Open Wheel Racing

14th October 2018

British F3: Reaction – Silverstone meeting abandoned as Race Three is cancelled, Linus Lundqvist wins Sunoco Whelen Challenge

Racing has been abandoned at Silverstone, meaning that the British F3 Championship has been shortened to 23 races for 2018 as Round 24 has been cancelled as a result.

Race Two on Sunday morning was an effective non-event as reverse grid polesitter Josh Mason was declared the winner after two laps behind the Safety Car. The announcement means that 2018 British F3 Champion Linus Lundqvist wins the Whelen Sunoco Challenge and has a fully paid for seat at the Daytona 24 Hours in January.

As expected, there was a variety of opinions about whether it was the right decision.

Lundqvist, who wrapped the championship up on Saturday with a victory, was circumspect about the decision.

“The rain has decreased and they had ran cars around the track but they’ve obviously decided it was too wet. If it was as much rain as we had in the first race earlier then I 100% agree. That was undriveable, we were aquaplaning in a straight line behind the Safety Car so you couldn’t race.

“If the rain had decreased and track had got better then maybe we could have had a go, but as hard as it is to say sometimes it is safety first and if conditions are as bad as this morning, then it’s certainly the right call.”

On hearing the news that he had won the Sunoco Challenge, the Swede was almost overcome.

“Oh MAN, this feels unreal. I’ve just got the news and I don’t know what to say. This is….I’ve never been to the States to begin with, Jesus Christ! I’m going to live my dream and I’m going to enjoy every second of this.

“2018 could not have gone any better. I said it was an unreal feeling after winning the British F3 Championship yesterday but this is an unbelievable feeling and a cherry on top.”

Krish Mahadik’s challenge for third place was halted as a result of the decision to cancel racing, and he felt that drivers should have been allowed to sample conditions once again.

“Conditions are quite bad but the rain has slowed down quite a lot. I think we should have been given the chance to do what we are here to do and get out on the circuit and see what it was like.

“Declaring Race Two after two laps was a bit annoying because I was fighting for third in the Championship, I was two points behind and because full points were awarded I have now ended the season eight points away because we finished the way we started. It’s a bit bizarre if I’m honest because the guy who’s last in race one wins.”

Fellow Indian Kush Maini, who claimed third place in the championship as a result, was unsurprisingly less dissatisfied with the decision.

“Race Two was a disaster, I was aquaplaning on the straight at 30mph. I didn’t see any racing happening then. It calmed down for a bit but then it started raining again. At the end of the day it’s not my choice, it’s the organisers and if that is what he says then that is what it is.”

14th October 201814th October 2018

British F3 – Race Two thwarted by the weather: Josh Mason declared the winner

The second race of the final British F3 round of the season has been declared null and void, after an attempt to start behind the Safety Car was abandoned with two laps completed in torrential rain at Silverstone.

Lanan Racing’s Josh Mason was declared the winner after leading the race by default after starting on pole for the fully reversed grid from race one on Saturday ahead of Ben Hurst and Arvin Esmaeili.

Full points have been awarded for the race despite only completing two laps of a scheduled ten, and seven minutes of a scheduled twenty minutes.

Double R Racing’s Linus Lundqvist wrapped up the title yesterday with a win in the first race of the weekend to take an 85-point lead with 72 available from the next two races.

A Clerk of the Course Decision, signed by Clerk of the Course David Scott states:

‘Race two of the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship on Sunday 14 October was started behind the Safety Car in accordance with MSA Regulations.

‘The race was abandoned due to heavy rain and standing water and the cars were returned to the Pit Lane.

‘The results show that the leader had completed TWO laps. In accordance with BRDC British Formula 3 Championship regulation 1.6.4 full points are awarded.’

Mason therefore is awarded the victory, with the top-three completed by Hillspeed’s Ben Hurst and Douglas Motorsport’s Arvin Esmaeili. With the race run entirely behind the Safety Car, the finishing order is exactly the same as the starting positions.”

Race Three is scheduled to get underway at 2:10pm.

13th October 2018

British F3 – Gamble: A good start to the Silverstone weekend

Fortec Racing’s Tom Gamble declared himself satisfied with his start to the final weekend of the BRDC British F3 season after qualifying third and finishing second for the first race of the weekend.

