All eyes may have been on Baku this weekend, but races two and three were full of action in a thrilling climax to this weekend’s British F3 at Rockingham.
It was a another cold start for the British F3 desk, as we were up early for race two of our weekend at Rockingham.
We might have felt miserable in the cold but it was worse for Billy Monger… The teenager was due to start from pole position on the race two reverse grid, but because he did not start race one from his intended grid position, he was ineligible for pole. It meant that Hillspeed’s Sasakorn Chaimongkol started from the front.
Chaimongkol made a good start to lead the majority of the first lap from his fellow front row starter, Chia Wing Hoong. It was a tightly packed field behind, and Kush Maini had already worked his way up to third half way around the first lap from fifth on the grid. He picked off Chia and then claimed the lead at Tarzan, stretching a gap of almost a second from Chaimongkol at the end of the first lap.
Starting from 13th on the grid after his first lap retirement yesterday, Nicolai Kjaergaard was already raising eyebrows and was up to fifth at the end of the first lap. While Maini stretched a lead of almost three seconds at the front, it was the Danish driver who was the talk of the track, moving into second by the end of lap two, and passing Jamie Chadwick, Chia and Chaimongkol who, by this point, had dropped to 11th.
However, Maini was knocking out fastest lap after fastest lap, and constantly stretching his lead at the front. His fastest laps were enough to secure him pole for race three this afternoon, where track conditions – although very cold – were much better than yesterday’s rain. The Indian driver claimed the win by almost five seconds from Kjaergaard but behind them, the race was anything but decided.
Chia held his own towards the front for a handful of laps, but eventually lost momentum and drifted back to finish 14th, one place ahead of pole man Chaimongkol, who seemed to have forgotten he was even in a race…
As the faster drivers climbed through from the back, it was Chadwick who looked on course to claim third whilst holding a queue of drivers behind including Linus Lundqvist who started 10th, Krish Mahadik who started eighth, race one star Tom Gamble who started 11th, and Monger who fought his way up from 12th.
Lundqvist tried on several occasions to force a move, notably on the approach to the Deene hairpin on lap 11, and he finally forced his way onto the podium by going around the outside of the hairpin on the last lap to claim the inside line for Yentwood. Chadwick meanwhile had picked up a five second penalty, and with the chasing pack so close behind her, that plummeted her down the order as the classification was settled at the flag.
Mahadik in fourth held off Gamble by just 0.309 seconds, with Monger just 0.240 seconds behind, all three demonstrating competitive but clean racing. Meanwhile, Jordan Cane was pushed down the order a little in the opening laps, but battled away to claim eighth, 0.798 seconds behind Manuel Maldonado. In a great display of being average, Maldonado started seventh and finished seventh, hovering around that position for the majority of the race despite being well and truly in the thick of the action – much like another Maldonado…
Clement Novalak backed up his overtaking abilities from Oulton Park by finishing inside the top-10 here, having started 15th, and classified 0.102 seconds ahead of Chadwick.
On his win, Maini said: “I think in the first lap it was a case of keeping my nose clean. Like we knew from the start of the season, our pace in the dry is superior. I need to work on the wet, personally I don’t have enough experience and don’t drive so well in the wet but we knew in the dry as soon as we started the season, we had really good pace, and I’m really looking forward to the next race.”
“I’m on pole for race three now and I hope to get a good start and carry on the same rhythm as we showed in this race.”
BRDC British F3, Rockingham race two result:
1. Kush Maini, Lanan Racing, 14 laps
2. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Carlin, +4.910s
3. Linus Lundqvist, Double R Racing, +14.433s
4. Krish Mahadik, Double R Racing, +16.136s
5. Tom Gamble, Fortec Motorsports, +16.445s
6. Billy Monger, Carlin, +16.685s
7. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, +19.056s
8. Jordan Cane, Douglas Motorsport, +19.854s
9. Clement Novalak, Carlin, +20.876s
10. Jamie Chadwick, Douglas Motorsport, +20.978s
11. Sun Yue Yang, Carlin, +21.756s
12. Tristan Charpentier, Fortec Motorsports, +24.576s
13. Arvin Esmaeili, Douglas Motorsport, +29.720s
14. Chia Wing Hoong, Chris Dittmann Racing, +30.474s
15. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +30.670s
16. Jusuf Owega, Hillspeed, +36.931s
17. Pavan Ravishankar, Double R Racing, +42.088s
18. Josh Mason, Lanan Racing, +44.253s
19. Ben Hurst, Hillspeed, +1m02.422s
As the afternoon drew in, so did race three…
Once more, there was drama on the first lap as Esmaeili hit trouble at Deene, with team mate Chadwick stranded at Chapman and Pavan Ravishankar also failing to complete the first lap. Lundqvist and Kjaergaard were almost wheel to wheel around several corners, before the safety car was deployed to recover the three stranded cars, with Lundqvist just holding off Kjaergaard, with Maini, Monger and Gamble the early top-five leaders.
