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After the
disappointment of missing out on a podium in round 1, Jaime Alguersuari
converted his second pole position of the weekend into a race win, finishing
ahead of Swedish duo Marcus Ericsson and Sebastian Hohenthal. Brendon Hartley
was the first driver past the chequered flag but was demoted to 4th
after it was judged he overtook during a safety car period. Andy Meyrick made
it two out two in the National Class, finishing ahead of Salman Al Khalifa and
Niall Quinn.
Alguersuari made a
good start to lead the 27 car grid away for the second race of the weekend.
Behind the Spaniard Esteban Guerrieri in the Ultimate Motorsport Mygale got a
great getaway to move up into 2nd after the first corner from
5th on the grid ahead of Ericsson and Hartley. 6th placed
Max Chilton had a poor start and ended up losing seven places on the opening
lap.
At the front
Alguersuari started to open up a gap to 2nd placed Guerrieri as the
Argentine had to defend his position from a very determined Marcus Ericsson in
the Fortec Dallara, this battle allowing the leader to move further ahead of the
field. At the end of lap 2 4th placed Brendon Hartley came under
pressure from Ericsson’s teammate Sebastian Hohethal and in a demon move at Old
Hall the Swede moved up into 4th place at the expense of the New
Zealander.
For the next six laps
the 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed cars circulated the
Oulton Park circuit separated by less than a second, with Guerrieri using his
vast racing know how to keep the Fortec duo at bay. However a mistake on lap 10
drop the Argentine down to 6th place behind Walter
Grubmuller.
Jaime Alguersuari
continued to improve and set fastest lap times on the 5th,
6th and 7th laps and then on lap 10 went even faster,
setting a new British F3 lap record by 0.116 seconds.
Further back down the
field John Martin (#24 Double R) and Nick Tandy (#28 JTR) tangled at Hislops,
pushing some of the tyres onto the racing line at the chicane and forcing the
deployment of the safety car, reducing Alguersuari’s lead from 9.1 seconds to
zero. However confusion reigned as some of the drivers thought that the safety
car had been withdrawn and Brendon Hartley and Esteban Guerrieri moved into
1st and 3rd respectively. The Argentine realised his
mistake and moved back to 6th place but Hartley stayed out in front
of the pack as the safety car circulated.
As the safety car was
withdrawn at the end of lap 14 Hartley continued to lead from Alguersuari,
Ericsson, Hohethal and Grubmuller, with everyone expecting the New Zealander to
move over and allow the others past. How Hartley doggedly maintained his lead
on the road and with 19 laps completed the chequered flag came out, which he
duly took ahead of Alguersuari.
However a swift
decision by the stewards put Hartley back to 4th place and the win
went to Hartley’s Red Bull teammate Jaime Alguersuari, his first in British F3
and his first on a British circuit.
In the National Class
Andy Meyrick made it look so simple, taking another decisive win ahead of Salman
Al Khalifa, the Bahraini driver happy to get his season underway after problems
in race 1 denied him of any points. Irish driver Niall Quinn was the third
podium finisher and as a late entry to the championship he was happy to gather
as many championship points as possible.
The next two races
take place at Croft, North Yorkshire on Sunday 27 April. Motors TV and Channel
4 are showing highlights of the two races. A full TV schedule can be found here
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