Lundqvist Fends Off Late Maini Challenge To Extend F3 Championship Lead At Silverstone

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Double R Racing’s Linus Lundqvist converted his first qualifying pole into victory at Silverstone today (Saturday), but the Swedish driver was made to work for it after a race-long challenge from Lanan Racing’s Kush Maini. Douglas Motorsport’s Jordan Cane almost made it a three-way fight for the lead after closing up on the duo in the latter stages.

Lundqvist’s win, his fourth of the year, continues his trend of taking victory at every venue visited so far this year, and extends his championship lead to 48 points over Carlin’s Nicolai Kjaergaard.

Qualifying
Lundqvist had been fastest in both Friday test sessions on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, and continued his testing form into qualifying this morning, securing pole position by just 0.051s from Maini.

Maini topped the times for much of the session before the championship leader took over at the top with less than five minutes remaining, with Maini’s second his best qualifying performance of the year so far.

A late effort for Carlin’s Clement Novalak put him third on the grid, with the British driver 0.171s away from Lundqvist’s time, and 0.040s ahead of fellow Brit Cane.

Carlin’s Billy Monger equalled his best qualifying result so far with fifth, just 0.013s behind Cane, with Jamie Chadwick 0.017s behind in sixth for Douglas Motorsport.

Championship challenger Kjaergaard was seventh, but still less than a quarter of a second off the outright pace and only 0.006s behind Chadwick. A late effort from Hillspeed’s Jusuf Owega put him eighth on the grid, with Pavan Ravishankar taking his best qualifying result of the year with ninth.

Fortec’s Tom Gamble completed a top-10 separated by just 0.687s on the second longest circuit of the year. Less than a second covered the top-13 drivers, with the top-16 separated by 1.339s,

Race one
Lundqvist stretched his championship lead with a lights to flag victory in the opening race at Silverstone, holding off a late charge from Maini to take his fourth win of the season.

Maini was just 0.392s behind at the chequered flag, with Cane taking third for Douglas Motorsport, having closed right up to the top-two in the closing stages.

Novalak claimed fourth for Carlin, holding off a race long threat from Douglas Motorsport’s Chadwick in fifth, with Kjaergaard sixth for Carlin. Owega claimed seventh for Hillspeed after a late move on Carlin’s Monger, with Double R’s Krishnaraaj Mahadik and Fortec’s Gamble completing the top-10.

Lundqvist and Maini both made good starts to lead into Copse on the first lap, with Cane getting off the line well to claim third from Novalak. Further back, Kjaergaard passed team mate Monger for sixth place, while Mahadik had a great opening tour to rise from 15th on the grid to claim 10th at the end of lap one.

Lundqvist’s lead was almost eight tenths after the opening lap, but from then on Maini was fractions quicker, and brought the margin down to just under half a second by lap seven, with Maini setting a new BRDC British F3 lap record around the newly resurfaced Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in the process.

On lap eight, Maini was close enough to Lundqvist to attempt a move. Exiting Aintree corner, he was firmly in the slipstream down the Wellington straight, and challenged at Brooklands. He was alongside but took the outside line at Luffield, with Lundqvist holding him off across the line starting lap nine, with the pair separated by just over a tenth of a second. The pair were close again at Copse at the start of lap nine, with their scrap almost bringing Cane into the battle for the lead.

Lundqvist stretched the margin back out to almost half a second starting the last lap, and held off the Indian driver to win by just under four tenths, to increase his championship lead to 48 points. Maini’s second place puts him much closer in the championship standings to Kjaergaard, while Cane climbs to seventh overall.

The top-three drivers were presented with their trophies on the podium by BRDC member and GT racer Martin Plowman.

BGT: Back-To-Back Wins For Century’s BMW M4 GT4

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An absorbing GT4 race eventually went the way of Century’s Aleksander Schjerpen and Jack Mitchell who moved into contention before the final driver change and then benefitted from the team’s sister BMW serving a 20s success penalty for winning at Snetterton.

Their victory also owed much to Equipe Verschuur’s bad luck, which saw pole-sitters Finlay Hutchison and Daniel Mckay retire with front suspension failure while leading by 35s at the start of the final hour.

That handed Ben Green and Ben Tuck the lead after the duo had worked their way up from sixth on the grid. However, their advantage over team-mate Schjerpen – who fought back from 13th after the first 30 minutes – wasn’t enough to overturn the full pitstop success penalty, which dropped them to a net third at the start of the final stint.

Meanwhile, late stops for Matthew George and Callum Pointon helped Mitchell inherit a 17s lead, which he extended by a further 10s over the closing stages thanks, partly, to setting a new GT4 lap record – 2m12.263s – and, with it, claiming the Sunoco Fastest Lap Award.

