Jamie Chadwick ends maiden British F3 season P9 in standings
Single-seater rookie takes team's best result of weekend with P7
Guilherme Samaia ends maiden campaign P13 in championship
Debutant Pavan Ravishankar takes double top 10 at Donington GP
Double R Racing experienced a mixed conclusion to the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship season at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend, 23rd/24th September, with Jamie Chadwick taking the team’s best finish of the event with seventh place in the finale.
Ending round 22 on Saturday in ninth position, unfortunate contact in round 23 resulted in a costly spin for the championship’s sole female racer but she battled back into 11th place. Adding the top seven result from the last contest, Chadwick ends her first season in F3 ninth in the championship.
Brazilian team-mate Guilherme Samaia had a challenging weekend at Donington, taking a best finish of eighth in race two after posting a 14th place result in the opening contest. In round 24, he was forced to retire with a clutch issue and ends the season 13th in the standings.
In the third Double R car, Singapore’s Pavan Ravishankar delivered a strong performance on his debut in the category and his first ever visit to the Leicestershire track. Ending his maiden F3 race in 12th position, he went on to secure a double top 10 in the final two contests.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t take away some trophies from the final round, but Jamie and Guilherme have both done a good job in their first season”, said team principal Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt, “Jamie had some good pace this weekend and was compromised in qualifying, realistically she should have started race one higher up the grid and who knows what might have been possible then.
“It was a tough weekend for Guilherme and we’re obviously very disappointed for him with the clutch issue in race three, his eighth place in race two was a good effort though. We’ve enjoyed working with Pavan for the first time, he performed well and we hope the experience from the weekend will whet his appetite to return as a Double R driver next season.”
Chadwick took the honours as the fastest of the Double R trio in qualifying, securing ninth on the grid for round 22 on Saturday just 0.4 seconds shy of the second row. During his first ever F3 qualifying run, Ravishankar was 12th quickest with Samaia ending up 14th on the grid for race one.
Making a clean getaway to the opening encounter, Chadwick stayed well within touch of the cars ahead and with six laps in the book just 0.5 seconds separated her from Nicolai Kjaergaard. With no overtaking opportunities being presented, though, Chadwick remained ninth to the flag on lap 12.
Samaia climbed into the top 12 on the opening lap while, contrastingly, new team-mate Ravishankar unfortunately slipped back to 14th spot. Samaia maintained position until lap six when an excursion cost him six seconds and meant he dropped back to the tail of the field where he finished the race.
Ravishankar profited from the Brazilian’s misfortune to take 13th place and the debutant then moved back into 12th when Jeremy Wahome lost time, before going on to keep his resurgent rival at bay by 0.3 seconds at the chequered flag.
Round 23 on Sunday morning began with Chadwick ninth on the grid but her hopes of making progress were dashed just a handful of corners into the race when contact pitched the Double R driver off the track. Recovering a long way down on the rest of the pack in 13th position, Chadwick did impressively close down a 12 second deficit and ultimately ended the race in the top 12.
Ravishankar began the contest in 12th position with Samaia 14th, the latter enjoying the best of the opening lap to climb into the top 10. Samaia maintained the placing and closed on Manuel Maldonado as the race neared its conclusion. Then, on the 12th and final lap, drama at the front between the first and second placed cars elevated the Brazilian into ninth before the finish.
After holding 12th place for the first couple of laps, Ravishankar moved ahead of fellow category debutant Alex Quinn on the third tour to take 11th place and he stayed there until lap nine when the drivers switched positions once more. As a result of the final lap incident at the front of the pack, though, Ravishankar ended the contest in 11th spot.
For the final race of the season on Sunday afternoon, Chadwick lined-up seventh on the grid, Samaia was 10th and Ravishankar started in 12th place. Unfortunately for Samaia, his campaign ended in frustration when a clutch issue resulted in him being forced to retire to the pits on lap one.
Chadwick and Ravishankar both lost ground on the first tour, slipping one place each, but the latter moved back into the top 12 on lap two and then both Double R drivers profited on lap eight when Cameron Das encountered problems. While Chadwick remained seventh to the finish, Ravishankar gained one more position to break into the top 10 three laps from the flag.
While the BRDC British F3 season has now reached its conclusion, Double R will be back on track next weekend, 30th September/1st October, with its British F4 team for the final three races of its season at the squad’s ‘home’ track Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit.
Final 2017 BRDC British F3 Championship Standings
9th Jamie Chadwick, 264pts;
13th Guilherme Samaia, 195pts;
19th Harry Hayek, 51pts;
21st Linus Lundqvist, 32pts;
22nd Pavan Ravishankar, 31pts
