To intensify title race
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 (Sunday), with both now staking genuine title aspirations.
Their victories ensured that each of the top four drivers in the championship have taken wins at the 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, +14.954s
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, +24.909s
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, 256pts
Image: Foster slides his way to his third win of the year
