Carlin's Kaylen Frederick enjoyed a near perfect day at Silverstone (Saturday) after claiming a double pole position and then victory in race one to move 24 points clear in the championship battle.
The title fight will go down to the wire though after Hitech GP's Kush Maini finished third. The duo are now the only drivers still able to win the championship, and will battle it out in the final two races of the year tomorrow to become the first driver from their respective countries to become a British F3 champion.
Qualifying
Frederick secured his sixth and seventh qualifying pole positions of the season earlier this morning, and in doing so secured the £1,000 Jack Cavill Pole Position Cup end of year prize for the drivers with the most pole positions throughout the season.
In a tight session, Frederick was just 0.041s quicker than title rival Maini, with the pair locking out the front row not just for race one, but also for the final contest of the year on Sunday too, setting up a battle royale for championship honours, with the grid for that race decided by each driver's second fastest qualifying times.
Roberto Faria was third quickest for both grids, his best British F3 result so far, with Ayrton Simmons powering JHR Developments up to the second row.
Race one
Frederick converted pole into the lead on the run down to Copse on lap one, moving across the track on the approach to the first turn to fend off Maini. That allowed Simmons to blast around the outside of the Indian driver to move into second place with Maini having to settle for third.
Frederick pulled away at around a second a lap but saw his lead wiped out on lap six when the safety car was deployed following a collision between Ulysse De Pauw and Reece Ushijima. De Pauw had been running in fourth place and set to remain in championship contention going into tomorrow, but the collision forced him out of the race and the title fight.
The safety car pitted at the end of lap eight, with Frederick pulling away once more to claim his eighth win of the season, with Simmons and Maini completing the podium. Frederick now holds a 24 point lead in the championship standings.
Louis Foster (Double R) and Nazim Azman (Carlin) also entered the event in championship contention, but fifth and 11th place finishes respectively weren't enough to keep either in the title battle.
Race one winner Frederick said: "It was pretty good, I didn't have the best start but I defended well and then put in some really quick times afterwards. I don't know how big the gap was before the safety car but we had a solid margin.
"I was trying to take care of the tyres and making sure they were there at the end so we could keep putting in the quick times. I then got a good safety car restart and then just put in one more quick lap at the end and that was pretty much it. So I'm really pleased."
BRDC British F3 Championship, Silverstone qualifying top-six (race one grid)
1. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin 1m54.354s
2. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, +0.041s
3. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +0.127s
4. Ayrton Simmons, JHR Developments, +0.226s
5. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, +0.410s
6. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +0.502s
BRDC British F3 Championship, Silverstone GP race one top-six:
1. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, 10 laps
2. Ayrton Simmons, JHR Developments, +2.608s
3. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, +3.834s
4. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +4.857s
5. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, +6.127s
6. Oliver Clarke, Hillspeed, +6.260s
BRDC British F3 Championship, top-six standings after race 22 of 24:
1. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, 455pts
2. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, 431pts
3. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, 378pts
4. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, 372pts
5. Nazim Azman, Carlin, 341pts
6. Josh Skelton, Chris Dittmann Racing, 298pts
