The weekend finale may have been a wash out, but Fortec Motorsports driver Tarun Reddy is celebrating his second 2016 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship podium trophy following his magnificent performance in race one on Saturday afternoon at the Home of British Motor Racing, Silverstone Circuit.The Daventry-based Fortec Motorsports driving duo of Tarun Reddy and Al Faisal Al Zubair took to the local Northamptonshire track for the first time during four 40-minute practice sessions on Friday. Spots of rain threatened to dampen spirits in the morning, but with bright sunshine in the afternoon 18 year-olds Reddy (India) and Al Zubair (Oman) had a productive day on the iconic Grand Prix circuit.Saturday morning brought one of the most exciting BRDC British Formula 3 qualifying sessions of the year as Reddy jumped up to fourth on the time sheet with five minutes remaining, splitting the usual front running group and pushing championship leader Ricky Collard (Carlin Motorsport) down to fifth. Al Zubair put in a solid qualifying to secure a P18 grid position.With rain once again lurking in proximity to Silverstone in the afternoon, the 20 car field headed out for race one. As the lights went out to commence an incident-filled six-laps contest, Reddy made a good start and battled hard to maintain his fourth place position. Following a retirement ahead and second-placed Lando Norris (Carlin) running wide coming through Becketts on lap three, Thomas Randle (Douglas Motorsport) moved in to second with Reddy charging up to third. He defended bravely from an incessant attack by Collard on his gearbox, but held fast until the chequered flag to raise his second British F3 trophy of the 2016 season for Fortec Motorsport. Team mate Al Zubair brought his #7 Tatuus- Cosworth car home in P14.Rain overnight and in to Sunday morning made for slippery track conditions and a dramatic penultimate contest. Skilfully avoiding the spills ahead, Reddy and Al Zubair took the chequered flag in points scoring seventh place and fifteenth respectively after 8 laps of wet race two action.A sudden and heavy thunder storm minutes before the weekend finale at 4:30pm deposited so much water around the track it flooded grass and run-off areas. After a couple of safety car tours and a half hour wait, the decision was taken to cancel race three completely.Russell Dixon, team manager, Fortec Motorsports British F3 Team:"After a busy Friday Test day Tarun and his engineer worked well together to come up with a set-up that would get the best out of him and the car. They also formulated a different approach to qualifying which gave Tarun the confidence to set the 4th fastest time, splitting the Carlin drivers and out-qualifying the championship leader. In the first race of the weekend Tarun raced hard to secure his second podium of the year and had very good pace in the second wet race. Hopefully this will give him the confidence to push hard for the remainder of the season and climb up the championship table to a position more representative of his ability."
Tarun Reddy, #14 Fortec Motorsports:“It's nice to bounce back from a rather miserable weekend to fight at the front and grab a podium! Kudos to the Fortec team for giving me a great car this weekend and hopefully we can consolidate on this for the rest of the championship.”
Rounds 16/17/18 of the British Formula 3 Championship take place at the world renown Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Belgium, on 8th - 9th July 2016.
