fell backwards late on.
Bruno Senna’s second Grand Prix was far from standard. The Williams made up for a disappointing weekend in Melbourne, by surging up the Malaysian order, eventually finishing 6th come the flag.
It did not start well for the Brazilian. As he tiptoed his way around the greasy circuit on the opening lap, Senna clipped the rear of teammate Pastor Maldonado, with the 28-year-old requiring a new front wing. Demoted to 24th and last, the Williams crew fitted a new set of wets onto the FW34 machine, gifting Senna plenty of grip, while opponents were crying out for more.
Biding his time initially, Senna was – like Raikkonen – one of the first to switch to intermediates after the red flag – it worked perfectly for the Brazilian. While others floundered on wearing wets, Senna set quick lap after quick lap, rising to 13th once every runner had moved to the same intermediate tyre.
Forceful moves on the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo (lap 23), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes, lap 25) and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg (lap 27) propelled Senna into the top ten, while a pitting Felipe Massa offered up 9th one lap later.
Senna’s progressed halted briefly behind the quick Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso), until Williams brought the Brazilian for a change to new mediums, gaining another spot in the pits, thanks to Williams’ rapid tyre change.
Where Senna had set good times on the intermediates, his pace on the slicks mediums proved explosive. On a mission, Senna passed the defenceless Paul di Resta (Force India) and the hobbling Vettel to end up 6th; however Raikkonen’s late race pace proved to be too much.
Battles to the end
A 7th place finish was a solid result for di Resta considering his 14th place starting position. Seeing the weather visibly worsen by the 2nd lap, the Scot made a switch to wets, gaining a couple of spots.
His speed in the changing conditions after the red flag period brought di Resta into the top ten, with that becoming 9th when intermediates became the obvious choice. The Force India racer would spend much of the running under severe pressure from Vergne, as the Frenchman eyed his first World Championship points.
The pair were quickly joined in battle by Hulkenberg and later Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) – all of whom were rarely covered by more than five seconds until the final round of pitstops and even then the battle remained tight.
As tactics played out, this became a battle for 7th – 10th positions. On lap 47, a brake failure would remove Kobayashi from the fight, only for Maldonado and Schumacher to join the fight in the final laps.
Entering the final five tours, di Resta held 7th ahead of Vergne (8th), Hulkenberg (9th), Maldonado (10th) and Schumacher (11th) – a mere 8.4 seconds covering the group; however as di Resta’s tyres aged, the gap shrank rapidly.
With less than three laps remaining, Maldonado’s Renault engine cried enough, forcing the Williams to retire within sight of the flag – and a point.
Di Resta did claim 7th – just – heading off Vergne’s challenge by two seconds come the flag. Vergne, however, was busy keeping Hulkenberg behind, with the Frenchman taking 8th, a mere nine-tenths up on the Force India pilot.
Unable to catch the trio ahead, Schumacher took 10th, from what had been both a disappointing and impressive race for the veteran. Having qualified 3rd, Schumacher dropped to 4th in the three turns, before being tapped around by Lotus’ Romain Grosjean on the exit of turn four.
Plummeting to 16th, the Mercedes pilot silently rose through the field as the race aged, only presenting himself as a threat to points in the final third of the event. Indeed, Schumacher was still only 12th when Vettel and Maldonado fell by the wayside, ensuring Mercedes of their first point of the season.
Regardless of how it was achieved, the disappointing pace of the F1 W03 during the drying conditions late on will be a disappointment.
Meanwhile, Grosjean – while attempting to recover from his foray into Schumacher’s side – spun off again on lap 4; however this time, his day was done. A poor effort.
Disappointment and irritation
Oh and Sebastian Vettel – the Red Bull driver may wish to forget this particular Malaysian Grand Prix. Prior to the red flag, Vettel held 4th behind Webber; however he lost positions during both of his early race stops, only to retake them as the stints progressed.
Interestingly, Vettel did not seem to pose a huge threat to the front three in either wet or changeable conditions, with the reigning champion only drawing toward the front as the Malaysian circuit dried.
Vettel’s error in lapping Karthikeyan dropped him out of the points, although he did manage to just stay ahead of the Ricciardo / Rosberg / Jenson Button battle.
