British F3 Rounds 17 & 18 at Thruxton

macsport · 20 Aug 2007, 11:50 (Ref:1992658)

Back to Thruxton this weekend, this year with British GT as well. Preview here which includes entry list and timetable.

Marko Asmer, currently 84 points ahead of Maro Engel, stands a good chance of taking the title this weekend. As long as he is 84 points in front of his nearest rival on Sunday evening he will be champion.

Last years final race was one of the best F3 finishes ever with a three car battle that saw Yelmer Buurman snatch the win in the final chicane from Christian Bakkerud and Oliver Jarvis.

Just hope the weather is better this year!

**bella** · 20 Aug 2007, 12:07 (Ref:1992674)

nice work, you've cursed the racing and the weather in one fell swoop.

dull wet races it is then

strider · 20 Aug 2007, 14:35 (Ref:1992816)

The racing will be fine as long as the muppets show some respect for the place. As for the weather, well, it's a Bank Holiday in England, what do you expect?

Richard Head · 20 Aug 2007, 15:01 (Ref:1992836)

I wonder if Danny Watts will make another return??? He's no muppet!!!!!

brakedisc · 20 Aug 2007, 19:07 (Ref:1993005)

Was yesterday at Spa.

**chunterer** · 21 Aug 2007, 17:10 (Ref:1993825)

Asmer's got a substantial points lead then.

Bloke's going to do (barring keystone cops magnitude errors) exactly what he needed to do this year. Win the title.

Might have been little more open with him out of the way!!

strider · 22 Aug 2007, 20:43 (Ref:1994737)

For anyone who wants to follow them, there a couple of test sessions on Friday, the first from approx 10:00 to 11:00 and the second from 13:00 to 15:00. There should be live timing from MST. Let me know if you want me to post a link.

Entries are down to a measly 28 for this round, sorry, meeting, as Ernesto Otero is giving it a miss.

macsport · 23 Aug 2007, 15:22 (Ref:1995170)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bella

nice work, you've cursed the racing and the weather in one fell swoop.

dull wet races it is then

Let's just wait and see!

macsport · 23 Aug 2007, 15:26 (Ref:1995174)

Quote:

Originally Posted by strider

Entries are down to a measly 28 for this round, sorry, meeting, as Ernesto Otero is giving it a miss.

28 is still more than other series at this level.

If this is the smallest grid we have this year then everyone will be happy.

Jeff

strider · 23 Aug 2007, 17:11 (Ref:1995233)

Quote:

Originally Posted by macsport

28 is still more than other series at this level.

If this is the smallest grid we have this year then everyone will be happy.

Jeff

I obviously need to find an ironic smiley. 28 cars is fine; in fact it's 2 more than there are garages at Thruxton and I don't remember that happening before.

macsport · 24 Aug 2007, 16:29 (Ref:1995908)

Kennard quickest in testing today ahead of Niall Breen, who was quickest this morning - Click Here for report and times from second session.

First session times here

Asmer had problems in the second session (diff) and could only manage 20th.

strider · 24 Aug 2007, 21:20 (Ref:1996047)

Kennard was quickest by over a quarter of a second, which is a lot. Eyebrows were raised amongst some other teams, but the time seems genuine enough, even if it was a bit of a one-off. Great tow maybe?

The Surrey brigade had a good day with Double R and Carlin alternating to set the six fastest times.

Most people went quicker in the second session, except Asmer, obviously, and both Cong Fu Cheng and Sergo Perez in their National Class tussle.

The sun stayed hidden until the F3 sessions were over, but then emerged strongly. Amazingly, there was also very little wind, so Thruxton was hot!

Overall, the drivers treated the very fast Hampshire circuit with the respect it deserves, but qualifying tomorrow may be a different story.

strider · 25 Aug 2007, 19:56 (Ref:1996438)

Seb Hohenthal is on pole for race 1 tomorrow, ahead of Atte Mustonen, Niall Breen, Sam Bird, Stephen Jelley and Jonathan Kennard. Report and interview with the polesitter here.

Atte Mustonen went one better in qualifying for race 2, taking pole ahead of of team-mate Stephen Jelley, Greg Mansell, Maro Engel, Marko Asmer and Niall Breen. Report here, together with an interview with the chatty Finn.

Frankie Cheng and Sergio Perez took it in turn to lead the National Class, so that will be worth watching tomorrow.

Although his grid positions are less favourable than Maro Engel's, somehow I think Marko Asmer will do enough to clinch the title. There'll be plenty to keep an eye on.

The weather today was unbelievably good with more of the same forecast for tomorrow.

cg7aa · 25 Aug 2007, 22:21 (Ref:1996495)

Quote:

Originally Posted by strider

...Report here, together with an interview with the chatty Finn.

...