Two of Tolman Motorsport’s three McLarens retired through separate incidents, but its third – shared by Jordan Albert and Lewis Proctor – was the model of consistency en route to second despite carrying a 15s success penalty. Proctor’s incredible start helped the #5 570S leap from seventh to first, which became second by the time Hutchison had recovered after a slow getaway. There they remained throughout the race despite the various strategies moving others ahead and then behind.

Further back, the battle for the last step on the podium came down to the final laps. Tuck initially held the upper hand but eventually lost out to Matt Nicoll-Jones, whose Academy Motorsport Aston Martin he shares with Will Moore remained a top-five fixture all afternoon. Nicoll-Jones looked to have settled the matter with three laps to go, but the battle had also brought Patrik Matthiesen into play, and after the Dane dispatched Tuck at the same corner one lap later, the race was on for third. The HHC driver’s subsequent move at Luffield, which included contact with the Aston Martin, set up a grandstand run to the line. And although the Ginetta crossed it first, the positions were ultimately reversed post-race.

Tuck and Green finished fifth, while Jan Jonck and Tom Wood’s retirement with just five minutes remaining helped UltraTek Racing RJN Motorsport’s Pro/Am winners Kelvin Fletcher and Martin Plowman complete the top-six. Fletcher’s performance in the opening stint against the Silver-graded drivers particularly caught the eye, while Plowman was as rapid as ever in his pursuit of sixth over the final hour.

George and his Generation AMR co-driver James Holder led the Pro/Am class until a late drive-through penalty dropped their Aston Martin behind Plowman and Fletcher, but they still finished seventh overall on a one-off GT4 outing together. George was also scheduled to drive the #44 Invictus Games Racing Jaguar before Paul Vice retired from the race early.

HHC’s second Ginetta of Will Burns and Mike Newbould, plus Team HARD’s two G55s, completed the top-10.

BGT: Farmer & Thiim Win Thier First RAC Trophy

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Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim picked up their second victory and third podium in as many races to vault into championship contention at Silverstone after recovering from a spin and overcoming a 10s success penalty.

The Aston Martin was running second behind Ricardo Sanchez’s RJN Motorsport Nissan when Graham Davidson spun Farmer around at Maggotts in the opening stint, for which the Jetstream Motorsport driver was handed a stop/go penalty. That gave Sanchez a 16s lead before the first pitstops began after 60 minutes.

TF Sport’s decision to swap Derek Johnston with Marco Sorensen early helped the #17 Aston Martin jump ahead in the second hour, while Sanchez’s co-driver Struan Moore dropped into the clutches of the chasing pack after his seat mechanism slipped backwards, shifting his feet away from the pedals. The resulting early pitstop to rectify the issue effectively ended the pole-sitters’ hopes.

At the same time Thiim was making progress back through the field and moved into third behind Sorensen and Phil Keen when Adam Christodoulou’s Team ABBA Racing Mercedes-AMG retired with front suspension damage. Stopping later then helped the Dane inherit a lead that Farmer would retain when the second round of driver changes shook out.

However, the race was far from over thanks to the crew’s 10s success penalty for finishing third at Snetterton, which would be served at the final mandatory pitstop. Farmer pitted with exactly that advantage over Jon Minshaw, and when the Barwell Lamborghini followed TF Sport’s V12 Vantage in on the same lap it became a battle between mechanics and the stopwatch. Thiim then narrowly beat Keen off pit road and, with it, retained a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.

Instead, Keen’s attention switched to keeping Jonny Adam at bay behind. The Optimum Motorsport Aston Martin also driven by Flick Haigh started sixth but enjoyed four clean stints en route to its first podium since Oulton Park’s season opener.

Fourth should have gone to last year’s winners Rick Parfitt Jnr and Seb Morris who were reunited aboard Team Parker Racing’s Bentley as a result of Ryan Ratcliffe being taken ill with food poisoning this morning. So late was the call that Morris didn’t arrive at Silverstone until five minutes before his first stint began, by which time Parfitt Jnr had twice charged through from the back of the GT3 field after starting last – a penalty for changing drivers during the event – and then spinning mid-stint. However, the pair’s efforts were stymied by Morris’ yellow flag infringement, which resulted in a post-race two-place penalty.

Moore and Sanchez were also left to rue what might have been but still achieved RJN and NISMO’s best result of the season with fifth on the road and fourth in the final classification after finishing just 0.4s ahead of Johnston and Sorensen, whose 20s success penalty for winning at Snetterton took them out of podium contention. Nevertheless, the Dane’s pursuit of Moore over the final stint saw him claim a new GT3 lap record – 1m59.725s – and third-straight Sunoco Fastest Lap Award.