Well, not so much a battle, but rather handbags at dawn. Led over the line by the smiley Australian, endured a rather anonymous race as he struggled with high tyre degradation, leaving him to bring the Toro Rosso home 12th.
Rosberg suffered similar tyre issues in the second Mercedes; however where Schumacher pulled his way back up the order, Rosberg clearly struggled to make his intermediates work. Despite running 4th in the early stages, Rosberg’s Pirelli’s were giving up quickly, forcing the German to make an extra pitstop on lap 26, as he began to fall down the order.
Emerging from the pits in 16th, Rosberg claimed some minor positions, but essentially remained mired in the pack for the duration.
For the first time in a long time, it is safe to say Button had an awful race. Starting 2nd, the McLaren held that position behind Hamilton on either side of the red flag, briefly falling to 13th as the field moved to intermediates.
Eager to retake his place near the front, Button attempted an unwise move on the luckless Karthikeyan in the tight turn nine, clattering the HRT, with both cars obtaining damage. Button returned to the pits for a new front wing, while Karthikeyan took new tyres – both would remain near the back for much of the day.
Button suffered on his next set of tyres, ensuring he only climbed to 15th, by the time the last set of stops arrived. When the chequered flag fell, the 2009 World Champion crossed the line in 14th.
Another awful drive by Felipe Massa has most certainly ended any hopes of being retained by Ferrari after the 2012 season. Like Rosberg and Button, Massa struggled on the inters, requiring an extra set at the mid-point of the race, leaving the Brazilian to finish limply ahead of the Caterham’s.
Still lingering
Normally these bizarre races offer small teams an opportunity of rare points – not this time. Still far from the midfield pace, Vitaly Petrov led the Caterham charge home in 16th, with the Russian driver once again proving his worth again teammate Heikki Kovalainen.
The Finn took home an 18th place finish, following a tough day fighting a poorly balanced car. An off track excursion damaged Kovalainen’s nosecone on lap 23, demanding an unscheduled change.
Timo Glock led the Marussia charge to 17th place, while teammate Charles Pic claimed 20th. Both ran somewhat closer to the Caterham’s, although the tricky conditions blurred the picture of performance somewhat.
Pic led Kovalainen for a time; however an extra lap on already well-worn intermediates cause enough of a loss for the Finn to pass in the pits. Irrespective of the result, the young French rookie is obtaining plenty of mileage.
It was a day of poor luck for the HRT squad. A stall on the grid at the start meant Pedro de la Rosa had to start from the pitlane – the Spaniard would then earn a drive through penalty when a mechanic was still working on his car beyond the final restart signal at the end of the red flag period.
Karthikeyan cleverly started on wets, bringing the Indian up to 10th at the race stoppage; however that was never going to last when the race restarted. He was then unlucky to be tagged by both Button and Vettel, receiving an unfair penalty for the latter contact.
The result leaves Alonso at the top of the point standings, but for how long? In regular conditions, the F2012 is clearly not good enough and with China coming in the middle of next month, the Ferrari man may well lose his top spot.
But who will take it..?
2012 Malaysian Grand Prix (Round 2, 56 laps) Pos Driver Team Time 1. Alonso Ferrari 2h44:51.812 2. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 2.263 3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 14.591 4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 17.688 5. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 29.456 6. Senna Williams-Renault + 37.667 7. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 44.412 8. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 46.985 9. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 47.892 10. Schumacher Mercedes + 49.996 11. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 1:15.527 12. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:16.826 13. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:18.593 14. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1:19.719 15. Massa Ferrari + 1:37.319 16. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap 17. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap 18. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap 19. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 2 laps 20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps 21. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps 22. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps* Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap DNF. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 47 DNF. Grosjean Lotus-Renault 4 Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:40.722 *20-second post-race penalty for collision with Vettel World Championship standings (Round 2): Drivers: 1. Alonso 35 2. Hamilton 30 3. Button 25 4. Webber 24 5. Perez 22 6. Vettel 18 7. Raikkonen 16 8. Senna 8 9. Kobayashi 8 10. Di Resta 7 11. Vergne 4 12. Hulkenberg 2 13. Ricciardo 2 14. Schumacher 1 Constructors: 1. McLaren-Mercedes 55 2. Red Bull-Renault 42 3. Ferrari 35 4. Sauber-Ferrari 30 5. Lotus-Renault 16 6. Force India-Mercedes 9 7. Williams-Renault 8 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6 9. Mercedes 1 ^Notes compiled from live updates and team releases.
