Johnathan Hoggard took a trouble-free victory in the opening race of the British F3 weekend to complete a perfect Saturday for Fortec Motorsport.
Hoggard claimed pole position early on Saturday morning, and led away from the start as drivers behind struggled to slot in on a competitive first lap.
Ayrton Simmons made a good start and eventually passed Kaylen Frederick for second on the first lap after three attempts, and both men would stay in their respective positions for the duration of the race.
Simmons would go on to apply light pressure to Hoggard throughout the race, looking slightly quicker but never being in a position to land a blow on the man from Lincolnshire.
A Safety Car for Lucas Petersson’s spin down at the Melbourne hairpin allowed Simmons to close up on Hoggard once more, but the gap stayed at around eight tenths of a second, with Frederick in close attendance but never a threat.
Kiern Jewiss was fourth after starting eighth to make an impressive recovery following a disappointing qualifying earlier in the day.
Championship leader Clement Novalak was fifth after holding off the rejuvenated Belgian Ulysse De Pauw in sixth.
Neil Verhagen recovered to seventh for Double R racing after a below-par ninth in qualifying this morning, Manuel Maldonado was a solid eighth ahead of Hampus Ericsson and Benjamin Pedersen.
Sassakorn Chaimongkol will be disappointed with eleventh having started sixth, Nazim Azman was twelfth with Josh Mason and Kris Wright 13th and 14th.
Pavan Ravishankar fell to 15th having ran as high as tenth, while Lucas Petersson failed to finish.
IMAGE – JAKOB EBREY