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Category: Indians Abroad
News about Indians racing in different motorsports events abroad
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CS Santosh finishes first stage in 23rd place: Andalucia Rally
Villamartin (Spain), 7 Oct 2020: Hero MotoSports Team Rally has started its first campaign of the season on a positive note with all three riders delivering a solid performance in the first stage of the Andalucia Rally in Spain and Indian ace CS Santosh brought the stage home with a 23rd place finish.
Joaquim Rodrigues made an impressive start to maintain a blazing pace throughout the stage, finishing just outside the top 10, at 11th place. The new Hero on the block, Sebastian Buhler, wasn’t too far behind from his mentor and finished the stage in the 15th place.
In the overall rankings as well, the riders retain the same rankings at the end of Stage 1. With many positives to take home, both in terms of the bike and rider performances it was a very good first competitive outing for Hero MotoSports Team Rally, the motorsports division of Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters.
The first full stage of the Rally kicked-off Wednesday from the Rally HQ at Villamartin, covering 59 kms in liaison to reach the start line near the town of Moron De La Frontera. The special stage of 258 km that exposed the competitors to almost all types of terrains that the Andalucia zone has to offer, including technical sections, sand, open tracks, narrow piste and even vegetation.
For the second stage Thursday, the Rally will start near the town of Algamitas and end in Villamartin, covering a total distance of 336 kms, including the 243 kms of special section.
Joaquim Rodrigues, Rider, Hero MotoSports Team Rally: “Today was a good day for me. In the beginning I was still feeling a bit tense but then I started relaxing a bit and everything started coming together nicely. It was not too bad out there today so I am happy to bring my Hero 450RR back home safely.”
CS Santosh, Rider, Hero MotoSports Team Rally: “The stage was very different from what we have experienced in the past. In the first part of the stage I lost my way a bit while finding a way point, which cost me some time. Overall I am happy with my performance today and looking to build on it in the following stages.”
Sebastian Buhler, Rider, Hero MotoSports Team Rally: “It was a very good stage for me today and everything fell in place. I like this kind of terrain as it had a mix of fast and slow sections. Now looking forward to the next stage.”
Provisional Stage 1 Rankings: 1. Kevin Benavides Monster Energy Honda Team 03h 36m 17s; 2. Joan Barreda Bort Monster Energy Honda Team +03m 15s; 3. Lorenzo Santalino Team Sherco Rallye +03m 19s; 11.Joaquim Rodrigues Hero MotoSports Team Rally +10m 19s; 15.Sebastian Buhler Hero MotoSports Team Rally +14m 14s; 23. CS Santosh, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, +26m 10s;Provisional Overall Rankings after Stage 1: 1. Kevin Benavides Monster Energy Honda Team 03h 28m 00s; 2. Joan Barreda Bort Monster Energy Honda Team +03m 14s 3. Lorenzo Santalino Team Sherco Rallye +03m 18s; 11.Joaquim Rodrigues Hero MotoSports Team Rally +10m 21s 15.Sebastian Buhler Hero MotoSports Team Rally +14m 11s; 23. CS Santosh Hero MotoSports Team Rally +26m 35s.
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Poor day for Kush Maini and Yash Aradhya at different events
Sunday, the 4th of October proved to be a poor day for Indian racing drivers abroad. While championship leader Kush Maini failed to get on to the podium finishing 10th in Race 3 and completed the difficult day in 7th place in Race 4 but still keeps the Championship lead, which now is only 9 points ahead.
Meanwhile, in France, Indian racer Yash Aradhya who made his debut in the French F4 at Paul Ricard circuit had another day of learning as he finished 14th in Sunday’s race. Aradhya who missed the first three rounds in the FFSA due to visa issues and will take part in the remaining three rounds.
British F3 report
Snetterton, 4 Oct 20: Double R Racing’s Louis Foster and Douglas Motorsport’s Ulysse De Pauw were triumphant in the two BRDC British F3 races held in wet conditions at Snetterton today (Sunday), with both now staking genuine title aspirations.
Their victories ensured that each of the top four drivers in the championship have taken wins this weekend, with Kaylen Frederick (Carlin) and Kush Maini (Hitech GP) victorious yesterday. Just 32 points now cover Maini, Frederick, Foster and De Pauw in that order in the championship standings, with only six races remaining in 2020.
Race three
Foster claimed his third win of the year in treacherous conditions this morning. Heavy rain ensured a safety car start, which Foster controlled expertly and finished over two seconds clear of Frederick, with Benjamin Pedersen third.Foster took advantage of a clear visor to build a lead of 1.2 seconds at the end of the first racing lap, with the lead duo immediately establishing a clear advantage over Pedersen in third. Frederick began to put the leader under serious pressure, closing up to the Double R car’s rear wing at the end of lap five and the pair separated by less than half a second.