TV Notes
Reigning Star Mazda Champion, Tristan Vautier, took a commanding victory on his Indy Lights debut around the streets of St Petersburg last Saturday.
The Frenchman enjoyed a comfortable race over Sam Schmidt Motorsports teammate Esteban Guerrieri, despite the gap rarely being larger than 2.5 seconds.
Vautier survived four restarts to lead every lap of the way, making it a perfect weekend for the French racer, who also nabbed points for pole position and the most laps led.
Guerrieri stayed close to Vautier for the duration, but the Argentine racer could not effectively close down the leader at any point.
Sebastian Saavedra completed the podium for AFS / Andretti Racing upon his return to the Indy Lights Series. It marks a solid result for the Colombian, who fell to 5th at the first corner, before making moves on Victor Carbone (lap 18) and Oliver Webb (lap 35) to assume 3rd.
Webb continued home to 4th, several seconds ahead of Sam Schmidt teammate Carbone in 5th.
Gustavo Yacaman garnered a controversial 6th place. Upon the restart from the third caution on lap 29, the Colombian ran into the back of Carlos Munoz in a move that was simply going nowhere.
Munoz partially recovered, only to be collected by Juan Pablo Garcia upon the corner exit. Undamaged Garcia finished 7th, while Munoz retired on the spot.
Armaan Ebrahim enjoyed a mostly quiet run to 8th, although he would come under pressure from Troy Castaneda in the final few tours.
Darryl Wills* – the field’s oldest driver at the age 50 (!!) – logged a 10th place finish, albeit one lap down following a spin on lap nine.
Jorge Goncalvez spun his way to 11th, also one lap down, while Alon Day ended the afternoon two laps, when he decided to circulate the track with an obviously flat front right tyre. Juncos Racing’s Joao Horto dropped out three laps from the end, to register a 13th overall.
David Ostella managed an impressive crash in the final turn 21 laps in, while Rodin Younessi pulled out after 5 tours with handling issues.
* {note 1}
While far from being the worst driver ever to run in Indy Lights, there must surely be questions asked as to why 50-year-old Darryl Wills is competing in the series. In what is supposed to be a junior / feeder category, Wills participation in the championship makes a mockery of the concept.
One wonders where exactly the Road to Indy lies in INDYCAR’s priorities, as the current ongoing weaknesses in the (somewhat fractured) programme potentially signals major problems several years down the line.
The sad element is that Wills isn’t keeping a young driver out of the series; if he wasn’t there, there would simply be one less competitor.
2012 Indy Lights Race of St Petersburg (Rd 1)
Pos Driver Team Time / Gap
1. Tristan Vautier Sam Schmidt 58m22.189s
2. Esteban Guerrieri Sam Schmidt + 1.039s
3. Sebastian Saavedra AFS/Andretti + 4.752s
4. Oli Webb Sam Schmidt + 8.581s
5. Victor Carbone Sam Schmidt +11.602s
6. Gustavo Yacaman Moore +13.801s
7. Juan Pablo Garcia Jeffrey Mark +17.449s
8. Armaan Ebrahim Fan Force +31.578s
9. Troy Castaneda Bryan Herta +32.118s
10. Darryl Wills Hillenburg + 1 lap
11. Jorge Goncalvez Belardi + 1 lap
12. Alon Day Belardi + 2 laps
13. Joao Horto Juncos + 3 laps
Not classified:
Carlos Munoz Andretti 29 laps
David Ostella Moore 21 laps
Rodin Younessi Younessi 5 laps
^Notes compiled from live updates and team releases.
Drivers Championship (Round 1): 1. Tristan Vautier 53 points 2. Esteban Guerrieri 40 3. Sebastien Saavedra 35 4. Oliver Webb 32 5. Victor Carbone 30 6. Gustavo Yacaman 28 7. Juan Pablo Garcia 26 8. Armaan Ebrahim 24 9. Troy Castaneda 22 10. Darryl Wills 20
Jazeman Jaafar topped the final day of British Formula 3 pre-season testing at a warm and sunny Oulton Park on Wednesday.
