It was very much all to play for as British F3 arrived at Donington Park with both Kaylen Frederick and Kush Maini taking wins over the weekend to keep both drivers in the hunt for the championship.
Rounds 12, 13 and 14 saw the British F3 circus hitch up at Donington Park for the second of three visits for the rearranged 2020 season. Carlins Kaylen Frederick and Hitech GPs Kush Maini are the championship front runners. Will one of them come out the weekend with the upper hand, lets find out.
Qualifying
It was first blood to Frederick as the American announced his intent with a cracking double pole.
The American driver, who had a weekend to forget last time out at Brands Hatch and lost the lead of the championship, set good lap time after good lap time and was the only driver to enter the 1m 24 seconds. That was enough to secure pole position for races one and three. Race threes grid is decided by each driver’s second best times.
Frederick’s best time of 1m24.804 seconds was over two tenths clear of anyone else in a session that saw the rest of the grid lapping pretty evenly. Douglas Motorsport’s Ulysse De Pauw claimed second on the race one grid, 0.235 seconds off the Carlin driver and 0.040 seconds clear of Hitech GP’s championship leader Kush Maini. Maini, like many drivers suffered from track limits and had some of his best lap times deleted.
In other news, Double R’s Benjamin Pedersen brought out the red flags with two minutes still remaining. The Danish-American driver went off into the barriers at Coppice and sustained light damage to the front of his car.
Frank Bird was the fastest of three newcomers. The Fortec driver claimed 13th on the race one grid, with Bird’s teammate and fellow newcomer Roberto Faria securing 15th. The last of three newcomers, Chris Dittmann Racing’s Alex Fores took P17.
Qualifying Result
1. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, 1m24.804s
2. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, +0.235s
3. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, +0.275s
4. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +0.322s
5. Bart Horsten, Lanan Racing, +0.332s
6. Nazim Azman, Carlin, +0.419s
7. Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, +0.428s
8. Benjamin Pedersen, Double R Racing, +0.474s
9. Oliver Clarke, Hillspeed, +0.632s
10. Kiern Jewiss, Douglas Motorsport, +0.637s
11. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, +0.675s
12. Manaf Hijjawi, Douglas Motorsport, +0.738s
13. Frank Bird, Fortec Motorsports, +0.785s
14. Josh Skelton, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.828s
15. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +0.835s
16. Piers Prior, Lanan Racing, +0.873s
17. Alex Fores, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.109s
18. Josh Mason, Lanan Racing, +1.112s
On his double pole, Frederick said; “it’s been a great recovery from the team. It’s been looking like quite a tight field so far this weekend, and it’s been a great effort from everyone. I’m just really happy to have a double pole position, it’s a great way to bounce back from Brands Hatch.
I think there was a bit more time out there [before the red flag], I think everyone was struggling to get to grips with the different tyre rubber that was laid down by the GT cars and the wind was changing, so I was obviously just getting used to it. There probably was a bit more time out there but to be honest we didn’t need it, we put two decent times in and our pace has been good all weekend.
I think since we’ve done all the work now, starting from pole just lifts a weight off your shoulders for the whole weekend. We’re not starting on the back foot this time, you don’t feel like you need to make up time, we just need to hold our position. So it’s taken a nice weight off our shoulders and we’re in a great position to get some serious points to close that gap in the championship.”
Race One
Frederick took advantage of his pole position with a dominant victory in the opening race of the weekend. The American lead every lap with Douglas Motorsport’s Ulysse De Pauw over three seconds behind in P2. Hitech GP’s Kush Maini extended his championship lead with a P3.
Maini held off Bart Horsten who claimed fourth for Lanan Racing, with Nazim Azman fifth for Carlin. Benjamin Pedersen took sixth, holding off Hillspeed’s Oliver Clarke, with Reece Ushijima taking eighth for Hitech ahead of Hillspeed’s Sasakorn Chaimongkol. Piers Prior had a cracking start going from 16th on the grid to ninth thanks to first lap incidents which saw the safety car deployed and damage for both Bird and Kiern Jewiss.
On his race one win, Frederick has this to say, “I had a really good start off the line, and I put in a safe first lap to get a feel of things and then the safety car came out. I got another great restart there, again took an easy first lap to get into things and then kept building and building from there, not really taking any risks anywhere as I already had the lead by a good margin, so I was settling in really nicely there.
It was a little bit frustrating [to see the safety car after a good start], but around here it’s quite easy to get a good launch out of the last corner and get a good gap, so I wasn’t too worried there, but yes, the start was really good and I was quite far ahead of Ulysse before the safety car came out. So it was a bit of a shame but I wasn’t too worried about it.
It feels amazing to be back up here and I need to do the same in race three, and we’ll see what we can salvage in race two.”
Race One Result
1. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, 12 laps
2. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, +3.204s
3. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, +3.784s
4. Bart Horsten, Lanan Racing, +5.047s
5. Nazim Azman, Carlin, +8.805s
6. Benjamin Pedersen, Double R Racing, +10.132s
7. Oliver Clarke, Hillspeed, +10.606s
8. Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, +11.167s
9. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +12.207s
10. Piers Prior, Lanan Racing, +12.902s
11. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, +13.222s
12. Manaf Hijjawi, Douglas Motorsport, +14.250s
13. Josh Skelton, Chris Dittmann Racing, +14.530s
14. Josh Mason, Lanan Racing, +16.923s
15. Alex Fores, Chris Dittmann Racing, +20.073s
16. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +24.167s
NC. Kiern Jewiss, Douglas Motorsport, 7 laps
DNF. Frank Bird, Fortec Motorsports, 0 laps
Race Two
Double R Racing’s Louis Foster kept a cool head despite pressure from Lanan Racing’s Josh Mason to claim his second win of the season in the reverse grid race two. Foster has a great start and went from sixth on the grid to take the lead towards the end of the opening lap and then built a lead. As the race settled down, Mason got into his stride and slowly began catching Foster but Foster managed to hold off the late change to take a well deserved win.