Gamble challenged for the lead on the first lap but was edged out by winner and eventual champion Linus Lundqvist after deposing Billy Monger from second place.

Gamble chose to back out of a risky first lap manoeuvre but couldn’t land a blow thereafter.

“Gaining position from where you start is always great. I got a good run on Linus on the run into turn two, but I didn’t want to make it stick as I was on the outside for Becketts so I thought better of it really and settled for second. I hoped that I could get a good run on him down the Hangar straight but it didn’t happen, it was a great race and we have a good lap for race three so far so it is a good way to start the weekend.”

Gamble has been involved in a tight battle for third in the Championship for most of the season with Lanan driver Kush Maini.

Maini has had a poor start to this weekend, qualifying in 15th before racing to 11th in race one, but Gamble also has an eye on another rival

“It has been really close for third this season and now Krish Mahadik is in the fight as well and it’s all to play for. As ever we’ll be trying our hardest tomorrow to get on the podium and seal maybe another win.”

After two jet-propelled getaways in an ultimately disappointing Donington Park weekend, Gamble made up another position today at the expense of Monger, although the teenager from Nottingham insists there is no secret to the start.

“I’ve always had quite good reactions and I’ve been good this season at gauging where the lights are and getting the perfect jump, which is good. That helps a lot obviously with single seaters being very difficult to overtake in with the aero you have. The more positions you get at the start, the better.”

13th October 2018

British F3 – Monger: We’re making steps forward

Billy Monger was satisfied with his Saturday work after missing out on pole position and taking his fourth podium of the season at an unsettled Silverstone.

Monger took two pole positions in wet conditions at Donington Park three weeks ago and feels he could have secured another one in a wet Silverstone qualifying in the morning.

£The progress we’ve been making in the last few rounds has been good, we got the double pole at Donington and today in qualifying we had potential for pole. I lost about six tenths on the data as I caught a backmarker on my best lap so that was a pole chance.

£The fact that I know that in my heart of hearts I can get on the front row is a really good showing for the improvements I’ve made. Hopefully tomorrow we can pray for some rain.”

Despite two poles and a podium at Donington, Monger left the East Midlands frustrated after missing out on victory in all three races.

The man from Kent was less annoyed at being denied in the first half of this weekend

“At Donington I had double pole and I was the fastest by two tenths in every session so the fact that we didn’t win a race really, really annoyed me and really wound me up.

“Qualifying today without that backmarker, we could have been in a different position and that race could have been different but if I’m honest, we didn’t have the pace of that front two. There’s nothing wrong with that, it just shows that we need to work harder overnight to find some pace for tomorrow.”

With Carlin teammate Nicolai Kjaergaard now out of the title race after his DNF and Linus Lundqvist’s seventh victory of the season, Monger gave short shrift to the idea that there was ever any agreement between the teammates to help the Dane.

“It was always every man for himself. I’m here to race and I’m here to win races and I don’t think that Nicolai would want to win a championship with my help, he’d want to because he was the best over the season. Unfortunately Linus has been the most consistent. Nicolai has had bad luck along the way, overall it has been a good battle for the title between them two and I’m sure Nicolai will come out tomorrow and finish strongly.”

13th October 2018

British F3 – Lundqvist: We’ve put Donington behind us

Linus Lundqvist says he and his Double R team have forgotten about an awful Donington Park weekend with pole position at the British F3 Silverstone Shootout.

While Lundqvist has a Championship lead of 50 points over Nicolai Kjaergaard, a terrible round in the East Midlands saw him qualify 14th and secure finishes of 9th and 15th coupled with a DNF.

“We proved at Rockingham earlier this year that we were quick in the wet and we are happy to prove that again today.

“It was a really exciting session, the car was really good and I am happy with my performance especially going into this weekend with questions about how we would perform after Donington, but we have put that one behind us and came into this one with a clear mind.”

While it would be easy to look to score good points and not worry about winning in the name of safeguarding the Championship, Lundqvist won’t be doing maths in the cockpit.

“I don’t try to focus on where Nicolai is at, I’m at the front and that is all that matters. We want to finish this year on a high with more wins and that will definitely be the target for the first race regardless of whether it is wet or dry.”

Lundqvist shrugged off his wet weather struggles at Donington to take charge of qualifying on Saturday morning.