But a couple of quick laps allowed Foster to pull out a margin of over two seconds, and claimed his third victory of the year by 2.271 seconds, despite a fastest lap from Frederick on the final tour. Championship leader Maini finished 16th, allowing Foster and Frederick to claw back ground in the title battle.
Race four
Foster started from pole in race four, his third front of the grid start of the weekend, but after another safety car start, the race three winner went off the road at Wilson and handed the lead to De Pauw.The Belgian driver then led every lap with Frederick not quite able to get close enough to force a move, finishing just under a second behind at the chequered flag. Carlin’s Nazim Azman claimed a podium having started seventh, despite race-long attention from Hillspeed’s local driver Oliver Clarke.
Foster fought back to finish fifth after two brave around the outside moves at Palmer, and then finished just over a tenth behind Clarke. Maini completed a difficult day with seventh place, and having entered the weekend with a 54 point advantage over Frederick, leaves with a nine point margin and the top-four drivers covered by the equivalent of less than a race win.
Race one winner Foster said: “Kaylen behind me probably couldn’t see much, looking at those conditions! But equally on my side I was entering every corner first and there were so many puddles, I didn’t know where was safe and where wasn’t. On lap one at the exit of turn seven there was this massive puddle that we didn’t spot and I nearly spun round on it. I aquaplaned all over it, so it was quite difficult to lead the pack, they could just follow where I was going. But the car was amazing, Double R did a great job and it really clicked on towards the end.”
Race two winner De Pauw said: “Finally, I got that proper win! It was not in easy conditions, Foster went off at turn two and then from there I just controlled the race. Kaylen behind wasn’t faster than me, I was controlling him. I could see he was not able to get a move on me, so I just controlled the race, managed to bring it back to the finish line in P1, so it feels really good. After a tricky weekend where qualifying was really strange, we managed to recover pretty well and score some strong points again. So I want to say a massive thanks to Douglas Motorsport for a great car, the conditions were really hard and I always had a car that was able to fight for podiums and for the win as we saw now, so a big thanks to them.”
BRDC British F3 Championship, Snetterton race three top-six:
1. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, 8 laps
2. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, +2.271s
3. Benjamin Pedersen, Double R Racing, +12.101s
4. Manaf Hijjawi, Douglas Motorsport, +12.664s
5. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, +13.343s
6. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +14.954sClick here for full result.
BRDC British F3 Championship, Snetterton, race four top-six:
1. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, 9 laps
2. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, +0.896s
3. Nazim Azman, Carlin +14.924s
4. Oliver Clarke, Hillspeed, +15.413s
5. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, +15.535s
6. Josh Skelton, Chris Dittmann Racing, +24.909sClick here for full result.
BRDC British F3 Championship, top-six standings after race 18 of 24:
1. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, 349pts
2. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, 340pts
3. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, 328pts
4. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, 317pts
5. Nazim Azman, Carlin, 278pts
6. Josh Skelton, Chris Dittmann Racing, 256ptsClick here for full standings
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Yash Aradhya suffers a massive puncture, but raring to go for Sunday’s race
Bengaluru, 3 October 2020: Promising teenager and multiple National champion Yash Aradhya made his international debut at the FFSA French F4 Championship today.
The massive puncture on his Pirelli tyre cut short his opening stint but that has not dampened the spirit of the 18-year-old Bengalurean as he is looking forward to the race on Sunday at Paul Ricardo circuit in Le Castellet, France. Before his first race ended after four laps, the Indian racer was in P8 and with two retirements ahead of him would have at least got a probable P6, which was not to be. But the race did show that he had the pace and the skills to take it forward from here. Pirelli is investigating how the puncture had happened. The 20-lap race on Sunday will be at 9.30 am local time and 1 pm IST.
“It’s really good to be out here with some great competition and today wasn’t really good but will get back at it in tomorrow’s race. Keeping today’s incident behind, I am looking forward to doing well in the coming season,” said Aradhya to INDIAinF1 after the race from France.
Yash Aradhya suffers an unfortunate puncture in his international debut as the Pirelli gave way on Saturday. He will race again on Sunday. A Aradhya image The French Federation of Motor Sport Auto Sport Academy known as `FFSA Academy’ is organising the event under the aegis of the International Federation, the FIA, world Motorsports governing body. Aradhya is taking part in the Open Category of the FIA Formula 4 French.
After a successful debut in the JK Tyre National Karting Championship in 2012, Yash has made a terrific progress going through the ranks and graduating to single-seater Formula racing in the National Championship in 2017. He also took part in the F4 South East Asia Championship and did get on to the podium twice, finally getting place 9th in the championship standing which had many senior stalwarts competing for the honours.