The safety car pulled in at the end of lap two, with Lundqvist and Kjaergaard resuming their duel. Just behind, a solid restart from Monger put him into the slipstream of Maini and the Brit tried a move at Deene, only to be pushed wide on the exit and dropped down to sixth. Lundqvist established a lead of almost nine tenths from Kjaergaard, with Gamble and Mahadik profiting from Monger’s duel with Maini to jump into fourth and fifth. Monger wasn’t down and out though, and immediately re-passed Mahadik for fifth.
Lundqvist’s lead was trimmed to 0.6 seconds by the end of lap five, with Kjaergaard charging him down, the pair lapping at almost identical speeds. Further down at the back, an excellent scrap developed between Maldonado, Mahadik, Novalak, Cane, Sun Yue Yang and Owega, with the six drivers operating almost as one. Who needs Baku, eh?! The scrap was brought to a close though when newcomer Owega challenged Mahadik at Tarzan on lap eight, ran wide and was left stranded, bringing out the safety car for the second time.
The safety car came in again at the end of lap 11, leaving three laps for Kjaergaard to find a way past for the lead. He challenged for the first time at Deene, but Lundqvist held him off, while Monger was busy challenging Gamble, passing him for fourth at Tarzan, only for Gamble to fight back and retake the position. Lundqvist and Kjaergaard went side by side at Deene once more on lap 13, with Lundqvist just keeping his lead, and also bringing Maini into the lead scrap. Meanwhile Monger was again challenging Gamble at Deene, the Carlin driver opting for the outside line and the pair made contact, forcing Monger out of the race with just over a lap remaining and completing a miserable weekend for the high profile teenager.
With yellow flags flying at a prime overtaking position, Lundqvist was able to keep his cool on the final lap to secure his second victory of the year, and his third podium of the weekend, taking the flag less than three tenths clear of Kjaergaard, and Maini just behind.
On winning, the Swede said: “It was a tough one, I can tell you that much! I’m very happy to end the weekend like this, we’re ending it on a high and we’ve been on the podium in all three races this weekend. It feels very good and it’s good for the championship and a good boost for both me and the team going into the next round of the championship. Hopefully we can continue having weekends like this one.”
BRDC British F3 Championship, Rockingham race three result:
1. Linus Lundqvist, Double R Racing, 14 laps
2. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Carlin, +0.260s
3. Kush Maini, Lanan Racing, +0.638s
4. Tom Gamble, Fortec Motorsports, +3.336s
5. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, +4.073s
6. Jordan Cane, Douglas Motorsport, +4.462s
7. Clement Novalak, Carlin, +4.974s
8. Krish Mahadik, Double R Racing, +6.295s
9. Sun Yue Yang, Carlin, +6.901s
10. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +7.216s
11. Chia Wing Hoong, Chris Dittmann Racing, +8.873s
12. Josh Mason, Lanan Racing, +9.563s
13. Ben Hurst, Hillspeed, +11.788s
DNF. Billy Monger, Carlin, 12 laps
DNF. Jusuf Owega, Hillspeed, 7 laps
DNF. Jamie Chadwick, Douglas Motorsport, 0 laps
DNF. Arvin Esmaeili, Douglas Motorsport, 0 laps
DNF. Pavan Ravishankar, Double R Racing, 0 laps
DNS. Tristan Charpentier, Fortec Motorsports
However, the action didn’t end there. A few hours later, the race three result was thrown upside down with three cars disqualified.
The stewards ruling:
Car number 22 (Tom Gamble) has been disqualified from fourth place after causing a collision with car 23 (Billy Monger) on the penultimate lap of the race (regulation C1.1.5, Driving in a manner incompatible with general safety).
Car number 17 (Clement Novalak) has been disqualified from seventh place for causing a collision with car 55 (Jamie Chadwick) on lap one (regulation C1.1.5, Driving in a manner incompatible with general safety).
Car number 68 (Chia Wing Hoong) has been disqualified from 11th place for causing a collision with car number 66 (Arvin Esmaeili) on lap one (regulation C1.1.5, Driving in a manner incompatible with general safety).
The amended final result is shown below.
BRDC British F3 Championship, Rockingham race three result:
1. Linus Lundqvist, Double R Racing, 14 laps
2. Nicolai Kjaergaard, Carlin, +0.260s
3. Kush Maini, Lanan Racing, +0.638s
4. Manuel Maldonado, Fortec Motorsports, +4.073s
5. Jordan Cane, Douglas Motorsport, +4.462s
6. Krish Mahadik, Double R Racing, +6.295s
7. Sun Yue Yang, Carlin, +6.901s
8. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +7.216s
9. Josh Mason, Lanan Racing, +9.563s
10. Ben Hurst, Hillspeed, +11.788s
DNF. Billy Monger, Carlin, 12 laps
DNF. Jusuf Owega, Hillspeed, 7 laps
DNF. Jamie Chadwick, Douglas Motorsport, 0 laps
DNF. Arvin Esmaeili, Douglas Motorsport, 0 laps
DNF. Pavan Ravishankar, Double R Racing, 0 laps
DNS. Tristan Charpentier, Fortec Motorsports
What a weekend! Baku who?
Next stop Snetterton on the 26th and 27th May and as always Overtake will be there to bring you all the action.
