Fortec’s Johnathan Hoggard took his first BRDC British F3 victory of 2019 after passing Carlin’s Clement Novalak midway through the race.
British F4 champion Kiern Jewiss was third ahead of Hampus Ericsson and Ayrton Simmons, the latter applying all sorts of pressure to the Swedish driver in hsi first full British F3 season.
Neil Verhagen and Kaylen Frederick were sixth and seventh as the United States of America got a thorough representation in the top ten on Saturday afternoon.
Manuel Maldonado was eighth to return to some kind of form after a poor Oulton Park weekend.
Sassakorn Chaimongkol was ninth ahead of Benjamin Pedersen to complete the top ten.
Ulysse De Pauw and Pavan Ravishankar were 11th and 12th as both endured a difficult start to the weekend in Norfolk, Nadim Azman clear of Josh Mason and Kris Wright in 13th, 14th and 15th.
Lucas Petersson hit strife on lap one and couldn’t recover to finish 16th and last.
Novalak had started on pole position from Hoggard in a tight morning qualifying session and a fast start saw him retain the lead ahead of one of British F4’s leading lights from 2018.
Hoggard eventually passed Novalak on lap five after the Carlin man ran wide at the Wilson’s hairpin, and he quickly pulled away.
Hoggard eventually built a gap of 3s that would not be
Novalak, despite setting the fastest lap in qualifying, hadn’t been happy with the balance and was pleased to take away second place from a race in which he felt there was more to come.
Hoggard will take the positives knowing that he has a four-place head-start on his early championship rival in Race Three, with the reverse-grid Race Two promising action on Sunday morning.
IMAGE: JAKOB EBREY via BRDC British F3