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Yash Aradhya to race in French F4
Bengaluru, 30 Sept 2020: Multiple National racing champion Yash Aradhya is all set to race in the French Formula 4 this week-end at Paul Ricardo circuit in Le Castellet, France.
He will be the only Indian in the FIA FFSA French Formula 4 for this season. Yash is also the first Indian motorsport talent to receive the prestigious `Pradhan Mantri Bal Shakthi Puraskar’ in January 2020.
The FIA Formula 4 French is organized by the French Federation of Motor Sport Auto Sport Academy known as `FFSA Academy’ under the aegis of the International Federation, the FIA, world Motorsports governing body.
The 18-year old Aradhya will be participating in the Open Category of the FIA Formula 4 French. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the championship calendar was rescheduled multiple times and finally kick started in August 2020. While Yash hasn’t been able to compete in the first three rounds of the Championship due to Visa related delays, he is all set to participate in the remaining four rounds, thereby, gaining a strong footing for the next year in Europe.
Looking forward to the weekend, Yash said, “Finally the wait is over, I am thankful to my sponsors who stood by me even at this time of adversity and made this a possibility. I am all excited to race in these tracks for the first time, I will focus and learn the tracks, adapt to the car as quickly as possible, I am confident that I will make them and my country proud.”
Sanjay Sharma, Head-Motorsport, JK Tyre said, “Though the entire world is crippled with the pandemic, it is important to see opportunity even in this adversity, that’s how champions are made. However, as the world is slowly regaining feet and so are the sporting events, I’m happy that our boys from India are geared up to make an impression in the global arena. Yash has time and again proved his mettle both in domestic and international racing and we wish him luck for this outing.”
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Guanyu Zhou grabs first win; Jehan robbed of P5 due to `penalty’
Sochi, 27 Sept 2020: Guanyu Zhou is finally a FIA Formula 2 race winner, but it’s not quite how the UNI-Virtuosi racer would have pictured it, after the Sochi Sprint Race ended early after a collision between Luca Ghiotto and Jack Aitken.
Indian racer Jehan Daruvala, affected by a 5-second penalty finished on P11 as the penalty was applied. Initially, it was confusing because the placings were decided on Lap 5 positions but Jehan was penalised for a Lap 6 incident. Jehan said: “Firstly, glad to see that both drivers are safe after that crash in today’s race! Since the race was classified on Lap 5, and I got my penalty on Lap 6, we think that I should be P5. But we won’t know for sure till later on as it will be an on-going investigation.”
However, the penalty stuck and Jehan later tweeted: “Penalty has stood. So, unfortunately, will not be in the points. Confusing as the drivers who caused the red flag still classified in their positions. Anyways, not much I can do about it but take away the positives from the weekend.”
The duo crashed at Turn 3 on Lap 7 and ended up deep in the barriers. Both drivers walked away safely, but the scale of repairs needed meant that the decision was taken not to restart the race. With more than 25% of the 21 lap race left to run, only half points are awarded to the grid, leaving Zhou with a sense of frustration after a dominant start to the race.
Nikita Mazepin secured his fifth podium of the season at his home event, taking second, while Mick Schumacher claimed his 10th rostrum this year to further enhance his position at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.
AS IT HAPPENED
Zhou was calm and composed when the lights went out, incisively pulling away from Mazepin, who was swallowed up by the field and fell to fifth. Aitken posed an immediate threat to Zhou, but the Campos driver’s attempt around the outside of Turn 1 failed to come off.
As has become a regular feature this season, Schumacher made a storming start. The German thundered down the right from eighth and took the inside line into the first turn, coming out of the second corner in fourth.
There was an early Virtual Safety Car period after a collision between Guilherme Samaia and Jake Hughes. The Campos bounced over the kerb at Turn 2, before making contact with Hughes’ left rear and taking them both out of the race.
Mazepin made up the positions he lost after the restart, climbing back up to third, before flinging his Hitech Grand Prix machine past Aitken to retake P2.
Schumacher continued his charge up the field with an extraordinary move on Aitken for third. The PREMA clearly had the pace, but it looked as if he would have to wait until the main straight to overtake. Schumacher had other ideas though, boldly firing down the inside line and into third.
Racing was brought to a halt after a scary moment between Aitken and Ghiotto. The two were battling for fourth position but caught one another at speed and ran off into the wall. Thankfully both drivers walked away safely, but a red flag was needed to recover the cars and mend the barriers.
Guanyu Zhou wins F2 Sprint Race at Sochi on Sunday. Photo by Joe Portlock via Getty Images The marshals got to work clearing away the cars and repairing the barriers, but in the end the damage proved too great to fix in the time available, and the decision was made to abandon the race.