“It’s always a bit tricky in the wet, especially when it’s a drying track because the speed you can carry differs from lap to lap and you know towards the end you can push more but you don’t want to overheat the tyres too much. I got into a good rhythm, set a quicker lap and then a few cool down laps before pushing again.”

The Swede was happy with the feel of his Double R Tatuus machine and feels that was a contributing factor to a relatively big gap by BRDC British F3 standards.

“Towards the end, it was the second to last lap that I set my best time so the track was constantly drying. It was four tenths between me and the guy in second, it was good to feel comfortable from lap one and be able to push for the rest of the session. We spoke about tyre pressures and getting into the mindset of cooling the tyres if you feel them getting too hot. Everyone did a good job.”

IMAGE: Jakob Ebrey via www.britishf3.com

13th October 201813th October 2018

British F3 – Championship leader Lundqvist takes final qualifying pole of the season at Silverstone

Double R’s Linus Lundqvist took the final qualifying pole position of the season in tricky conditions at Silverstone, while his title rival Nicolai Kjaergaard managed fourth.

A topsy-turvy start saw Kush Maini set the initial pace before Billy Monger and Tom Gamble took their turns at the top of the standings at the early stages of the session.

Lundqvist and Double R flexed their muscles from the middle of the session, and the Swede proved difficult to usurp from top spot.

Monger would later set two purple sectors before losing three seconds in the final sector on his way to second for Carlin Racing, with Gamble eventually third ahead of Kjaergaard.

Kjaergaard – who needs to put together a near-perfect weekend to steal the championship from Lundqvist – struggled all session and languished for much of the session in the lower reaches of the top 10.

Lundqvist has a 50 point lead over Kjaergaard with just three races remaining.

Clement Novolak will start fifth on his return from injury ahead of Manuel Maldonado. Ayrton Simmons goes from seventh with Krish Mahadik, Hampus Ericsson and Jamie Chadwick completing the top ten.

Image: Jakob Ebrey

4th October 2018

Ericsson considering IndyCar, Super Formula for 2019

Marcus Ericsson has said he is targeting a move to either IndyCar or Super Formula for 2019 following the loss of his Sauber Formula One race seat.

Ericsson will remain with Sauber next year as reserve driver and brand ambassador, but has said he is also looking to continue racing with a full-time drive in another single-seater category.

“I want to race at the highest level possible [next year] because I see myself coming back to Formula One in the future,” Ericsson said.

“To be able to come back to F1, I want to stay in single-seaters and fast cars. IndyCar is the best series to do that in.

“We’re talking to some teams there and I think it is a realistic target.”

Most of IndyCar’s 2019 drives have already been settled, although seats are still available at Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports, Carlin and Juncos Racing.

Ericsson has also admitted Japan’s Super Formula is “also an option”, and that he would be interested in contesting the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

But despite insisting on a single-seater programme for 2019 to keep him prepared for an F1 return, Ericsson said that Formula E is not high on his preferences:

“It is interesting in many aspects but to stay in F1-type of driving it’s maybe not the best one.

“FE is more of a career move. There are some other options that you can keep on the F1 radar [to] come back.”

23rd September 201823rd September 2018

British F3 – Monger: I want to be judged as a racing driver

Billy Monger says he wants to be judged as a racing driver only after missing out on two British F3 victories on his return to Donington Park.

Monger had qualified on pole position for Saurdays wet Race One before a lock up saw him slip back into sixth.

He would go on to recover to fourth, before setting the fastest lap in Race Two to earn pole for the final race of the day.

Another lock up when leading from teammate Nicolai Kjaergaard cost him three places, before fellow Carlin driver Jamie Caroline broke his suspension to leave Monger third.

Despite podiums and good pace on his first return to the scene of his life-changing accident a year ago, Monger was not satisfied.

“It could have been more,” the 19-year-old began.

“I’ve been the fastest driver in all conditions this weekend, fastest in the wet on Thursday, qualifying pole on Saturday and the fastest lap earlier.

“It’s such a frustrating time as a driver when you know that the speed you have is quicker than anyone else and a couple of mistakes cost you the results you deserve.”

Monger made no excuses for not converting those poles into victories.