Barwell’s second Lamborghini driven by Sam De Haan and Jonny Cocker finished seventh after a mid-race spin during a feisty battle with Thiim, Shaun Balfe and Rob Bell’s McLaren was eighth, and Beechdean AMR’s Andrew Howard and Darren Turner ninth. ERC Sport’s Lee Mowle and Yelmer Buurman completed the points finishers in 10th.

Team Parker Racing’s 2am finish on Saturday morning, the result of removing one car’s engine to rectify an oil issue and taking the whole front end off the second Bentley, saw it named PMW Expo Team of the Weekend, while Minshaw’s fault-free run from 12th to second helped him win the Blancpain Driver of the Weekend Award.

2012 Whelen Challenge Winner – Felipe Nasr Wins Chevrolet Grand Prix In Detroit

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Detroit, Mich. (2 June 2018)   Whelen Engineering Racing used teamwork, strategy, and great race pace to score its first victory of the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season on Saturday in the Chevrolet Dealers Grand Prix in Detroit.

This was Whelen Engineering Racing’s second victory in three years at Belle Isle comes on Sonny Whelen’s Birthday!

Drivers Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr, (Sunoco Whelen Winner 2012),  shared the driving duties in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing DPi-V.R to capture their third podium finish of the 2018 season. The post-race celebrations, which included a jump into the Victory Circle fountain for both drivers, were further boosted by the fact that the race victory came on the birthday of long-time motorsport and Team Fox supporter Sonny Whelen.

A crash in Friday’s practice session could have set the team effort back, but instead the group rallied to make repairs in time for qualifying. Curran started the race from sixth in the order and was able to move to run in fifth before taking to the pit lane for a stop for fuel and a driver change. Nasr returned to the field 18th in the order but worked his way forward to the top five by lap 38.

A final fuel-only pit stop on lap 39 set the stage for Nasr’s run to the front as he claimed the lead on lap 44 and refused to relinquish the point to score a big win for the team.

“It is a combination of everything,” said Gary Nelson about the teams run to victory. “The drivers did one heck of a job and we are really thrilled with what they did today. The pit stops were great. I think we have the best pit crew out there and we nailed the timing of those stops with the 31 today.”

“A big shout out to the Action Express, Cadillac, and GM guys who helped us get this win,” said Curran. “This is the place to be, and the place to win in our Whelen Cadillac. Hats off to the engineering team who took a not so perfect weekend and turned it around. The team did an awesome job with the car. This is my second win in the last number of years and if you are going to win a race, this is the best place to win one. It feels so satisfying to have our first win of the year. It is also a special win as it is Sonny Whelen’s birthday from Whelen. Felipe Nasr did a killer job and put it together perfectly. Again, hats off to all the guys.”

“It was a tough race but I will take it! Eric (Curran) and the entire Action Express Racing team did a great job,” said Nasr. “After our first practice, we ended up hurting the back of the car. The guys put the car back together and we had an amazing qualifying. The race itself was all about getting the right calls and we took the Continental tires to the very end, which they hang on amazingly so I was able to drive the car fast until the end. We didn’t have a great start to  the weekend but here we are,  and I couldn’t have asked for a better day to be honest. I am super happy!”

The next race on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be the Sahlen’s Six Hour at Watkins Glen International on July 1.

BGT Race 1: First Win Of The Season For TF Sport

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A beautiful morning greeted teams and drivers at Snetterton where the first of two 60-minute races began under blue skies and bright sunshine.

Mark Farmer led away from pole and remained there for much of the opening stint until Graham Davidson and Rick Parfitt Jnr passed the Aston Martin on the same lap as the race clock ticked past one-third’s distance.

However, the timing of a Safety Car – to recover Balfe Motorsport’s stranded McLaren GT4 – would turn the race on its head. The contest was still neutralised when the pit window opened on the 25-minute mark, prompting all-but two cars – both of them GT4s – to stream into a busy pitlane.

With no success penalty to serve Jetstream’s Aston Martin should have re-joined with its advantage intact. However, a radio issue and subsequent confusion allowed TF Sport’s Nicki Thiim to assume a lead he would never lose. Indeed, the Dane completed a straightforward run to the chequered flag 7.4s ahead of Maxime Martin, who claimed his and Davidson’s maiden British GT podium.

Behind, Team Parker Racing’s challenge also faltered in the pits when a slow stop saw Parfitt Jnr’s co-driver Ryan Ratcliffe re-join in 10th. Phil Keen and Jon Minshaw therefore rounded-out the podium after their Barwell Lamborghini completed the opening stint in fourth.

