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Asmer Wins First Ever Race Held in Bucharest |
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Saturday, 19 May 2007 |
With the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series having the first race of the weekend, Marko Asmer has become the first driver ever to win a race in Bucharest. The Estonian took the chequered flag in a race dominated by safety car periods ahead of Carlin Motorsport teammates Alberto Valerio and Sam Bird.
Mike Meadows scored another victory in the National Class, his second of the season, after poleman Alistair Jackson had an incident with Jonathan Kennard force the Northern Irish driver into retirement. Sergio Perez was a close second, ahead of Hamad Al Fardan, the first visit to the podium for the Bahraini driver.
The 24 lap race was started under the safety car due to the track
conditions following an earlier qualifying session and for two laps the
30 car grid circulated a slow speed weaving to try and get some heat
into their slick Avon tyres.
At the end of the second lap the race went green and Asmer pulled ahead
of Valerio, who had Hohenthal and Bird climbing all over his rear wing
as they exited the first corner at racing speed, with Bird going very
wide on the exit but despite hopping over the kerbs he maintained his
pace. National Class pole position holder Alistair Jackson was the
first casualty of the race when he tangled with his Raikkonen Robertson
teammate Jonathan Kennard and his race ended before it had even begun.
Kennard was able to continue.
By the end of lap 4 Asmer had opened up a 2.8 second gap to the chasing
pack, with four tenths separating the three cars fighting for second.
Meanwhile further down the grid Esteban Guerrieri was moving up from
his 14th position on the grid, picking off Michael Meadows on lap 5.
On lap 6 there was disaster for Hohenthal as Bird made a move on the
Swede at the penultimate corner. Bird got alongside his rival and
attempted to out brake the Fortec driver into the sharp left hander.
Hohenthal locked up and the car stepped out. As he tried to recover
the slide he was collected by the unlucky Greg Mansell who was
following behind his teammate, who was in turn hit by Michael Devaney
in the second Ultimate Mygale. Devaney was able to extract his car
from the tangle but the two Fortec Dallara’s were locked together.
The Safety Car was deployed to allow the safe recovery of the wreckage
and for six laps the cars once again circulated at medium speed.
Racing recommenced on Lap 11 and Asmer once again started to pull away
from Valerio, who now had Bird challenging him at every corner.
However the Safety Car board was once again shown before the lap was
completed. ‘Frankie’ Cheng had been running down to the penultimate
corner on the left hand side of the track with Leo Mansell and
Francesco Castellacci on the right hand side when the Chinese driver
brushed the concrete wall and the Performance Racing Dallara speared
across the track right into the path of the unfortunate Mansell, who
had no where to go. He was then collected by the equally unfortunate
Castellacci and all three drivers were out of the race.
A further three laps under the Safety Car meant that the race was going
to be called at 30-minutes rather than 24 laps and when the race went
green for the third time Asmer led a two lap sprint to the flag.
Esteban Guerrieri used the restart to move further up the grid in the
Mygale, forcing his way past on the inside of Jonathan Kennard in the
first corner to secure 8th.
At the chequered flag it was Asmer who waved his finger in the air as
he crossed the line, with an equally pleased Alberto Valerio taking his
second podium finish in British F3 and the first at his new Carlin
team. Carlin Motorpsort claimed a double podium as Sam Bird scored his
first top 3 finish in British F3.
Michael Meadows, who inherited the lead of the National Class from his
Raikkonen Robertson teammate Ali Jackson, drove a solid race and
finished 0.3 seconds ahead of a charging Sergio Perez, who scored his
third podium finish in a row. Hamad Al Fardan was equally pleased with
his first British F3 podium finish and will hope for something similar
in Round 6, which he starts in second place. Meadows now holds a three
point advantage over Cheng at the head of the championship table.
The afternoon belonged to Mark Asmer and with four wins on the trot now
holds a commanding 47 point advantage over Maro Engel who finished 5th
in the race.
Marko Asmer: “The race wasn’t that fantastic, we didn’t get many racing
laps, but still it was good for me. The organisers and Romania have
done a fantastic job to make this circuit. I really like it and I
enjoy it. I managed to pull away in the first laps and I had a good
restart after the next safety car, so he (Valerio) was even close
enough to try to pass, so no I wasn’t under any pressure. The
championship is looking good and we will keep trying to get as many
points as possible.”
Michael Meadows: “I had Gonzalez and Moraes behind me and after the
Safety Car I let them go because I didn’t need that kind of pressure.
I had do a bit of defending from Sergio (Perez) but nothing major, just
put my car in the middle of the road and it was OK. It’s good to sign
for Double R and get the weekend off to a good start with a win.”
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