British F3 makes the pilgrimage to Bucharest!

[strider]

This weekend sees what is, amazingly, the penultimate round of the 2008 British F3 International Series and it takes place in far away Romania. F1 may be taking to the streets in Valencia, but BF3 is doing the same in Bucharest.

There is an event preview here, and from there you can click on links to the entry list and the event timetable, both in .pdf format. The action starts on Friday and continues right through until Sunday afternoon, with race 2 being held after second FIA GT race, which should guarantee a well-rubbered but rather different track.

I'm not sure what you will feel about this, but here is the weather forecast. It's a bit different to what we have been having over here. Just click on the refresh button to bring it up-to-date. I just did and now they're showing some cloud for Sunday, but still tarmac-melting temperatures.

For the timing, you need to follow this link. If you rummage around, you should find live timing. Romania is a couple of hours ahead of GMT, so take that into account.

The trip to Bucharest is definitely an experience. It's just a shame it's so far away. Jay Bridger is likely to clinch the National Class title this weekend, but there is still all to play for so far as the main title is concerned. Oliver Turvey, Sergio Perez, Jaime Alguersuari and Brendon Hartley are the main players, with Atte Mustonen and Marcus Ericsson waiting for them to trip up. Marcus must be due for a win before the end of the season and Atte knows the circuit from last year.

[wannab-aracer]

Originally Posted by strider

Marcus must be due for a win before the end of the season and Atte knows the circuit from last year.

Yes, it would be good to see Marcus get the top spot as reward for a solid season, I'd also like to see Nick Tandy in the mix again and is my dark horse for the one of the races.

[macsport]

Originally Posted by wannab-aracer

Yes, it would be good to see Marcus get the top spot as reward for a solid season, I'd also like to see Nick Tandy in the mix again and is my dark horse for the one of the races.

Atte quickest in Free Practice 1 and then crashed damaging front left suspension. Blistering temperatures here (not complaining after UK weather of late ) - 35 degrees air and track is mid forties. FP1 results here

Nick has decided not to travel to Romania as he had to choose between competing at The Masters and Bucharest (budgets), he said this in the post race press conference at Silverstone here. JTR will be back for the season finale at Donington in October.

Live time here

Jeff

[wannab-aracer]

Cheers Jeff, Its a shame Nick Tandy can't make the trip after being so strong latley.

Talking of The Masters I've noticed Guerrieri is on the time sheets in place of Jackson as was the case in Zolder.

[Dani Filth]

shame Tandy didn't come here .. as i'm a Mygale fan i was looking forward to see them do good ..

[macsport]

Round 19 qualifying report and results here

Top six - Hartley from Turvey, Alguersuari, Guerreri, Abay and Chilton. Perez down in 9th, with Ericsson at the back after crashing on his first flying lap, failing to post a time.

Round 19 at 16:30 (14:30 UK Time) today. Round 20 qualifying tomorrow morning at 10:45 (08:45) and race at 16:00 (14:00)

Jeff

[Dani Filth]

Hartley was unstoppable .. his last lap in qualy was superb to get him .8 ahead of anybody else
in the race he pulled away at a rate of 1 second per lap twice
i was happy for the Mygale in 4th place

[gomick]

Must've been one hell of a lap by Hartley to have that gap on P2...

[macsport]

Originally Posted by gomick

Must've been one hell of a lap by Hartley to have that gap on P2...

Bit closer in Q2. Hartley and Turvey were swapping times but Turvey had the edge at the end in a red flag interupted session. Report and results here

Round 19 race report here with press conference audio for top three in each class.

Jeff

[gomick]

John Martin in P4

[macsport]

Originally Posted by gomick

John Martin in P4

Good job in Q2 by John. I did an interview with him which you can listen to here

Jeff

[JamesRamone]

Martin has picked up in the 2nd half of the season. Any idea what he will do next year?

[Stocky]

John doesn't know yet.

He's not forgotten how to drive (never did know how to finish LOL)

The first half of the year the RR cars had tonnes of over steer, Atte doesn't mind over steer so much and is better at making the best of the situation (points) where John and Henry both struggled with so much oversteer.

The second half of the year the car is better balanced and John has had some consistent engineering. He's as quick or quicker than Atte (which some say is a big compliment)

It's a shame Carlin are so fast. It'd be good to see some better racing for the podium.

John is talking with the A1 guys again and I personally think he'll probably do A1.

After that...... not sure.

His driving data suggests he should go to the US and do ovals LOL (fast corners)

[strider]

There's only one word for Bucharest and that's awesome, and that applies to the surroundings, the weather, the grid girls (although a friend of mine says they need some education in choosing the right underwear ) and Brendon Hartley's driving. I have no idea where he found that pole position lap in Q1, it was extraordinary.

He would have done better in race 2 as well, but Oliver Turvey eased him towards the wall at turn one, which let Jaime through into the lead and afterwards it was a bit It'll never see the light of day, but Brendon did a TV interview in which he referred to Oliver only by the colour of his hair!

[MikeHoyer]

Originally Posted by strider

It'll never see the light of day, but Brendon did a TV interview in which he referred to Oliver only by the colour of his hair!

Looks like it did see the light of day after all...

[MikeHoyer]

Anywhere we can see it...?

[strider]

The MotorsTV programme schedule is here. It will be worth making the effort to catch one of the showings, if you can.

Just for once I remembered to watch the shorter Channel 4 programme and even that was pretty good.

[MikeHoyer]

Excellent, I should be able to fit one of those in!

[strider]

Indeed. No love lost there methinks, at least not in the heat of immediate post-race interviews!

[Charlies]

The racing wasn't spectacular, but the action off the track was the best of the season, with Perez calling Chilton a 'rich kid' and Hartley's blunt assessment of Turvey. It's good to have a bit of tension going into the title decider. Think I might be cheering for Hartley come Donington.

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by Charlies

The racing wasn't spectacular, but the action off the track was the best of the season, with Perez calling Chilton a 'rich kid' and Hartley's blunt assessment of Turvey. It's good to have a bit of tension going into the title decider. Think I might be cheering for Hartley come Donington.

Sergio seemed quite emotional during his interview when he returned to the pits. It was interesting to hear his comments about having to be accountable to sponsors. It sounded like there was a lot at stake, his future perhaps?

Is he under some sort of intense pressure from his primary sponsors to attain a particular position in the championship (or better) in order to continue receiving their support?

[bella]

i dunno, the finale is so far away everyone's probably forgotten what they're arguing about now

[strider]

Sergio is wholly sponsored (as far as I know) by Telmex and he knows that as long as he keeps the results coming in, they will take him a long way and, right at that moment, he knew that his chances of winning the title were gone, hence the emotion. Mathematically it's still possible, but it would need all three Carlin drivers to mess up at Donington.

The good news is that I read somewhere that Sergio is having a GP2 test soon, so it looks like Telmex are keeping the faith.

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by strider

Sergio is wholly sponsored (as far as I know) by Telmex and he knows that as long as he keeps the results coming in, they will take him a long way and, right at that moment, he knew that his chances of winning the title were gone, hence the emotion. Mathematically it's still possible, but it would need all three Carlin drivers to mess up at Donington.

The good news is that I read somewhere that Sergio is having a GP2 test soon, so it looks like Telmex are keeping the faith.

I hope he gets a GP2 test (provided its not in a BCN car! ), I'd like to see him do well. Whatever happened to the other Mexican who showed a fair bit of promise in BF3, a certain Mr. Duran?

[kerrmanningjarv]

^ Has been quite strong in World Series by Renault this year, Duran... can't remember where he is in the standings but better than last year for sure.