Optimum Motorsport’s Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam came through from ninth on the grid to finish fourth but were penalised 30s post-race in leiu of a drive-through due to contact with Beechdean AMR’s Aston Martin, which retired during the opening stint. Sam De Haan and Jonny Cocker therefore recovered from an early spin to take fifth on the road but fourth in the final classification aboard their Barwell Huracan.

While the top-five circulated apart after the pitstops, the battle for sixth raged until almost the very end. RJN Motorsport’s Struan Moore spent most of the stint trying to fend off TF Sport’s Marco Sorensen, who – try as he might – simply couldn’t prise an opening. He finally found a way past with less than 10 minutes remaining when the Nissan’s tyres cried enough. Yelmer Buurman (ERC Sport) also nipped through shortly after, although Moore did manage to claim P8 – which subsequently became seventh – despite Callum Macleod’s best efforts.

Haigh and Adam slotted into ninth ahead of Ratcliffe and Parfitt Jnr’s delayed Bentley.

GT4: PATTISON AND OSBORNE MAKE SAFETY CAR ADVANTAGE COUNT

The Safety Car’s timing had a significant impact on the GT4 result, just as it did 12 months ago at Snetterton. But, when then David Pattison and Joe Osborne’s victory chances eroded under similar circumstances, so they benefitted this time around to claim their first victory together with Tolman Motorsport and McLaren.

The opening stint belonged to Century Motorsport’s pole-sitter Ben Tuck who was more than four seconds clear of the chasing pack when the Safety Car intervened. Silver Cup pairings are required to serve a longer pitstop than their Pro/Am rivals, and when the field streamed in nose-to-tail it was clear the latter crews would instantly enjoy a 12s advantage.

Pattison pitted from third in Pro/Am but, despite Tolman having to service three cars, Osborne re-joined in second overall behind Matthew George’s Invictus Games Racing Jaguar, which was subsequently penalised for a short pitstop. But Osborne didn’t wait for the F-Type to serve its penalty and duly took the lead before cruising to a comfortable first British GT win since 2012.

Behind, similar penalties for UltraTek Racing’s Nissans helped Tolman’s #5 McLaren inherit second overall and first in the Silver Cup class. Michael O’Brien’s fast opening stint saw the 570S climb from seventh to fourth before Charlie Fagg took over. He then spent most of the final 30 minutes fending off Matt Nicoll-Jones, whose Academy co-driver Will Moore also ran third before the pit window opened, as well as Team Parker’s Scott Malvern whose co-driver Nick Jones pitted from 11th in class. Only a second covered the trio at the finish.

Two front-runners caught out by the late pitstop call were Century and Track-Club. The latter’s Adam Balon pitted from the Pro/Am lead and would have likely emerged first overall were it not for an overly long pitstop. As it was co-driver Ben Barnicoat finished fifth ahead of Ben Green, whose co-driver Tuck had seen his hard work wiped out by the Safety Car.

Daniel Mckay and Finlay Hutchison’s Equipe Verschuur McLaren and the third Tolman 570S driven by Jordan Albert and Lewis Proctor completed the top-eight, although the latter crew was penalised 30s post-race in lieu of a drive-through for overtaking before the start/finish line after the Safety Car was withdrawn.

That promoted Patrik Matthiesen and Callum Pointon to eighth after HHC’s duo recovered from their additional 10s pitstop success penalty, while Sennan Fielding and Tom Canning also worked miracles aboard their Steller Motorsport Toyota to finish ninth despite starting from the pitlane. Fox Motorsport’s Michael Broadhurst and Mark Murfitt completed the points-paying positions in 10th.

BGT Race 2: TF Sport & Aston Martin Double Up At Snetterton While Century’s Tuck & Green Give BMW First GT4 Win

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Derek Johnston and Marco Sorensen gave TF Sport and Aston Martin their second British GT victory of the day at Snetterton after fending off Beechdean AMR’s similar V12 Vantage over the closing stages of this afternoon’s 60-minute race.

Meanwhile, a stunning comeback drive resulted in first GT4 wins for Century Motorsport’s Ben Tuck and Ben Green, as well as BMW’s maiden class victory in the series.

GT3: JOHNSTON HOLDS OFF HOWARD FOR VICTORY

Derek Johnston and Marco Sorensen rounded off a dominant weekend for TF Sport by adding to their team-mates’ two poles and Race 1 victory after prevailing in a close battle with Andrew Howard and Darren Turner. Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim completed the podium after the full 10s pitstop success penalty dropped them behind the top-two at half-distance.

