• Brazilian Bortoleto doubles 2016 podium tally with third place in Rd11 • Compatriot Leist retains third in championship with strong points haul• Qualifying troubles limit Huovinen’s potential at Cheshire track
Enzo Bortoleto secured a richly deserved second podium finish of the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship season at Oulton Park International Circuit on Bank Holiday Monday, 30th May, which helped elevate the Brazilian driver into eighth in the standings for Double R Racing.
With the addition of sixth place in round 10 on Saturday, 28th May, and sixth again in the final race of the event on Monday afternoon, Bortoleto chalked-up his best points haul of the campaign by far.
Compatriot Matheus Leist was unfortunate to miss out on silverware himself, but a consistently strong series of results – fourth in races one and two and fifth in the third contest – enabled the title contender to retain third place in the standings.
Finland’s Aleksanteri Huovinen, who was rapid in pre-event testing, had the misfortune of traffic and front wing damage in qualifying on Saturday which badly impacted his weekend. Taking a best result of 11th position in the final race, Huovinen managed to hold on to his top six placing in the points.
“It’s not been a bad weekend, Matheus and Enzo took away a lot of points, but overall it was below our expectations”, reflected Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt, Double R Racing team boss, “Qualifying didn’t go how it should and that made the difference – especially for Aleksanteri. Obviously, it’s great to be on the podium again with Enzo but the pace was there to fight for wins again this weekend.”
Leist was, unsurprisingly, rapid in testing on Wednesday and Friday prior to the event and headed the opening practice sessions on both days. In qualifying on Saturday morning, though, he had to settle for fifth on the grid for round 10 – just 0.3 seconds shy of the front row.
His fellow Brazilian Bortoleto produced a very strong run to the seventh fastest time, just a couple of tenths of a second further adrift, while Huovinen, who was quick in testing, was an unrepresentative 18th after sustaining front wing damage – so the Finn had plenty to do in the opening contest.
At the start of round 10 on Saturday afternoon, Leist maintained fifth position and then swiftly passed Jan Jonck for fourth place on the opening lap. Setting fastest lap pace early on, the South American ran within just a few tenths of a second of the podium prior to the race coming to an all-too-early conclusion after a frightening accident for Ameya Vaidyanathan on lap seven.
Bortoleto climbed into the top six on lap one and stayed there throughout prior to the stoppage, running very close behind Jonck and pressuring the Danish racer heavily before the red flags were shown and a result declared.
Huovinen, meanwhile, did manage to make progress from the ninth row of the grid and after taking 17th place on the opening tour the Finn grabbed 16th spot on lap three. As a result of Vaidyanathan and Sisa Ngebulana, who was also involved in the race-ending incident, not included in the final results Huovinen was classified in 14th position.
Round 11 on Bank Holiday Monday began with Bortoleto third on the grid and Leist in fifth place, while Huovinen was scheduled to line-up in 14th position. Following the green flag lap, though, the latter pitted with a sensor problem and joined the race a long way down. Focusing on trying to set the fastest lap he could for the race three grid, Huovinen ended the contest in 19th place.
Back at the front, Leist made a sensational start to the race but as he looked to try and slice up the inside on the run to Old Hall he found Bortoleto in the way so had to tuck back in to fifth. Into lap two, the Brazilians were still third and fifth but Leist, producing fastest lap pace early on, managed to get ahead into fourth place past Jan Jonck.
For the rest of the 14 lap encounter there was nothing to choose between Leist and Bortoleto, with just tenths of a second splitting them. Running right on the tail of second placed Toby Sowery, the Double R duo looked quicker but no opportunities to pass developed and at the finish less than two seconds covered second to sixth place – Bortoleto sealing a richly deserved second podium of 2016.
For the final contest Leist lined-up sixth on the grid with Bortoleto seventh, the former pipping his team-mate to a place on row three by a mere three thousandths of a second. Huovinen, meanwhile, started 10th on the grid.
Leist immediately moved into fifth off the line and then set about pressuring Enaam Ahmed, swarming all over the back of his rival’s car. Running just 0.1 seconds behind Ahmed as the race reached mid-distance, the Double R driver tried everything but ultimately had to settle for fifth.
Just behind his compatriot was Bortoleto who, having started the race in seventh position, moved into the top six on lap one with a good run off the line and stayed close behind his team-mate for the bulk of the race. Losing touch during the closing stages, Bortoleto fended off attention from behind over the last few laps to chalk-up yet another strong points finish.
From 10th on the grid, Huovinen slipped to 11th place and spent the entirety of the 18 laps bottled up behind Sisa Ngebulana. Battling hard to try and open up an opportunity to pass, Huovinen was clearly the quicker of the two but had to settle for a result just outside the top 10.
Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit is next on the British F3 calendar with rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the season taking place over the weekend 11th/12th June. First, though, Double R will be back at Oulton Park this coming weekend, 4th/5th June, for the resumption of the F4 British Championship on the Island Circuit configuration, following an official test outing at Croft in North Yorkshire this week.
2016 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship Driver Standings (after Rd12):3rd Matheus Leist, 221pts6th Aleksanteri Huovinen, 161pts8th Enzo Bortoleto, 146pts
Click here for the Official Double R Racing web site - designed and built by Racecar
