The next track for BRDC British F3 to visit was Derby’s, Donington Park. With the championship fight having commenced after Reece Ushijima dominated Silverstone, it was an important weekend for Zac O’Sullivan to continue his championship lead.
Qualifying
Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan dominated qualifying, taking his first double pole position of the season. Bart Horsten also had a strong qualifying with P2 in race 1 and P3 in race two. However, after post-qualifying penalties were applied, he received a 5 place grid penalty after exceeding track limits. Arden Motorsport also had a strong qualifying for race 1 with both drivers starting P3 and P4 on the grid.
Race 1 Grid
- Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin, 1m24.690s
- Bart Horsten, Hitech GP, +0.016s*
- Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, +0.236s
- Roman Bilinski, Arden Motorsport, +0.259ss
- Javier Sagrera, Elite Motorsport, +0.261s
- Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, +0.333s
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +0.408s
- Christian Mansell, Carlin, +0.539s
- Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +0.600s
- Dexter Patterson, Douglas Motorsport, +0.605s
- Sebastian Alvarez, Hitech GP, +0.786s
- Bryce Aron, Carlin, +1.028s
- Jose Garfias, Elite Motorsport, +1.053s
- Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.067s
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsports, +1.216s
- Max Marzorati, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.223s
- Reema Juffali, Douglas Motorsport, +1.353s
*Five place penalty to be applied
Race 2 Grid
- Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin, 1m24.757s
- Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, +0.280s
- Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, +0.306s
- Javier Sagrera, Elite Motorsport, +0.381s
- Bart Horsten, Hitech GP, +0.473s
- Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +0.592s
- Roman Bilinski, Arden Motorsport, +0.601s
- Christian Mansell, Carlin, +0.657s
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +0.687s
- Dexter Patterson, Douglas Motorsport, +0.723s
- Sebastian Alvarez, Hitech GP, +0.746s
- Bryce Aron, Carlin, +1.011s
- Ayrton Simmons, CDR, +1.151s
- Jose Garfias, Elite Motorsport, +1.202s
- Max Marzorati, CDR, +1.251s
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsports, +1.336s
- Reema Juffali, Douglas Motorsport, +1.419s
Race 3 Grid
- Reema Juffali, Douglas Motorsport
- Max Marzorati, Chris Dittmann Racing
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsports
- Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing
- Jose Garfias, Elite Motorsport
- Bryce Aron, Carlin
- Sebastian Alvarez, Hitech GP
- Dexter Patterson, Douglas Motorsport
- Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport
- Christian Mansell, Carlin
- Roman Bilinski, Arden Motorsport
- Javier Sagrera, Elite Motorsport
- Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport
- Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP
- Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin
- Bart Horsten, Hitech GP*
*Five place penalty from race two
Race 1 – Round 7
With Horsten having received a 5 place grid penalty, O’Sullivan had Alex Connor hot on his tails to take the lead. However, O’Sullivan had the better start and led the pack from the first lap. By lap 5 the Carlin had managed to pull away from the pack with a 2.225s lead from Ushijima. The rest of the grid maintained their positions on lap 5, with exceptions to Horsten who ran wide at the Old Hairpin and ultimately lost his position to Dexter Patterson.
Lap 9 brought a fight between Fortec teammates Mikkel Grundtvig and Roberto Faria for P16 and P17. Faria won the battle and moved up past his teammate and Douglas driver, Reema Juffali two laps.
As the flag was waved, O’Sullivan had a 4.918s lead off Ushijima who claimed P2 and Arden Motorsports Alex Connor rounded off the podium places.
- Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin, 12 laps
- Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, +4.918s
- Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, +6.638s
- Roman Bilinksi, Arden Motorsport, +9.798s
- Christian Mansell, Carlin, +11.701s
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +11.853s
- Dexter Patterson, Douglas Motorsport, +14.520s
- Bart Horsten, Hitech GP, +14.945s
- Javier Sagrera, Elite Motorsport, +15.578s*
- Sebastian Alvarez, Hitech GP, +15.935s
- Jose Garfias, Elite Motorsport, +16.952s
- Max Marzorati, Chris Dittmann Racing, +18.626s
- Bryce Aron, Carlin, +21.631s
- Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +22.609s
- Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing, +24.035s**
- Reema Juffali, Douglas Motorsport, +26.486s
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsports, +26.955s
* 10-second post-race penalty for a false start
** 5-second penalty issued mid-race for track limits
On his second victory of the season, Carlin’s Zac O’Sullivan said: “Going side-by-side through the Craner Curves on lap one was pretty cool! I got a pretty woeful start and got passed by Reece into turn one. I got a good exit and I had to retaliate pretty quickly; I’ve been on the wrong side of the dirty air this year! I was pretty focussed on getting in front and once I was in front I could build the gap which I did. The car was awesome and thanks to the guys at Carlin, we’ve made a really good recovery from yesterday in the last session yesterday and in qualifying this morning. Hopefully it’ll be more of the same tomorrow but you can never predict anything here.