A Safety Car period – required at the end of lap one to retrieve Ben Barnicoat’s damaged Track-Club McLaren – left Thiim with less time to convert his pole position into a meaningful lead over Sorensen, who jumped from third to second at the start.

Indeed, the two Aston Martins circulated roughly two seconds apart before the pit window opened, ensuring that Johnston would re-join ahead after the mandatory driver change.

Turner also remained close enough to the #17 Aston Martin and similarly handicapped #33 Barwell Lamborghini during the opening stint to vault Beechdean AMR from fourth to second after the stops. And from there co-driver Howard set about reducing the gap to race leader Johnston.

The two Vantages were soon running together but, try as he might, Howard was unable to pressure Johnston into a mistake. They remained locked together until the chequered flag where just 0.5s separated the pair.

Behind, slick work from TF Sport’s pit crew helped Farmer re-join marginally ahead of Jon Minshaw whose Barwell co-driver Phil Keen had pitted from third. While the #11 Aston Martin pulled clear to claim its second podium of the weekend, Minshaw slipped into the clutches of Optimum Motorsport’s Flick Haigh, who soon demoted the Huracan to fifth.

That temporarily became sixth in the closing moments when Graham Davidson’s lunge at the Wilson hairpin resulted in contact and sent Minshaw spinning. The move earned Jetstream’s driver a 30s post-race penalty and saw Barwell’s #33 Huracan move back up to fifth in the final classification.

That also promoted Jordan Witt and Struan Moore’s RJN Motorsport Nissan to sixth ahead of Lee Mowle and Yelmer Buurman (ERC Sport Mercedes-AMG), and Rick Parfitt Jnr and Ryan Ratcliffe (Team Parker Bentley). Davidson and co-driver Maxime Martin slotted into ninth ahead of Sam De Haan and Jonny Cocker (Barwell).

Sorensen added the Sunoco Fastest Lap of the Weekend trophy to TF Sport’s haul, while Farmer completed a perfect two days for the team when he was named Blancpain Driver of the Weekend for claiming Race 1 pole, a victory and third place.

All of that sees Mowle and Buurman continuing to lead the GT3 Drivers’ standings by 4.5 points from Minshaw and Keen. Howard and Turner are 8.5 further back in third.

GT4: TUCK AND GREEN FIGHT BACK TO WIN

Ben Green, Ben Tuck and BMW claimed their maiden British GT4 victories in Snetterton’s second race this afternoon’s despite spinning in the opening stint. Tolman Motorsport’s McLaren duo of Lewis Proctor and Jordan Albert scored their first podium together in second while Academy Motorsport’s Matt Nicoll-Jones and Will Moore completed theirs and Aston Martin’s excellent weekend with a second third place finish.

Green was running amongst the lead battle when he and Dan Mckay’s Equipe Verschuur McLaren made contact, which sent the M4 spinning down to 12th. Green had recovered two of those places before the pit window opened, and Century’s decision to pit a lap earlier than their rivals – as well as Tuck’s pace thereafter – helped the BMW immediately jump up to fourth.

That became second when both David Pattison and Will Moore were dispatched in quick succession, but it took until the penultimate lap for Tuck to reel in and pass long-time leader Proctor.

The opening stint represented GT4 at its very best thanks to multiple manufacturers battling nose-to-tail at the front. Nicoll-Jones initially converted pole position into a slender lead but was soon overhauled by Century’s second BMW driven by Jack Mitchell, who also started on the front row. Joe Osborne, Mckay, Scott Malvern and Jesse Anttila completed an incredibly close top-six when the pitstop window opened after 25 minutes.

The combination of Silver Cup minimum pitstop times and success penalties jumbled the order after the driver changes shook out, with Osborne’s co-driver Pattison now leading ahead of Tolman team-mate Proctor. The amateur driver was always likely to lose ground against his younger rivals, though, so it was no surprise when he dropped to fourth behind Proctor, Moore and Tuck.

Thereafter it was all about the BMW driver whose charge up the order first saw him pass Moore’s Aston Martin and then Proctor’s McLaren, which had originally pitted from seventh in the hands of Albert. 2.5s covered the top-two at the finish.

Balfe Motorsport’s Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson put the disappointment of Race 1 retirement behind them to claim fourth overall and Pro/Am victory ahead of HHC’s #55 Ginetta driven by Callum Pointon and Patrik Matthiesen, while Tolman’s second Silver Cup 570S of Charlie Fagg and Michael O’Brien completed the top-six.

Pattison and Osborne’s McLaren finished seventh ahead of the BMW shared by Mitchell and Alexander Schjerpen, which had led early on. Two Mercedes-AMGs completed the points-paying positions with Fox Motorsport’s Mark Murfitt and Michael Broadhurst beating Team Parker’s Nick Jones and Malvern to ninth.