“I have only myself to blame. In race one, I locked up and went on the grass and it was the same again today, I was in the lead and locked up early on at the chicane and cost myself three positions.

“As a racing driver, which is what I want to be seen as, the performances in the races this weekend were not up to the standards that I need to be hitting. I have to accept that and make sure I come back at Silverstone stronger.”

Monger is looking forward to the British F3 Championship’s return to Silverstone in three weeks’ time, where he was also quick back in June.

“Obviously coming back to Donington was a bit of a challenge as everyone knows, but my performances weren’t good enough in the race. I know that I’m capable of putting it on pole position, I’ve had two this weekend so I want to keep them coming and get the results I deserve in the races.”

With a lot of the build-up to this weekend centring on Monger’s accident last year, he insists that once he got back into the car that previous events weren’t on his mind.

“This weekend I haven’t thought about it at all. Obviously that’s a good thing. I’ve shown (that it hasn’t affected me) in the way that I have driven this weekend with the speed I’ve had.

“But for a few mistakes, we should have had two wins. I’ll have to take that on the chin and not get too down about it, I have work to do at Silverstone.”

IMAGE: Jamie Sheldrick/Spacesuit Media

23rd September 201823rd September 2018

British F3 – Kjaergaard reignites British F3 title race

Nicolai Kjaergaard took another victory in race three at Donington Park to spark new life into the British F3 championship, with three races left at Silverstone in three weeks’ time.

Kjaergaard’s second victory completed a clean sweep for Carlin after Sun Yue Yang’s reverse grid race two win in another race that was punctuated by a long safety car period.

Krish Mahadik capped a strong weekend with another podium in second to move to fourth in the championship standings, while polesitter Billy Monger was a disappointed third after a mistake from the lead dropped him back.

Jamie Caroline broke his suspension when running second behind Kjaergaard, apparently on a kerb, to effectively cut the race to a four lap sprint.

Little changed as Kjaergaard stroked it home to complete his objective of “postponing” the championship, while Monger couldn’t make inroads on a resolute Mahadik.

Championship leader Lundqvist was only 11th, meaning the gap that was 111 points going into the weekend is now just 50 points after a challenging Donington Park experience.

Tom Gamble, who was stripped of second place in race two because of issues with nuts and bolts in his engine, suffered more engine problems and could only manage 17th after contact with Kush Maini earned him a 5.5s penalty. Maini meanwhile had a miserable 18th birthday weekend with a DNF in race two and 16th in race three.

Caroline would later be disqualified for failure to comply with double waved yellow flags.

23rd September 201823rd September 2018

British F3 – Sun Yue Yang the shining light in a crazy race two

Sun Yue Yang was the eventual winner of a race two that saw a red flag and championship leader Linus Lundqvist involved in a race-ending accident at the subsequent restart.

Yang was the beneficiary from a full reverse grid to start from pole position but in the initial staging of the race he lost his lead as the electric Tom Gamble leapt from sixth into the lead.

The Chinese driver was handed a reprieve when Manuel Maldonado brought the red flag out for an incident at McLean’s on lap one, resulting in a full race restart.

A ten-minute delay ensued, and Yang made no mistake with his second start to lead away despite another Gamble rocket.

The same cannot be said for Arvin Esmaeili. The Swede’s Douglas car was spun across the circuit and fired onto the racing line for the first corner, and the ensuing chaos claimed four victims.

Alongside Esmaeili Jusuf Owega was hit, while Kush Maini’s rear suspension was damaged and Linus Lundqvist continued his bad weekend when he was collected in the same accident.

If Lundqvist outscored Nicolai Kjaergaard by five points he would have won the British F3 title with a weekend to spare, instead after a disappointing Saturday he has lost 32 points this weekend to his nearest rival, meaning he now cannot confirm the title until Silverstone in three weeks’ time.

That brought the Safety Car out for five laps and by the time it peeled into the pits there were only five minutes of racing left.

Gamble had enough time to depose Double R’s Pavan Ravishankar from second on the penultimate lap but couldn’t make an impact on Yang.

Yesterday’s polesitter Billy Monger will start from pole position after taking the fastest lap over the first two races. Nicolai Kjaergaard was 12th after being held up by the second-first lap antics, although he will start third due to his quickest lap.

CREDIT: JAKOB EBREY via BritishF3.com