The Malaysian took his Volkswagen-powered Carlin to the head of the timesheets during the morning, with a best of 1:28.451 – a time that proved to be unbeatable as the day progressed.
Not only did Jaafar prove to be fastest, the 19-year-old enjoyed a gap of a quarter-of-a-second over nearest rival and teammate Harry Tincknell, giving the third year driver a significant boost as the season closes in.
“Putting in the quickest lap of the day was a great way to finish up pre-season testing and I was pleased to have got the best from my tyres. I didn’t put new tyres on for the afternoon session as many other drivers did, but still finished up fourth quickest, so we’re looking good.
“From the first test to this one, we’ve learnt a tremendous amount and have got to grips with the car, understanding more about its handling characteristics each time we’ve hit the track and today we’ve been able to fine tune our set up and plan for the first race weekend.”
Jaafar also delighted in the consistent running of his new F312, which allowed him to log 67 laps throughout the session.
“We’ve put plenty of mileage on the car as well, but it’s never enough and I’m sure we’ll continue to learn and improve throughout the season.”
Like Jaafar, Tincknell enjoyed his fast run in the morning. The Exeter native narrowly pipped Jack Harvey and Carlos Sainz Jr to the 2nd spot, cementing an all-Carlin top four as the day drew to a close.
Although Harvey set a fastest time in the morning, the Briton came close to matching that later in the day on ageing Cooper tyres; however a slight error during his quick lap ruined any chance of an improvement.
“We’ve had a really productive final two tests at Silverstone and Oulton Park. We had a few problems with the car at both tests but these were quickly rectified and at the end of the day that is what testing is for. It’s clear we’ve got a really strong car this year and I’m very happy with how things have gone at all four tests.
“Looking back, we’ve been consistently in the top three at all of the tests and we’re in a great position heading into the first round of the Championship next week. Our expectations remain high and we will be aiming for pole position and race wins at Oulton Park to kick start our Championship fight.”
Unfortunately Sainz Jr was unable to extract the most from his session, following an early afternoon smash that left him garage-bound for much of the duration.
Sainz Jr’s accident came not long after Pietro Fantin wiped out his left rear section on the barriers at Old Hall corner. As the chequered flag flew, Fantin assumed 6th spot, a good 0.754 seconds off the lead.
Fortec-Mercedes racer Alex Lynn sneaked in between Sainz Jr and Fantin with a quick late afternoon stint. The Formula Renault UK champion registered several laps in the ‘1:29’s’, but it was not until his penultimate tour, that Lynn broke that barrier, setting a quickest lap of 1:28.981 to claim 5th.
Felix Serralles and Hannes van Asseldonk made it two more Fortec cars in 7th and 8th, albeit half-second off the impressive Lynn. Pipo Derani closed out the top ten with an effort a further half-second adrift of van Asseldonk.
It has been rumoured that extra packaging around Fortec’s Mercedes engine may have restricted their ability to run at full pace; however there has been yet to be an official confirmation of this.
Fahmi Ilyas penetrated the Fortec gaggle in 9th with his Mercedes-powered Double R machine, while T-Sport’s Nick McBride ended the day the last of the International Class in 12th position, following a light accident prior to lunch.
McBride split the two Rookie Class competitors, Spike Goddard (T-Sport, 11th) and Duvashen Padayachee (Double R, 13th).
Goddard appears to be continuing with his pre-season programme with few issues; however the Australian managed only 5 laps in the morning, due to an accident.
It was a day of further progress for Padayachee, as he desperately attempts to make up lost time, having only tested a Formula 3 machine for the first time last week.