That meant Zhou collected his first win in F2, ahead of Mazepin and Schumacher. Aitken and Ghiotto held on to fourth and fifth due to the countback rule, with the classification being taken from the final lap completed, before the red flag was shown. Yuki Tsunoda claimed sixth, ahead of Callum Ilott, while Dan Ticktum took the final points’ position. A time penalty saw Jehan Daruvala drop to P11.
Schumacher tops the Drivers’ Championship with 191 points, 22 ahead of Ilott. Tsunoda is up to third with 147 points, two ahead of Christian Lundgaard. Robert Shwartzman is fifth on 140 points. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA are top with 331 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi on 288.5. Hitech Grand Prix are third with 244, ahead of ART Grand Prix and Carlin.
KEY QUOTE – GUANYU ZHOU (UNI-VIRTUOSI)
“Finally! I have my first victory in the F2 Championship and it definitely felt good to stand on the top step. I promised the Chinese fans at the start of the season that I would win at least once for the country and we have done that today.
“Obviously, it hurts a little bit because we have only got half points. I think from the beginning of the race up until the red flag, we were quite decent. I think that me and Nikita had good pace compared to everyone else and were pulling away.
“It was nice to see Jack and Luca walk away, so that is a good thing. Obviously going into a little break with a victory is definitely nice.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Schumacher leads the title fight heading into the penultimate round of the season, but it remains all to play for, with less than 50 points separating the top four. The field will now enjoy a short break before heading to Sakhir, Bahrain for a season concluding double-header.
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Mick Schumacher takes another win; Jehan Daruvala slips to P5
Sochi, 26 Sept 2020: Mick Schumacher strengthened his grip on the Drivers’ Championship with arguably his most accomplished performance in Formula 2 machinery, clinching his second victory of the season in Sochi. The PREMA racer beat out pole-sitter Yuki Tsunoda from third, with the Carlin racer finishing second in-front of fellow title rival Callum Ilott.
Jehan Daruvala, the Indian racer, who started on P2 slipped to P5 but said: “I will analyse the race and I will come back stronger tomorrow as I start on P4 in the reverse grid.”
Tsunoda had looked comfortable for much of the race, but Schumacher had been shrewdly managing his tyres and made light work of dashing past with 10 laps to go. Ilott briefly challenged the German for the win, but ended up clinging onto third with little life left in his tyres.
It was a disappointing morning for the in-form Christian Lundgaard, as the ART Grand Prix driver was taken out of the race on the very first lap, after a tangle with Jüri Vips and Pedro Piquet.
It was a similarly frustrating race for another of the title contenders, Robert Shwartzman, as the Russian struggled to 11th on home soil, finishing out of the points for the third race in a row.
AS IT HAPPENED
Tsunoda enjoyed a sterling launch when the lights went out, getting away cleanly from teammate Jehan Daruvala. He faced a sterner challenge from the traditionally strong starting Schumacher, who barged his way ahead of Daruvala from third and immediately put Tsunoda under pressure into Turn 1.
Tsunoda held on, as the front three got through the opening corner cleanly, but there was carnage behind them as Vips tagged Piquet. The ailing Charouz left Lundgaard with nowhere to go, collecting him and dumping the Dane off the road to end his race early and bring out the Safety Car.
Louis Delétraz, Felipe Drugovich and Roy Nissany were caught up in the collision as well, with the former forced into the pits for repairs and the latter two retiring. Tsunoda aced the restart when the Safety Car returned and began to gently eek away from Schumacher.
With two cars in the front three, Carlin opted to pit Daruvala first, leaving the race leader out there for a further lap. Tsunoda, Schumacher and Ilott all followed into the pitlane a lap later, returning in ninth, 10th and 11th.
Aitken, on the alternate strategy, was handed the lead from fifth over Nikita Mazepin, but the Campos seemed to be struggling for grip and was battling to hold the Hitech off. The Russian made his move, but Aitken offered up a strong defence and Mazepin was forced wide and through the bollards. Guanyu Zhou skipped past, although the Hitech would regain the position a few laps later.
The Campos ace was “flat out,” but his mediums looked in a bad way, struggling to hold on around the Sochi Autodrom. All the while, Tsunoda was catching up, having already fought up to P7 with 12 laps to go. Schumacher and Ilott were directly behind him, but Daruvala was struck in 11th, having lost track position in the pitlane.
Aitken pitted from the lead with 10 laps to go and was followed in by Mazepin and Zhou a lap later. Tsunoda took back the race lead, but only fleetingly. Schumacher was in his slipstream and bombed past him on the main straight, daringly out-braking the Carlin and making the move stick into Turn 2.
Having previously looked so assured, Tsunoda was then at the mercy of Ilott, who followed Schumacher through for second place all too easily. Ilott was eying up his race leading title rival, but just couldn’t get within DRS range.