Elsewhere, Equipe Verschuur’s Mckay claimed the Sunoco Fastest Lap of the Weekend prize while PMW Expo Team of the Weekend went to UltraTek Racing Team RJN who spent all of Saturday and then Sunday morning replacing their #53 Nissan’s engine and fixing the resulting issues.

Just half-a-point now separates Pointon and Matthiesen from O’Brien and Fagg at the top of the GT4 drivers’ standings. Nicoll-Jones and Moore are third while today’s winners Tuck and Green, and Osborne and Pattison move up to fourth and fifth respectively.

Next up it’s British GT’s blue riband event – the three-hour Silverstone 500 – on June 9/10.

DRIVER QUOTES

Derek Johnston, #17 TF Sport Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3: “Andrew [Howard] made me work really hard for that! I’d gap him by a couple of car lengths and then we’d hit traffic. I thought ‘there’s no way he’ll be able to follow me through,’ and there he was, still right behind! He didn’t give an inch and kept me honest the whole race. The back of the car was unstable under braking – I don’t know if Marco [Sorensen] wrecked the tyres in his stint or what! – but I definitely had an issue over the second half of the stint. It was a great race and I loved the battle.”

Ben Tuck, #42 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4: “I could see that I was slowly catching Lewis [Proctor] but every time a GT3 car came past the gap between us grew again. I was on the radio asking how many GT3s were left behind us because I was desperate to get him, which we managed to do on the penultimate lap. The team were really on it and gave me all the information I needed about cars coming up behind. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Lundqvist Ups The Whelen Ante But Whorton-Eales struggles At Snetterton

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A bumper outing for Sunoco Whelen and 240 Challenge-eligible championships at Snetterton last weekend resulted in respective leaders Linus Lundqvist and Kyle Reid maintaining their places at the top of both standings.

Whelen: Lundqvist strengthens his lead

A combination of increasing his overall score and nearest rivals losing ground helped Linus Lundqvist consolidate his Sunoco Whelen Challenge lead at Snetterton where maximum points for a victory, pole position and fastest lap, as well as another podium, helped the BRDC British F3 Championship leader post an improved average score of 102.5.

The Swede began the weekend just one point ahead of nearest rival Phil Keen. However, a solid if unspectacular British GT3 round for the 2015 Sunoco Whelen Challenge winner has seen the gap widen to 10.1. His new overall mark of 92.4 is 6.57 more than a resurgent Nicolai Kjaergaard who increased his average by more than 13 points after claiming a British F3 win, pole, fastest lap and podium.

Radical European Masters’ Stuart Moseley remains fourth after enjoying a weekend off, while British GT3 Pro Yelmer Buurman has dropped 20 points and two places to fifth.

The biggest movers over the weekend were British GT3 Pro team-mates Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen. Race 2 victory and fastest lap helped the latter vault 14 places to seventh, one spot behind his Danish counterpart whose win, pole position, fastest lap and podium gained him 22 positions. However, their new 69.3 and 68.2 averages are still more than 30 points less than Lundqvist’s current table-topping total.

Darren Turner dropped from fifth to eighth, LMP3 Cup’s Brad Smith – who wasn’t in action –  moved up one place to ninth, and Tolman Motorsport team-mates Charlie Fagg and Michael O’Brien became British GT4 Pro’s best placed entries in joint-10th.

Elsewhere, former top-10 drivers Patrik Matthiesen, Jonny Adam and Callum Macleod slipped to 13th, 14thand 24threspectively.

240: Mini Challenge JCW aces falter

A tough weekend at Snetterton saw Mini Challenge JCW front runners Ant Whorton-Eales and Jordan Collard both lose significant ground to Sunoco 240 Challenge pace-setters Kyle Reid and Steve Burgess.

Whorton-Eales went into the weekend third overall and 10.67 points behind Reid, whose exceptional start to this year’s Mini Challenge Cooper campaign has helped him amass a 124-point average. Only a strong weekend would help his JCW counterpart maintain the pressure, but that’s exactly what Whorton-Eales didn’t achieve when a mechanical issue in Race 1 not only resulted in retirement but also 27thon Race 2’s grid. The handful of Sunoco 240 Challenge points scored for finishing seventh came as little comfort after dropping to ninth overall and 38.33 points behind Reid.

JCW championship rival Collard also endured his fair share of tribulations. An administrative error not only cost him pole position but also resulted in starting Race 1 from the back of the grid. Fastest lap in Race 2 limited the damage a little, but – just like Whorton-Eales – his overall 240 score took a sizeable hit after dropping from 91.67 to 68.