The opening round of the 2012 British Formula 3 Series takes place next week at Oulton Park, with qualifying on Friday April 6th, followed by all three races on Saturday April 7th.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time 1. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m28.451s 2. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m28.707s 3. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m28.784s 4. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m28.971s 5. Alex Lynn Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes 1m28.981s 6. Pietro Fantin Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m29.205s 7. Felix Serralles Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes 1m29.449s 8. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes 1m29.528s 9. Fahmi Ilyas Double R Racing Dallara-Mercedes 1m29.773s 10. Pipo Derani Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes 1m30.036s 11. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m30.543s 12. Nick McBride T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 1m31.380s 13. Duvashen Padayachee Double R Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda 1m33.592s Italics = National Class
With the start of the 2012 British Formula 3 Championship now less than two weeks away, Exeter-based Harry Tincknell is keen for a return to action.
Whereas the rest of the field busied themselves with their usual off-season training regimes, Tincknell was found locked in recovery mode.
A crash during a private test at Spa-Francorchamps last November left the 20-year-old with a broken knuckle joint in his right hand.
Extensive physiotherapy followed a difficult operation for Tincknell, rendering the winter months a tense period for the Carlin pilot, however the opening tests have shown that Tincknell has lost none of his speed.
“I’ve settled in nicely after a long layoff from the hand injury, but to be back and straight on the pace at the first test after being off for four months, and at some points not knowing whether I would be back at all was really happy with how it was all going.”
Having raced and grabbed one win with the Fortec team in 2011, Tincknell is aiming to make a title charge with the Volkswagen-powered Carlin Motorsports – and he feels he has the car to help him do it.
“I’m really, really enjoying the new car. Quickest (…) at Rockingham, P2 (at Silverstone) even with slight gearbox problems, so I’m really happy with how it is all going. I was also 2nd the week before at Snetterton – three tracks and I’ve been in the top three all the time.”
New Formula 3 regulations have seen Italian car designers Dallara offer up the F312 chassis; however Tincknell – and his four Carlin teammates – have settled into the machine with relative ease.
“The new car is fairly similar – everything is just a little bit better, the braking is better, the downforce. When you add them all together, it makes for a really nice car.
The engineers are working really hard on bringing out new parts for it and new developments. There no big problems with the car – it feels nicely balanced; we’re just working on improving just a few different elements of the car where the rules allow.
As the opening round at Oulton Park approaches (April 6th-7th), Tincknell is confident, and so he should be.
The Carlin team have taken seven British Formula 3 titles since 2001 – Tincknell wants to add an eight crown. He knows the team have done their job; much of the rest is now up to him.
“The boys are looking to extract every last thousandth out of the car, but they’re doing a good job so far. Carlin have shown that they are really on the money straight away.”
© Race2Recovery
While the World Championship raced in Kuala Lumpur and IndyCar graced the streets of St Petersburg, a race of a different kind was unfolding in Spain.
The Tuareg Rally – an eight-day rally raid, primarily run through harsh desert lands, gravel tracks and mud roads of Northern Africa and Spain – made for its final leg.
Two crews facing the conditions head on were from the Race2Recovery team – a squad made up mainly of injured British servicemen.
Coming home 10th overall in the Orange Plant Wildcat machine were Dave Marsh and Tom Neathway. The pairing endured several mechanical failures and a late roll during the event, but recovered to claim their top ten finish and a stage win on the final day.
Tony Harris and Ben Gott took the second Race2Recovery machine – the RatCat – home 25th, assuming a stage victory of their own on the penultimate day. Despite their fast running, the RatCat crew lost much time due to an persistent engine misfire and a roll on one of the course’s deceptive dunes.
RatCat driver and Race2Recover founder, Captain Harris, noted afterward that:
“Words just can’t express how I feel right now. Our first major goal was to compete in and finish our first international event with two cars and we’ve done it.
“The experience we’ve gained along the way has been first rate. Every day was different and meant that we needed to adopt and develop new skills. We have a long way to go but we have identified our weaknesses now and where we need to develop more.”
Team manager Andrew Taylor added;
“It has been a fantastic effort, not only from the crews but the team as a whole. The support team did an amazing job during the event, keeping the cars on the road and getting them to the finish line.
“We have learned a huge amount, competing outside the UK for the first time including the preparation, planning and not least the time involved that all the team members have given up – I can’t thank each and every one of them enough.”
Out front, motorbike racer Dante Corbani took the overall victory with a time 42 hours and 58 minutes. Race2Recovery’s next outing will be the British Cross Country Championship in April.
© Race2Recovery
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