Chasing Schumacher, Ilott’s tyres began to drop off and the UNI-Virtuosi racer was reeled back in by Tsunoda, who hauled his Carlin around the outside of Turn 3 and back into second place.
Ilott was then under pressure from Ghiotto, but managed to cling on by the skin of his front wing at the chequered flag. Schumacher had already crossed the line with a comfortable 6.3s lead over Tsunoda.
Ghiotto had to settle for fourth, followed by Daruvala and Aitken. Mazepin, Zhou and Marcus Armstrong followed, with Dan Ticktum completing the top ten, as title contender Robert Shwartzman finished 11th and out of the points. Meanwhile, Jake Hughes finished 12th for HWA RACELAB on his F2 debut.
Schumacher now has an 18-point advantage on Ilott in the Drivers’ Championship, sitting in first on 186 points. Ilott is second with 168, ahead of Lundgaard and Tsunoda who are tied on 145. Shwartzman has dropped to fifth with 140 points. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA are first with 326 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi on 280 and Hitech on 234. ART are fourth, ahead of Carlin.
KEY QUOTE – MICK SCHUMACHER (PREMA RACING)
“I am very happy with today’s race. I think that we maximised what we had. The supersoft stint was a bit of a mess, especially the pit phase as I wanted to do another lap, but in the last sector I felt my rears going. I saw everybody else going in as well, so I opted to pit. It was a bit messy, but in general I think we managed it pretty well.
“On the medium tyre, we managed it pretty well, we were always in contention and we stayed with Yuki, having a gap of around two, two-and-a-half seconds. With the traffic out there, we kind of all bunched together, but I managed to get the move done and I just had to manage the race from there. 25 points is always good and that’s another win for this year, so I am pretty happy.”
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Jehan Daruvala loses pole by a whisker to teammate Tsunoda in dying stages
Sochi, 25 Sept 2020: Yuki Tsunoda left it late to claim his third pole position of the season, after Carlin teammate Jehan Daruvala had led nearly the entirety of Formula 2 Qualifying in Sochi. Tsunoda snatched pole in the dying stages, while the Indian driver missed out by just 0.006s, as Carlin secured the first front-row lockout in F2 Qualifying since UNI-Virtuosi in July 2019.
Championship leader Mick Schumacher was first out of the blocks around Sochi, but it was his teammate Robert Shwartzman who set the quicker lap of the two, briefly taking first place with a benchmark time of 1:49.634.
Beating them both, Daruvala flung his Carlin around for first at the end of his maiden run. Nikita Mazepin managed to find time in the first and second sectors to briefly go top, but the Carlin driver found a further four tenths of a second to retake provisional pole.
The Carlins were clearly revelling around the Sochi Autodrom, as Tsunoda nipped ahead of Mazepin and into second place. Meanwhile, Jake Hughes was sat in ninth on his F2 Qualifying debut as the cars headed back to the pits for fresh rubber.
Daruvala picked up from where he left off when they returned for a second stint, finding a further tenth to try and solidify first place ahead of Tsunoda. Guanyu Zhou and Callum Ilott managed to fight up to third and fourth, but neither of them could match the Carlins for pace.
The Pirelli rubber had held up well around Sochi and Tsunoda put it to good use. The Red Bull junior set a stunning final lap to steal first from his teammate.
Daruvala attempted a reaction, but fell agonizingly short, by just six thousandths of a second.
Shwartzman briefly claimed third, but ended up down in seventh after the final set of push laps. Schumacher found further pace from his PREMA to take P3 behind the Carlin duo.
Ilott, Schumacher’s title rival, managed to improve to fourth on the final run, but his teammate Zhou dropped to P9.
The morning’s fastest man, Luca Ghiotto, found the speed for fifth, ahead of Christian Lundgaard. Jack Aitken finished in eighth, with Mazepin taking 10th.
Tsunoda will be in the hunt for his third win of the season in the Feature Race tomorrow, when action gets underway at 10.15am (local time).
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Kush Maini wins Race 3 for season’s second win: British F3
Leicestershire, 20 Sept 2020:
Hitech GP’s championship leader Kush Maini claimed his second win of the year in race three at Donington Park, after coming out on top of a lap one battle with championship rival Kaylen Frederick. Ulysse De Pauw finished second for Douglas Motorsport, while Frederick crossed the line third, but was handed a five second time penalty for exceeding track limits, with Carlin teammate Nazim Azman promoted to the podium as a result.
Frederick had to settle for fourth after the penalty was applied, with Hillspeed’s Sasakorn Chaimongkol fifth and Reece Ushijima sixth for Hitech. Bart Horsten secured seventh for Lanan Racing ahead of Douglas Motorsport’s Kiern Jewiss, with Benjamin Pedersen (Double R) and series newcomer Frank Bird completing the top-10 for Fortec Motorsports.