Radical Challenge driver Dominic Jackson inherited third at both Mini drivers’ expense, while F3 Cup racer Stuart Wiltshire moved ahead of three British GT Am drivers after Jon Minshaw, Kelvin Fletcher and Lee Mowle all lost ground.

Problems for others actually helped Minshaw move up three places to fifth in spite of his new, lower 79.2 average, while Fletcher also picked up a spot to lie sixth overall.

Robbie Dalgleish (Mini Challenge Cooper) and David Pattison share seventh, the latter jumping up from 22ndafter a first British GT4 victory improved his average by 16.5 points. The pair’s 77-point total is just seven less than Wiltshire’s in fourth.

Whorton-Eales and British GT4 Am Nick Jones complete the top-10, while Mowle dropped to 12thbehind Adam Balon.

Smith Takes A Whelen Tumble As Burgess Slashes Reid’s 240 Advantage

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Outings for a number of Sunoco 240 Challenge-eligible series have resulted in a few significant changes at the competition’s sharp end in recent weeks as the 2018 campaign begins to hit its stride. However, it’s still Mini Challenge Cooper’s early pace-setter Kyle Reid who continues to lead an incredibly competitive top-10 from Steve Burgess and Ant Whorton-Eales.

Meanwhile, the ‘senior’ Sunoco Whelen Challenge is set for another crucial weekend at Snetterton following a reasonably quiet fortnight.

 Whelen: Smith tumbles to fringes of top-10

With the majority of the top-10 not in action until this weekend, all eyes were on LMP3 Cup contender Brad Smith at Brands Hatch last Saturday and Sunday. Two fastest laps plus a second and third would have ordinarily helped to consolidate his fifth place in the Whelen standings, but such was the low turnout that the Mectech Motorsport driver actually dropped five positions and almost 20 points.

BRDC British F3 ace Linus Lundqvist therefore maintains his place atop the standings ahead of this weekend’s outing in Norfolk. The Swede is just one point clear of British GT3 Pro and 2015 Sunoco Whelen Challenge winner Phil Keen who, in turn, enjoys a 3.67-point advantage over title rival Yelmer Buurman. Stuart Mosely, 10.25 marks further back in fourth, resumes his Radical European Masters campaign at Spa-Francorchamps on June 9/10.

240: Burgess closes on Reid

 Brands Hatch was the place to be for Sunoco 240 Challenge categories last weekend when Radical UK Challenge, F3 Cup and GT Cup all staged rounds at the Kent venue.

Mini Challenge Cooper’s outing seven days earlier at Snetterton had seen Kyle Reid maintain his excellent start by bagging all three victories, two fastest laps and a pole position. However, such was his even better season opener at Donington that the SCK Motorsport driver actually dropped from 130 points to 124.

While still a very impressive total after five races, it did at least give nearest rival Steve Burgess a chance to capitalise. An average of 120 for the weekend thanks to three Radical UK Challenge wins and as many fastest laps allowed him to do just that, with 3.17 points now separating the pair after the same number of races.

Mini Challenge JCW duo Ant Whorton-Eales and Jordan Collard both have another chance to make further inroads this weekend at Snetterton after already benefitting from Stephen Daly’s Brands Hatch non-score, which cost the F3 Cup driver 46.67 points and 12 places.

Two podiums and fastest laps left Radical UK Challenge’s Dominic Jackson with the same total as he began the weekend – 88.33 – while British GT3 Am Lee Mowle – currently just 0.33 points behind Jackson – has two more points-scoring opportunities this weekend at Snetterton. The same goes for leading British GT4 Am contender Kelvin Fletcher who picked up two places in the overall standings at the expense of Daly and fellow F3 Cup driver Shane Kelly.

Jon Minshaw is eighth, one place and just 0.33 points ahead of F3 Cup’s new leading contender Stuart Wiltshire, who recorded a victory and second place at Brands Hatch.

 

 

 

Lundqvist In Top-Spot

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A stellar weekend for Linus Lundqvist at Rockingham not only helped the Swede take the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship lead but also head the race for 2019’s Rolex 24 At Daytona prize drive.

Two of British F3’s races carry Sunoco Whelen Challenge points, and Lundqvist made both count courtesy of a victory, second place, pole position and fastest lap. That took his season’s average score to 100, 12.5 more than he achieved at the opening round earlier this month.

Lundqvist therefore leads Phil Keen by just one point after the British GT3 Pro suffered a mixed bag at Rockingham where points for pole position helped boost a relatively modest sixth place finish. However, his overall average was still cut by 13.75 points.

