Douglas Motorsport’s Jamie Chadwick created history by winning Race 2 in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship at Brands Hatch, as Linus Lundqvist continued his top run after Round 6.
Carlin’s Jamie Caroline started off the weekend at Brands Hatch in fine form after the British took Race 1 win on Saturday from pole in a dominant fashion. In fact, Caroline led a Carlin 1-2-3 in qualifying.
The results in the race couldn’t be repeated though as championship leader Double R Racing’s Lundqvist cleared two of the Carlin drivers in the opening lap to take second. The Swede did try to catch Caroline but his older tyres strategy didn’t do him favours.
He had to be content with second as Nicolai Kjaergaard completed the podium from Billy Monger. With Sue Yue Yang in fifth, it ended up being a Carlin 1-3-4-5. The Chinese driver was well ahead of the two Indians.
Lanan Racing’s Kush Maini was sixth from Double R Racing’s Krishnaraaj Mahadik as the Top 10 was completed by Fortec’s Manuel Maldonando & Tam Gamble and Hillspeed’s Sasakorn Chaimongkol.
It was Hillspeed’s Ben Hurst to start on pole in Race 2 on Sunday with Douglas Motorsport’s Arvin Esmaeili alongside him, but second row’s Double R Racing’s Pavan Ravishankar made the most at the start to take the lead from Chadwick.
However, it was soon adjudged that Ravishankar made a false start as the Singaporean was then handed a 10-second penalty. It pretty much gave Chadwick the victory as a 10-second lead was hard to bridge for Ravishankar.
He did finish first but dropped to 10th as a result handing Chadwick her first win in British F3. In fact, she became the first female ever to win a race in the category. Chadwick was followed by the two Indian drivers on the podium.
It was Mahadik in second with Maini in third – the two gaining from Ravishankar’s penalty. Both had a busy race having started in ninth and 10th respectively. Maini was in front of Mahadik at one point, but the latter cleared him on safety car re-start.
They then made a quick work of Esmaeili and Chaimongkol to take third and fourth respectively which eventually became a podium finish for both. Chaimongkol held on to fourth with Esmaeili in fifth.
The latter did come under pressure from Hillspeed’s Jusuf Owega but managed well as the two Fortec drivers were again together with Maldonado leading Gamble for seventh. Kjaergaard was ninth as Ravishankar rounded the Top 10.
“I knew Pavan would get a penalty for the start, I was hoping he would get a drive through so I could just get my head down but I knew he was getting the penalty so I just sat behind him,” she said.
“I’ve had much harder races for lower positions so it was nice to have that one a little bit easier and to get that first win. Fortunately starting a bit further up helped me out a bit. I’m absolutely delighted and a big thanks to the Douglas Motorsport team for making this happen.”
The Race 3 of the weekend had Kjaergaard starting on pole from Lundqvist and Caroline. The Dane made a good start to lead but uncharacteristically Lundqvist lost a place to Caroline off the line.
The two Carlin drivers were in a fight among themselves at the front as they traded quick laps but Kjaergaard held on to take his first win of the weekend and his first since Snetterton weekend’s Race 1.
Caroline was only 0.414s behind to complete a sound weekend upon his debut at Spa-Francorchamps with Lundqvist completing the podium positions, thereby edging ever closer to the title with two rounds remaining.
The Swede has 473 points to Kjaergaard’s 362 with six races to go in the 2018 season. Maini is third with 321 points to his name, followed by Gamble with 302 and Mahadik rounding out the Top 5 with 261.
Meanwhile, Fortec’s Gamble took fourth after Yang’s mishap on Lap 6 which dropped him at the back of the field, with Monger a close fifth and Maini in sixth. It was a huge gap then as Maldonado defended seventh from Mahadik, Owega and Chaimongkol in the Top 10.