Alex K · 26 Aug 2007, 08:04 (Ref:1996656)

Yeah, e's a good chappy, yeah he doesn't speak English fluently?! Does he?

runshaw · 26 Aug 2007, 14:14 (Ref:1996839)

Jelley finally wins!!

Alex K · 26 Aug 2007, 14:23 (Ref:1996847)

Yep Raikkonen Robertson one-two, and... Esteban on forth!! That is a great result for guys from Wellingborough so... Keep it going.

strider · 26 Aug 2007, 22:49 (Ref:1997136)

There were two new race winners at Thruxton today. Race 1 was the best, with a very well-deserved win, at last, for Stephen Jelley, coming through from 5th on the grid. Brief report and interviews here.

Atte Mustonen was the fastest man on the track, setting a new F3 lap record for the circuit. He could well have won, after a slow start and being delayed by a clash between Seb Hohenthal and Niall Breen, but made a brave move to go around the outside of Sam Bird at the Club Chicane. He got ahead, but then Bird locked up and slid into Atte's sidepod, taking them both out. To his credit, Sam later apologised, but it was probably a racing incident.

Jelley timed his bid rather better, waiting until the restart after the Safety Car intervention to slice past Jonathan Kennard at the Complex.

Guerrieri's 4th place was especially well deserved, because the Mygale front end is very hard on tyres, pretty though it may be.

Race 2 was much less exciting, unless you happen to be one of those people who has been waiting for Atte Mustonen to convert his excellent recent qualifying results into a race win...

When it happened, it was surprisingly easy, Atte leading from lights to flag and winning by over 4 seconds from Niall Breen and an impressive Rodolfo Gonzalez, who also took fastest lap. Report and interviews here.

Maro Engel kept the title battle alive by taking 3rd and 4th respectively. Marko Asmer had a surpisingly quiet day. Normally Hitech's cars are very quick around Thruxton, but for some reason it just didn't seem to happen this weekend. Even so, the gap is now 72 points with just 84 still on offer at Croft and Rockingham. Table here.

In the National Class Sergio Perez took another couple of wins. Frankie Cheng was lying second in race 1 until until the last lap, when he apparently tangled with a Championship Class car, possibly Leo Mansell.

Race 2 was more controversial when Perez allegedly clashed with Cheng on the first lap at the Complex, with Cheng bouncing back onto the track to take out himself and Mike Meadows. There was no clear evidence of this, so it will be interesting to see any TV coverage.

For the moment, Perez leads the class by a decisive 69 points. Table here.

The weather took until lunchtime to be as good as yesterday, but overall there can be no complaint on that score and Thruxton is truly an excellent circuit for F3 racing.

Speedworx · 26 Aug 2007, 23:41 (Ref:1997165)

Great to see Atte finally win.

Shame about race 1

brakedisc · 27 Aug 2007, 07:10 (Ref:1997244)

Good result for Double R.

Francis Albert · 27 Aug 2007, 08:04 (Ref:1997271)

Well done Atte! Congratulations!

**bella** · 27 Aug 2007, 12:31 (Ref:1997555)

comedy sunburn and ridiculous fuel bill aside, one really good race and one fairly tedious race. one note for f3 though - if you're going to have a bank holiday weekend meeting, PLEASE race on the monday!

there was some excellent overtaking going on so while the handbagging continues about driving standards, it's worth mentioning the (surprisingly numerous) successful moves, especially into the final chicane. and especially at the back too. it should make good telly.

that aside, i heard a rumour that rodolfo gonzalez now holds the proper lap record at thruxton, so well done to team and driver

finally though, i do think more needs to be said about the continued heroic first few laps by esteban guerrieri. excellent to watch. and also good fun as a pre-race guessing game

**chunterer** · 27 Aug 2007, 17:00 (Ref:1997722)

Ah! Mustonen wins at last!

Bit later in the season than I expected but it will be interesting if he can continue this form over the last couple of rounds to come and then into next season!

By the sounds of it Guerreri has driven his guts out to do what he did, tp marks to him!!

JamesRamone · 28 Aug 2007, 13:08 (Ref:1998393)

Surley a podium is on for the Mygale soon enough, they deserve one

runshaw · 28 Aug 2007, 17:45 (Ref:1998562)

They better hurry up then, only 4 races left.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
F3 Rounds 17 and 18 Mugello	Clyde P. Puffer	National & International Single Seaters	11	18 Sep 2006 23:23
British F3 Testing - Croft 17-18 March	Mathias	National & International Single Seaters	74	20 Mar 2004 00:09
F3/GT Oulton 17/18 August	PaulPerkins	Trackside	41	20 Aug 2002 17:03
British F3 Rounds 1&2 - Silverstone	Craig	National & International Single Seaters	9	3 Apr 2001 19:14