Mercedes-AMG factory driver Yelmer Buurman enjoyed a solid first British GT appearance at Oulton Park but announced himself as a genuine Whelen contender by winning from the back of the GT3 grid at Rockingham. The 100 points earned for doing so took his season’s average to 95.33, 7.83 more than fourth placed Stuart Moseley (Radical Masters SR8) and another 5.25 clear of Brad Smith (LMP3 Cup), neither of whom were in action last weekend.

Four of the top-10’s remaining places are now also filled by British GT drivers, Darren Turner’s GT3 podium helping him climb four positions to sixth ahead of GT4 race winner Patrik Matthiesen whose new class lap record also helped increase the Dane’s average by 33 points.

Jonny Adam and Callum Macleod are ninth and 10th, the latter moving up 10 places thanks to a GT3 rostrum, but both remain behind British F3’s Nicolai Kjaergaard despite the Dane’s average total being cut by 30 points.

British F3’s Lundqvist Stakes His Daytona Claim At Rockingham

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British GT, Mini Challenge JCW and BRDC British Formula 3 all staged their latest rounds last weekend at Rockingham where the latter’s Linus Lundqvist surged into the Sunoco Whelen Challenge lead.

Meanwhile, both Ant Whorton-Eales and Jordan Collard consolidated their status as Sunoco 240 Challenge contenders by again dominating the JCW class’ latest outing.

 Whelen: Lundqvist leaps into top-spot

A stellar weekend for Linus Lundqvist at Rockingham not only helped the Swede take the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship lead but also head the race for 2019’s Rolex 24 At Daytona prize drive.

Two of British F3’s races carry Sunoco Whelen Challenge points, and Lundqvist made both count courtesy of a victory, second place, pole position and fastest lap. That took his season’s average score to 100, 12.5 more than he achieved at the opening round earlier this month.

Lundqvist therefore leads Phil Keen by just one point after the British GT3 Pro suffered a mixed bag at Rockingham where points for pole position helped boost a relatively modest sixth place finish. However, his overall average was still cut by 13.75 points.

Mercedes-AMG factory driver Yelmer Buurman enjoyed a solid first British GT appearance at Oulton Park but announced himself as a genuine Whelen contender by winning from the back of the GT3 grid at Rockingham. The 100 points earned for doing so took his season’s average to 95.33, 7.83 more than fourth placed Stuart Moseley (Radical Masters SR8) and another 5.25 clear of Brad Smith (LMP3 Cup), neither of whom were in action last weekend.

Four of the top-10’s remaining places are now also filled by British GT drivers, Darren Turner’s GT3 podium helping him climb four positions to sixth ahead of GT4 race winner Patrik Matthiesen whose new class lap record also helped increase the Dane’s average by 33 points.

Jonny Adam and Callum Macleod are ninth and 10th, the latter moving up 10 places thanks to a GT3 rostrum, but both remain behind British F3’s Nicolai Kjaergaard despite the Dane’s average total being cut by 30 points.

240: Victories keep Whorton-Eales in the hunt

Dominant opening weekends for Kyle Reid and Steve Burgess ensured that Mini Challenge JCW and British GT Am front-runners were unable to overhaul the Mini Cooper and Radical Challenge drivers’ totals at Rockingham. However, several remain in contention should either of the early pace-setters falter next time out.

Two victories and a pole position represent a good return by anyone’s standard. However, a higher average at Oulton Park actually saw Ant Whorton-Eales lose ground in the 240 standings to not only Reid and Burgess but also F3 Cup driver Stephen Daly. Nevertheless, the JCW ace’s new total of 113.33 – reduced by 6.67 marks – still represents an excellent return from the first two weekends.

Indeed, current leader Reid – as well as Burgess and Daly – must maintain incredibly high standards throughout the campaign if they’re to fend off Whorton-Eales and fellow JCW title challenger Jordan Collard who remains fifth in the 240 standings, albeit with 13.33 fewer points than at the start of Rockingham’s race weekend.

British GT3 race winner Lee Mowle increased his average by 11 points to move up six places to seventh behind Radical Challenge racer Dominic Jackson, who also inherited a spot without turning a wheel. That was partly thanks to Jon Minshaw dropping from seventh to 10th following a frustrating British GT3 outing.

Minshaw’s misfortune also promoted F3 Cup’s Shane Kelly to eighth and partly helped British GT4’s Kelvin Fletcher, who climbed from 18th to ninth with a much-improved 86.17 average score courtesy of the class’ fastest amateur lap and Pro/Am podium.

But there was also disappointment for fellow GT4 Am Adam Balon who dropped from sixth to 12th overall.