Mason secured his first podium of the year with second and Douglas Motorsport’s Manaf Hijjawi claimed his maiden podium with third, holding off a charge Reece Ushijima.
Pole sitter Roberto Faria managed to take fifth in only his second British F3 race after having a lively race which will help his experience. Chris Dittmann Racing’s Josh Skelton claimed sixth.
Lanan’s Piers Prior scrapped his way to seventh, ahead of Hillspeed’s Oliver Clarke who had a strong race. Yesterday’s podium finishers Ulysse De Pauw and championship leader Kush Maini completed the top-10.
On his second race win, Forster said; “It’s a reverse grid, we were in a good position at the start and I got a good start and made a few places up. By the end of lap one we were in the lead, Josh made a mistake going into the chicane and I gained the lead from there. It’s a reverse grid win but we’re happy with the points and everything but ultimately the pace isn’t where it should have been this weekend. We should be fighting for race one and race three wins, not for second race wins. But I’m happy to pick up a win, get the points in the bag and take home another trophy.
The aim for the next race is to get as many points as possible, try and minimise our losses this weekend as we’ve struggled quite massively on pace. We’ll work hard on it for Snetterton and see if we can claw back to where we usually should be.
There should be some good fun with some overtaking in race three and hopefully not too much contact.”
Race Two Result
1. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, 12 laps
2. Josh Mason, Lanan Racing, +0.998s
3. Manaf Hijjawi, Douglas Motorsport, +1.950s
4. Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, +2.337s
5. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +5.256s
6. Josh Skelton, Chris Dittmann Racing, +5.820s
7. Piers Prior, Lanan Racing, +6.752s
8. Oliver Clarke, Hillspeed, +7.287s
9. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, +8.661s
10. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, +9.180s
11. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +9.849s
12. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, +10.136s
13. Bart Horsten, Lanan Racing, +11.935s
14. Nazim Azman, Carlin, +12.678s
15. Benjamin Pedersen, Double R Racing, +13.474s
16. Frank Bird, Fortec Motorsports, +14.147s
17. Kiern Jewiss, Douglas Motorsport, +15.068s
DNF. Alex Fores, Chris Dittmann Racing, 7 laps
Race Three
It was Hitech GP’s Maini who finished the weekend off ahead in the championship taking his second win of the year in race three after a thrilling battle with championship rival Kaylen Frederick. De Pauw completed another good weekend finishing second for Douglas Motorsport. There was drama after the race which could change the outcome of the championship. Frederick crossed the line third, but was handed a five second time penalty for exceeding track limits and it fell to Carlin teammate Nazim Azman who was promoted to the podium.
Frederick had to settle for fourth loosing valuable points with Hillspeed’s Sasakorn Chaimongkol fifth and Reece Ushijima sixth for Hitech. Bart Horsten took seventh for Lanan Racing ahead of Douglas Motorsport’s Kiern Jewiss, with Benjamin Pedersen racing for Double R newcomer Frank Bird completing the top-10 for Fortec Motorsports.
There was further drama after the race when Fortec’s Alex Fores was disqualified. The clerk of the course issued the following;
Following investigation and having heard evidence from the competitor, the Clerk of the Course found that the driver of car 90 was guilty of contravening Motorsport UK Regulation Q14.4.4 (causing a collision) and C1.1.5 (Driving in a manner incompatible with general safety).
The Clerk of the Course found that there was a collision with car 22 (Piers Prior), causing Prior to spin and retire to the pits.
Fores has therefore been disqualified from the results of the race and handed four penalty points on his licence.
On his race three victory, Maini said, “I knew I had to get him [Kaylen Frederick] on the first lap because it’s too hard to follow around here. I got a good start thankfully and put him under pressure into turn one, which messed up his run down to the Old Hairpin. I got a run on him, lunged him into the Old Hairpin, he kept around the outside and then wheel to wheel to McLeans. I braked really late and he had nowhere to go, so I got the move done and I’m really happy.
When you have fresh air it’s a lot easier to drive, and I just put my head down and enjoyed the drive. I didn’t really push to pull away, I literally just wanted to enjoy the drive and it was really nice.
There’s still way too many races left [to think about the championship] so we’re just going to keep up this form.”
Race Three Result
1. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, 11 laps
2. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, +2.771s
3. Nazim Azman, Carlin, +7.303s
4. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, +8.130s
5. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +8.291s
6. Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, +11.669s
7. Bart Horsten, Lanan Racing, +13.103s
8. Kiern Jewiss, Douglas Motorsport, +14.314s
9. Benjamin Pedersen, Double R Racing, +14.799s
10. Frank Bird, Fortec Motorsports, +19.081s
11. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, +20.051s
12. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +20.487s
13. Josh Mason, Lanan Racing, +24.631s
14. Josh Skelton, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1 lap
15. Oliver Clarke, Hillspeed, +1 la
DNF. Piers Prior, Lanan Racing, 2 laps
DNF. Manaf Hijjawi, Douglas Motorsport, 0 laps
DQ. Alex Fores, Chris Dittmann Racing
Rounds 15, 16, 17 and 18 will take place at Snetterton on the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of October.
Featured image credit: British F3
