Lanan Racing’s Toby Sowery took his third BRDC British Formula 3 Championship partnered by Duo victory of the year, as he came home first in a wild reverse-grid race two at Silverstone on Sunday (12 June). Unfortunately, race three was abandoned before any racing action was able to take place as a thunderstorm soaked the circuit minutes before the final encounter was due to start, causing standing water to accumulate and conditions to become unraceable.
Early morning rain had made the circuit slick ahead of race two and, as the cars lined up in the assembly area, the majority of the field chose wet Pirelli tyres. Harrison Scott, driving for HHC Motorsport and starting at the back of the grid, gambled on slicks but this would prove to be the incorrect choice.
Sean Walkinshaw Racing’s Jan Jonck, by virtue of finishing eighth in race one on Saturday, started from pole and he led through Copse as the lights went out. Ricky Collard made a brilliant getaway and found himself in second through the first few corners, after starting fifth. He then got a tow down Hangar Straight and went for the lead, pulling ahead of the Dane coming into Stowe. The Carlin man ran wide however and dropped back to third, with Ngebulana then taking advantage through Vale to relegate Collard to fourth.
Jonck’s position up front would be shortlived as he ran wide on the opening lap, enabling Toby Sowery to move into the lead and it would be one that he would not relinquish for the rest of the race. Jonck was shuffled further down the order when Sisa Ngebulana moved into second, and Leist taking up third. Collard also continued to drop and as the first tour was completed, he found himself behind the Douglas Motorsport pairing of Thomas Randle and Enaam Ahmed in seventh.
Further back, Lando Norris was making brilliant progress and had climbed from 17th to ninth on lap one, before passing Quinlan Lall, Collard, Jonck and Enaam Ahmed on the next circuit. Ahead of the 16-year-old, Ngebulana and Leist continued to battle, swapping positions through Stowe and Vale. After passing Australian Thomas Randle, Norris was soon on the back of the duo and pulled off a brilliant move around the outside of Leist at Stowe for third and then made the same overtake on Ngebulana through Abbey to claim second. The South African would drop back yet further as Leist took the final podium spot off of the HHC Motorsport man.
Owing to all the squabbling behind, Sowery had opened up a nine-second advantage over Norris, whilst Collard gained a place by passing Ahmed for sixth. Quinlan Lall followed him through and the pair were soon fighting with Randle for fifth. Collard briefly passed the Douglas Motorsport driver through Brooklands but coming into Luffield, the Australian fought back around the outside. Lall attempted to dive inside the duo but as they exited the corner, contact was made between himself and Collard, pitching both into the gravel. The Carlin man was able to rejoin but with Lall stuck in the gravel, the safety car was deployed. After the race, Lall was handed a five-place grid penalty for race three, leaving him slated to start from 16th.
With only a few minutes left in the race, the recovery of Lall’s machine wasn’t completed in time for the action to resume. Under the safety car however, fourth placed man Ngebulana spun, losing a number of positions. He overtook a number of cars through the yellow flags to retake his position and was thus excluded for failing to comply with yellow flag signals.
Sowery meanwhile took the chequered flag under safety car conditions with Norris finishing a brilliant second ahead of Leist, Randle and Ahmed. Ben Hingeley drove a strong race to claim sixth, having started 13th, with Tarun Reddy finishing seventh for Fortec Motorsports. Enzo Bortoleto came home eighth with Jeremy Wahome securing his best result of the year in ninth, as the top-10 was completed by Aleksanteri Huovinen.
Speaking after the race, Sowery said: “Behind the safety car I saw Lando behind and was a little bit worried. It was a really good race from him. I wasn’t sure if I was quickest or if he was quicker but it was a bit of a relief when the safety car stayed out. It was definitely hard to make a decision on set-up and we definitely made the right decision to stay on wets. Everyone was in the same boat though.”
Race three, set to start later in the afternoon, saw Matheus Leist scheduled to start on pole with Thomas Randle alongside on the front-row. However, only minutes prior to the field taking to the circuit for the final encounter of the meeting, a large storm passed through the circuit, soaking the track and leaving pools of standing water all across the 3.6-mile layout. The safety car inspected the track but, as conditions continued to worsen, the entire race meeting was abandoned at 17:00.
A decision on when the abandoned race three will be rescheduled for will be made in due course.
Ricky Collard still leads the overall standings on 298 points, 19 points ahead of Douglas Motorsport’s Thomas Randle. He in turn is just three points ahead of Matheus Leist with Toby Sowery and Enaam Ahmed in fourth and fifth.
The next round of the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship partnered by Duo takes place at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on 8/9 July.
BRDC British Formula 3 - Silverstone - Race Two Top-10
1. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, 8 Laps2. Lando Norris, Carlin, +1.002s3. Matheus Leist, Double R Racing, +1.692s4. Thomas Randle, Douglas Motorsport, +2.979s5. Enaam Ahmed, Douglas Motorsport, +3.522s6. Ben Hingeley, HHC Motorsport, +4.373s7. Tarun Reddy, Fortec Motorsports, +5.186s8. Enzo Bortoleto, Double R Racing, +6.814s9. Jeremy Wahome, Chris Dittmann Racing, +7.499s10. Aleksanteri Huovinen, Double R Racing, +8.120s
2016 BRDC British Formula 3 standings after race 14 of 24
1. Ricky Collard, Carlin, 298 points2. Thomas Randle, Douglas Motorsport, 279 points3. Matheus Leist, Double R Racing, 276 points4. Toby Sowery, Lanan Racing, 259 points5. Enaam Ahmed, Douglas Motorsport, 222 points6. Aleksanteri Huovinen, Double R Racing, 177 points7. Lando Norris, Carlin, 175 points8. Thomas Maxwell, Sean Walkinshaw Racing, 161 points9. Enzo Bortoleto, Double R Racing, 159 points10. Tarun Reddy, Fortec Motorsports, 148 points
Click here for the Official Double R Racing web site - designed and built by Racecar