At the start, Frederick had a good launch to lead the pack down to Redgate, holding off Maini, while De Pauw and Chaimongkol went wheel to wheel on the approach to the turn, with Chaimongkol edged onto the grass but avoided contact.
Maini then got a good run on Frederick down the Craner Curves and dived up the inside of his championship rival at the Old Hairpin. Frederick refused to budge, so the pair went wheel to wheel through Starkey’s Bridge and Schwantz with Maini on the outside, before making the move stick on the inside of McLeans.
Further round, a drama at the chicane for Frederick then allowed De Pauw through into second at the Melbourne Hairpin. The American tried to regain the position around the outside of Goddards, but De Pauw held firm, with the squabble allowing Maini to pull out a gap of 1.3 seconds at the end of lap one.
That set the tone for much of the rest of the race, with Maini able to pull out a steady gap while De Pauw fended off Frederick. The American threatened again at the Old Hairpin on lap two, but allowing Chaimongkol onto his tail, with the Thai going on the attack. In doing so, the Hillspeed driver in turn came under attack, with Azman squeezing through into fourth at the Melbourne Hairpin at the end of the lap.
Kush Maini after winning a fighting Race 3 on Sunday. A British F3 image by Jakob Ebrey With all that drama going on, Maini had extended his lead to over two seconds, and he was able to pull out further over the following laps, with the margin reaching 3.2 seconds at the end of the eighth tour.
De Pauw managed to trim the gap over the next two laps, but Maini was never under threat and claimed victory by 2.771 seconds. Frederick was a constant menace for the Belgian driver, finishing 0.359 seconds adrift of the Douglas Motorsport machine at the flag, but was then penalised after the race for exceeding track limits, with Azman instead standing on the podium having fended off Chaimongkol. The result increases Maini’s championship lead to 54 points with 10 races still to go.
Chaimongkol in fifth enjoyed an action packed race, going wheel to wheel with Azman on several occasions as well as fending off Jewiss in the early stages. The British driver looked on course to claim a top-six result from an otherwise trying weekend, but faded on the last two laps, with Ushijima moving past into sixth on lap 10 with a move at Coppice. Horsten then gained seventh with a last ditch dive at Redgate on the final lap, with Jewiss just holding off Pedersen at the line to take eighth ahead of the American.
Bird ended his maiden British F3 weekend with a top-10 having started 12th, and was almost a second clear of race two winner Louis Foster (Double R) at the chequered flag. Bird’s fellow newcomer and Fortec teammate Roberto Faria was less than half a second further back in 12th, and over four seconds ahead of Mason in 13th for Lanan.
Alex Fores ended his debut weekend in 14th for Chris Dittmann Racing, finishing a lap ahead of teammate Josh Skelton, who pitted on lap four to replace a broken front wing. Hillspeed’s Oliver Clarke was another driver in the wars after pitting early on with a puncture, and was the final classified finisher.
The race ran over 11 laps rather than the originally scheduled 12, after Douglas Motorsport’s Manaf Hijjawi stopped at the top of the Craner Curves on the formation lap. The start was delayed and the field embarked on another green flag lap reducing the race distance by one lap accordingly.
BRDC British F3 is back in action in two weeks time at Snetterton in Norfolk, with four races on 3-4 October.
Winner – Kush Maini, Hitech GP:
“I knew I had to get him [Kaylen Frederick] on the first lap because it’s too hard to follow around here. I got a good start thankfully and put him under pressure into turn one, which messed up his run down to the Old Hairpin. I got a run on him, lunged him into the Old Hairpin, he kept around the outside and then wheel to wheel to McLeans. I braked really late and he had nowhere to go, so I got the move done and I’m really happy.Kush Maini returns after the win in Race 3. Photo by Jakob Ebrey “When you have fresh air it’s a lot easier to drive, and I just put my head down and enjoyed the drive. I didn’t really push to pull away, I literally just wanted to enjoy the drive and it was really nice.
“There’s still way too many races left [to think about the championship] so we’re just going to keep up this form.”
Winner – Kush Maini, Hitech GP:
“I knew I had to get him [Kaylen Frederick] on the first lap because it’s too hard to follow around here. I got a good start thankfully and put him under pressure into turn one, which messed up his run down to the Old Hairpin. I got a run on him, lunged him into the Old Hairpin, he kept around the outside and then wheel to wheel to McLeans. I braked really late and he had nowhere to go, so I got the move done and I’m really happy.“When you have fresh air it’s a lot easier to drive, and I just put my head down and enjoyed the drive. I didn’t really push to pull away, I literally just wanted to enjoy the drive and it was really nice.