Image credit: @JakobEbrey
Race 2 – Round 8
A warm Sunday at Donington brought the second race of the weekend to a start. With O’Sullivan once again starting on pole, it was looking hopeful for the Carlin driver. As the lights went out O’Sullivan had the advantage with Connor and Ushijima pushing to take the lead of the race. By the second lap, the fight for P3 was on. Hitech teammates Ushijima and Horsten were battling it out in the first corner to take the final podium place and championship points.
On lap 4 Ushijima took a lunge around Connor at the Melbourne Hairpin but was on the wrong side of the Arden car for the next corner and was not able to make the move stick for P2. With the championship fight to think of, he backed off. Lap 5 saw Reema Juffali, with a damaged front wing, slide into the grass, ultimately having to retire after making up 3 places in the race’s opening stages. Lap 7 started the fight in the top 4, O’Sullivan in the lead with Connor, Ushijima and Horsten trailing behind.
With Hitech teammates Ushijima and Horsten battling for P3 again on lap 10, Horsten took the inside line with both drivers driving side by side which wasn’t going to end well. Their fight saw them collide and Ushijima was out of the race with a damaged suspension. Crossing the finish line, O’Sullivan managed to keep the lead finishing P1 with Conor settling for P2 and Faria taking advantage of the Hitech battle, and taking P3 after starting the race in P6.
- Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin, 12 laps
- Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, +1.085s
- Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +4.436s
- Javier Sagrera, Elite Motorsport, +6.112s
- Roman Bilinski, Arden Motorsport, +7.217s
- Christian Mansell, Carlin, +7.588s
- Dexter Patterson, Douglas Motorsport, +10.433s
- Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing, +10.602s
- Sebastian Alvarez, Hitech GP, +12.287s
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +13.304s
- Bryce Aron, Carlin, +15.139s
- Jose Garfias, Elite Motorsport, +19.505s
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsports, +20.067s
- Max Marzorati, Chris Dittmann Racing, +20.504s
DNF. Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, 8 laps completed
DNF. Reema Juffali, Douglas Motorsport, 5 laps
DQ. Bart Horsten, Hitech GP
Image credit: @JakobEbrey
Race 3 – Round 9
After being disqualified from Race 2, Horsten received another 5 place grid penalty for the final race of the weekend after crashing into teammate Ushijima. Juffali started on pole, similar to the weekend before at Silverstone.
Marzorati had the best start off the line and took the lead of the race on the first lap. Roberto Faria who was on the podium in the morning race ended in the grass on the first lap but was able to rejoin the pack. Mikkel Grundtvig and Ayrton Simmons rounded off the top three by lap 2 with Connor also running into the grass.
On lap 2, Championship leaders O’Sullivan and Ushijima collided with both having to retire after they tried to take the same line. By lap 6, Marzorati and Grundtvig were battling for P1 with the CDR driver only taking a 0.251s lead from the Fortec driver. With Grundtvig storming behind Marzorati, he overtook the leader to take P1 with Marzorati now having to defend from teammate Simmons. As Simmons tried to find a way past, he ran wide at McLeans and lost out in the battle for a podium.
The fight for P2 heated up on lap 11 of the race with Marzorati and Alvarez going side by side and nearly taking each other out. Lebbon took advantage of this and tried to take the podium position away from one of the drivers but couldn’t make the move stick. As the final checkered flag of the weekend was waved at Donington, Grundtvig took the top step of the podium with Marzorati taking P2 and Lebbon rounding up the top 3 podium places.
- Mikkel Grundtvig, Fortec Motorsports, 12 laps
- Max Marzorati, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.928s
- Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +2.744s
- Dexter Patterson, Douglas Motorsport, +4.009s
- Bryce Aron, Carlin, +4.508s
- Roman Bilinski, Arden Motorsport, +4.915s
- Christian Mansell, Carlin, +5.746s
- Bart Horsten, Hitech GP, +5.985s
- Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing, +6.403s
- Sebastian Alvarez, Hitech GP, +7.242s
- Jose Garfias, Elite Motorsport, +8.634s
- Javier Sagrera, Elite Motorsport, +9.342s
- Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +49.251s
DNF. Reema Juffali, Douglas Motorsport, 10 laps completed
DNF. Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, 2 laps
DNF. Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin, 1 lap
DNF. Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, 1 lap
BRDC British F3 continues at Spa-Francorchamps from 24th – 25th July.
