Sorry for the delayed report see how things unfolded at Brands Hatch in the F3 Series.
Qualifying
From the practice time sheet it looked set to be a 2 way battle for pole. Arttu Nieminen and Oscar Wiliams both looked very close on paper it would be down to who could maximise their time on the track. Jack Smith had his own battle for 3rd with Clank Hughes both posting a 1:14.2 with Jack just pipping Hughes.
A bit further back the battle for 5th was between Sammy Salem, Alex Cochrane, Jaap Wagenvoort and newcomer Tai Isom. Salem was able to just edge out his rivals but surprisingly Tai managed to out qualify Wagenvoort. Martijn Van T Land would line up directly behind his teammate in 9th, with Tim Omloo rounding out the top 10.
Nieminen couldn't quite match Oscar's pace as the Vermin Racing driver dipped the times into the 1:13's early on, with Nieminen closest attempt being a 1:14.118, Oscar improved his time again at the end of the session with a 1:13.964 and secured another pole.
Race 1
Oscar got a good start with Nieminen 2nd and Jack 3rd. Karlis Skirmanis was unfortunately hit by David Bull further down the order and would have to try and recover his race with a lot of damage. It was a clean start by most of the grid other than that incident as all the cars tussled for places through turn 1 and into 2. Alex and Tai running line astern in 6th and 7th behind Hughes and Salem. Tai ran wide losing some positions and releasing Wagenvoort. Oscar already began to pull a gap to Nieminen as Jack was clinging to the back of Nieminen's car and began pulling away from Hughes, who had his mirrors full of Triple Eight VDT, as Alex looked for a way through. Tai again suffered more bad luck as he and Stefano Amodei collied, putting both drivers well down the ranking.
Richard lost a position to Stoian, dropping to 15th out of the 20 runners. Draper runs onto the kerb and goes wide off track into a spin losing 8th in the process. Salem is now focused in on the back of Wagenvoort's 6th place and starts to slowly close the gap to the dutchman over the next couple of laps. Tai rapidly closing in on Richard Tippet takes the position on the straight as he begins a surge up the grid. Hughes, who was now staring at a solid gap to Jack in front had now worked some space between himself and Alex, who was now falling into the clutches of Wagenvoort and Salem. Van T Land had been having a relatively quiet race now found himself running in 8th.
As the tyres began to wear thin, mistakes were starting to eek into people's races. Hughes ran wide allowing Alex to take 4th, whilst further back Bull's car would swap ends on him. Hughes managed his tyre issues to remain on the wing of Alex as a duel took place between the pair, all the time letting Wagenvoort and Salem, still in limbo behind Wagenvoort, to close in. Hughes made an attempt to overtake Alex, which resulted in his car oversteering into the gravel, in an unrelated incident perhaps in sympathy, Alex and Salem also slide off the track at the same time, gifting Wagenvoort 4th.
Tim Omloo's solid performance would now see him staring at 8th place as Salem recovered from his spin. Jack had now latched on to Nieminen's car and in the dying laps but rapidly was running out of time to make a move and has to settle for 3rd as Oscar cuts the timing beam to win, maybe 1 more lap would have seen Jack and Nieminen fight for the 2nd podium but still resulting in a 1, 3 for Vermin Racing.
Race 2
Dave Southword would be at the fore for race 2 with Omloo in 2nd. Southword gets a storming start and is well into the lead by turn 1, Omloo is able to stay in second and pull a gap as those behind squabble. Disaster for the Vermin team as Jack exits turn 2 and loses the rear of his car which pitches his car into the side of Oscars, the collision sends both drivers slamming into the tyre barrier and all the way to the back. Alex is sandwiched in between Hughes and Salem as all three want that final podium position, as they exit the corner it's Hughes who wins the position.
Richard picked his way through to 11th place can see Oscar a few cars back, trying to recover his race. Richard positions his car to block Amodei and Draper, leaving his teammate, Oscar room to slip down the inside of all 3 cars. With Draper and Amodei looking for a way through past Richard, The pair touch and Amodei is ejected off the track and spins into the path of Jack, further damaging both drivers cars and races. Omloo was starting to fall off the pace slightly as Hughes makes his move past into 2nd and once released is able to catch Southword, Alex isn't able to find a way through that lap but remains all over the rear end of Omloo for another lap, overtaking around the outside of a high speed corner in an amazing manoeuvre. Jack making his way back through was now helped through by Richard who in a similar move to before, placed his car to prevent Bull from getting through but allowing Jack to pass easily and onto the read of Karlis, Jack's race would end several corners later as he was unable to avoid a slowing Karlis off of one of the corners slamming into his rear and putting Jack into a DNF.
Meanwhile, up front it's a quick change for the lead as Hughes simply out drags Southword on the long run up the back side of the circuit and into the lead. Nieminen's progress continues as he battles into 6th, sandwiched between the Inforwards of Wagenvoort and Van T Land, until Van T Land makes a mistake at the final corner and runs out wide, letting through Salem, Derek Hartley and Oscar. Omloo continues to struggle as he corrects a slide through turn 1 gifting Wagenvoort the position.
The top 10 is rounded off by Tai who was now slowly gaining ground on Hartley. A hard driving Oscar makes a similar move to Alex and dispatches Salem, then quickly finds himself onto the rear of Wagenvoort and Nieminen, who were now being held up by Omloo. Oscar tried to move around the outside of all 3 into turn 1 in a very bold move, Wagenvoort's car clips the rear of Oscar's sending the Vermin off into the gravel and undoing his hard work. Wagenvoort and Omloo also drop down the order.
Nieminen now inheriting 3rd would now pull away from Hartley in 4th. With the race settling down slightly as the action spread out, Oscar continued to push forward now in 8th reeling in Draper gradually each lap nursing his damaged car and tyres, eventually a mistake from Draper allows Oscar through, and he is past Tai a lap later for 6th place. Van T Land began sizing up Hartley for a pass, however Hartley's defending is very skilful and fair, holding Van T land up for several laps and forcing him to go around the outside into Turn 1 for 4th with an inspired overtake. As the final lap starts, it's been a very quiet race for Hughes and an excellent performance for the victory. Alex brings in Triple Eights first ever podium finish in F3 coming in 2nd and Nieminen unable to get any closer in 3rd. Oscar slows down to allow Tai to re-take 6th place on the line, feeling like the Triple Eight new signing deserves the position back.
Donington Parks report will be up soon so stay tuned.
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