“There’s still way too many races left [to think about the championship] so we’re just going to keep up this form.”
BRDC British F3 Championship, Donington Park race three provisional result:
1. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, 11 laps
2. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, +2.771s
3. Nazim Azman, Carlin, +7.303s
4. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, +8.130s*
5. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +8.291s
6. Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, +11.669s
7. Bart Horsten, Lanan Racing, +13.103s
8. Kiern Jewiss, Douglas Motorsport, +14.314s
9. Benjamin Pedersen, Double R Racing, +14.799s
10. Frank Bird, Fortec Motorsports, +19.081s
11. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, +20.051s
12. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +20.487s
13. Josh Mason, Lanan Racing, +24.631s
14. Alex Fores, Chris Dittmann Racing, +25.865s
15. Josh Skelton, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1 lap
16. Oliver Clarke, Hillspeed, +1 lap
DNF. Piers Prior, Lanan Racing, 2 laps
DNF. Manaf Hijjawi, Douglas Motorsport, 0 laps -
Kush Maini to start P2 on the Grid for British F3
Leicestershire, 20 Sept 2020: The final race of BRDC British F3’s second visit of the year to Donington Park starts at 16.05, with Carlin’s Kaylen Frederick set to line up on pole position. Indian racer Kush Maini will start on P2 on the grid.
Earlier in Race 1 on Saturday, Kush Maini finished third and extended his Championship lead.
The grid for the race three is determined by each driver’s second fastest time in qualifying, with Frederick securing a double pole position in yesterday’s session. The American championship challenger was over a quarter of a second faster than his opposition when it came to second best times, and he heads the grid in front of Hitech GP’s championship leader Kush Maini, with a tantalising battle between the championship contenders in prospect.
After qualifying third Kush Maini said on Saturday: I would have liked a better result to be honest after testing, the team has done amazing this weekend. A few issues in qualifying, no excuses, could have been, would have been, should have been, but didn’t, so we’ll just look at the race. P3 is still a good starting spot and points are the key, so we’re going to be focussing on a good start and see where we are. It’s all to play for in the races.
“The car has been really good and the team have been really good. Obviously at this track we have the two hairpins at the end where you can pass, so if we have the pace we will be fighting for positions so I’m looking forward to it.
“If I get up behind him [Kaylen Frederick], then I’m going to be elbows out because the championship means nothing yet. I’m going to be going for the win.
Douglas Motorsport’s Ulysse De Pauw, already a podium finisher this weekend will start third ahead of Hillspeed’s Sasakorn Chaimongkol, with Nazim Azman (Carlin) and Bart Horsten (Lanan) completing the top-six on the grid.
Reece Ushijima heads up row four for Hitech GP ahead of Double R’s Benjamin Pedersen, with Kiern Jewiss (Douglas) and race two winner Louis Foster (Double R) completing the top-10.
Hillspeed’s Oliver Clarke has been combative this weekend, and will need to be again from 11th on the grid, ahead of Fortec’s Frank Bird, who will be aiming for a top-10 result on his debut weekend.
Race two podium man Manaf Hijjawi starts 13th for Douglas Motorsport ahead of Chris Dittmann Racing’s Josh Skelton, with Lanan’s Piers Prior and Fortec’s Roberto Faria in 15th and 16th.
Josh Mason, another podium finisher this weekend will start 17th for Lanan ahead of Chris Dittmann Racing’s Alex Fores. The race will again be streamed live, and will be viewable by clicking here.
The full grid line-up is shown below.
BRDC British F3 Championship, Donington Park, race three grid:
1. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, 1m24.855s
2. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, +0.271s
3. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, +0.275s
4. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +0.351s
5. Nazim Azman, Carlin, +0.442s
6. Bart Horsten, Lanan Racing, +0.451s
7. Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, +0.496s
8. Benjamin Pedersen, Double R Racing, +0.592s
9. Kiern Jewiss, Douglas Motorsport, +0.600s
10. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, +0.705s
11. Oliver Clarke, Hillspeed, +0.758s
12. Frank Bird, Fortec Motorsports, +0.779s
13. Manaf Hijjawi, Douglas Motorsport, +0.786s
14. Josh Skelton, Chris Dittmann Racing, +0.866s
15. Piers Prior, Lanan Racing, +0.874s
16. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +0.957s
17. Josh Mason, Lanan Racing, +1.111s
18. Alex Fores, Chris Dittmann Racing, +1.237s -
Facile win for Lundgaard; Jehan Daruvala take P7
Mugello, 13 Sept 2020: ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard dominated the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race, securing a second win in the Championship with a 14s advantage over Charouz Racing System’s Louis Delétraz. DAMS’ Jüri Vips scored his first F2 podium finishing in third, just a half-second off the Swiss driver.
Indian racer and Red Bull Junior Jehan Daruvala finished P7 on Sunday. “P7 from P10 on the grid… Was up to P5 at one point but just lost the tyres closer towards the end… Two good starts in both races so that’s a positive step up… Looking forward to Sochi in a couple of weeks,” said the Mumbai born Carlin racer.
Lundgaard made amends for a disappointing Feature Race, when he lost the win late on to Nikita Mazepin’s fresher tyres after a Safety Car had crushed the Dane’s advantage out in front. His Sunday was a complete contrast. Starting from third, he thundered to first off the line and from there the win never looked in doubt.
The Dane’s victory earns him third in the Drivers’ Championship, with Robert Shwartzman out of the points and dropping to fourth in the standings.
Mazepin also suffered contrasting fortunes, as he collided with teammate Luca Ghiotto, ending the Italian’s race and earning himself a 10s time penalty.
Pole-sitter Artem Markelov’s race ended in disaster. The HWA RACELAB driver struggled for pace and dropped down to third place, before getting forced into the pits for a new front wing after colliding with Mick Schumacher.
Schumacher was able to stretch his lead at the top of the standings with a fourth-place finish, with his main rival, Callum Ilott, back in sixth.
AS IT HAPPENED
Jehan Daruvala who had issues with the car the whole season had an engine change and is showing positive signs and looks forward to Sochi. A Daruvala image @Twitter Markelov got a good start from reverse grid pole, but Lundgaard had a better one. The Dane angled his ART down the side of the Russian and towards the inside line, just about forcing himself ahead at the exit of Turn 1.
Vips stuttered off the line on his first front row start and instantly dropped down to fourth place behind Delétraz, while Schumacher kept it clean and held on to fifth.
Lundgaard had garnered a strong 2s lead over Markelov by the end of the first lap alone, but the Dane would need to be wary of wearing out his rubber. As he stretched his lead, Markelov’s focus switched to Delétraz behind. The Swiss driver made light work of the passing the HWA racer, pulling off a tidy move at the first turn.
Vips attempted to follow Delétraz through, but tapped tyres with Markelov and wobbled, remaining in third. The Estonian gathered himself together and went again, making a similar move work on the next tour of Mugello.
Markelov told his team he wouldn’t give up, but the HWA racer collided with Schumacher and was forced to dive into the pits with front wing damage.
Schumacher’s main title rival, Ilott, had been making moves from 12th and climbed up to ninth, ahead of Marcus Armstrong. Meanwhile, Shwartzman lost a place to Ilott’s teammate, Guanyu Zhou, who was putting on a storming drive from 20th.
Having finished one-two in the Feature Race on Saturday, Mazepin and Ghiotto’s Sunday was entirely different. The Italian racer attempted a move on his teammate, but the Russian locked up and the two collided. Ghiotto was dumped into the gravel trap and forced to retire, before Mazepin was handed a 10s-time penalty for causing the crash.
Spotting the collision, Lundgaard would have suffered unpleasant flashbacks from Saturday, when his lead of the race was crushed by a Safety Car. The Dane will have been relieved to see only a Virtual Safety Car on this occasion, allowing him to retain his 11s gap at the front.
Little changed at the restart, although Zhou did manage to find a way past Armstrong to line up behind Ilott in eighth. The duo then gained a further place from Felipe Drugovich who suffered from a wide moment. Zhou kept on moving, first picking off Ilott, and then gaining fifth from Daruvala as well.
Yuki Tsunoda briefly nabbed the final points’ position from Drugovich, but was forced into the pits by Race Control, having suffered damage to his front wing earlier in the race.
Just two laps remained and Lundgaard continued to look comfortable out in front, but Delétraz was clinging on to second by the skin of his teeth with Vips right behind him. The Estonian made an attempt at the first turn of the penultimate lap, but couldn’t make it stick, despite possessing fresher rubber.
Lundgaard crossed the line first for a controlled victory, as Delétraz followed in second 14s later, hanging on ahead of Vips. Schumacher took fourth, brushing off a late challenge from Zhou. Ilott nabbed sixth after a late pass on Daruvala, with Marino Sato taking his first points in F2, with P8.
Schumacher now has 161 points at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, with Ilott in second on 153. Lundgaard is third with 145, five ahead of Shwartzman. Mazepin is up to fifth on 127. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA are first with 301 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi on 261 points, and Hitech on 216. ART are fourth, with Carlin fifth.
KEY QUOTE – CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD (ART GRAND PRIX)
“P1 today, and redemption for yesterday when I was leading the whole race until the Safety Car ruined it. I think that we showed the pace that we had today, and I am just happy to come away with 17 points.
“I said to the team before we went on track, it is 17 points or nothing today and we came away with all 17, so I am very happy.”
