Carlin's Kaylen Frederick is the 2020 BRDC British F3 Champion after storming to his ninth win of the season in the final race of the year at Silverstone.
The American put himself within touching distance of the title in race two this morning, and then only needed to finish race three to claim the title. Frederick delivered another sublime drive to take victory from pole position, and sealed the crown with a 51 point margin over Kush Maini.
Race two
The reverse grid contest delivered one of the most gripping contests for quite a while. Fog ensured that the start of the race was delayed, and with the track still damp in places, the 19 drivers had a difficult decision to make in the assembly area before the start. Several teams opted for dry tyres, which proved the right call with Double R's Benjamin Pedersen taking his first victory of the year ahead of Lanan's Bart Horsten, who surged from 10th on the grid to second, and pulled off a last lap pass on Carlin's Nazim Azman, with the podium trio running on slick tyres.
The reverse grid meant that championship challengers Frederick and Maini started towards the back in 17th and 15th places respectively. Both decided to go for wet tyres and that seemed to pay off on the opening lap as each moved into the top 10. That was as good as it got for them though, as the slick-shod runners blasted past them, leaving the pair to consolidate their positions despite banging wheels twice in one lap! Maini ultimately dropped to 17th, while Frederick finished 12th, and frustratingly one position short of 11th, which would have given him the title one race early.
Race three
The result from race two meant that Frederick entered the final round with a 33 point lead in the standings, with only 35 remaining. The simple arithmetic was that Frederick simply needed to finish the race to claim the title, while Maini required a win with his rival failing to finish.
Adding further intrigue was the fact that both drivers were starting on the front row, with Frederick on pole. Despite the pre-race pressure, Frederick made a dream start to hold the lead, while Maini was passed by both Roberto Faria (Fortec) and JHR's Ayrton Simmons, demoting him to fourth. Despite needing the win, Maini was unable to make an impression on the the championship leader and instead lost further ground when he was passed by the Hillspeed duo of Oliver Clarke and Sasakorn Chaimongkol. Frederick ultimately claimed his crowning ninth win of the year by over four seconds from Faria, who secured his first podium, with Simmons taking his second podium of the weekend.
Frederick is the first American to win the British F3 Championship. Despite finishing sixth in the race, Maini still claimed second place in the championship standings, while Douglas Motorsport's Ulysse De Pauw overcame a difficult final round to finish third in 2020.
Champion Frederick said: "It feels absolutely amazing, I think it'll only really settle in tomorrow morning when I wake up, I'm still fresh from the race at the moment! We didn't put a foot wrong, we had a great start and had amazing pace.
"I'm just so happy to finally wrap up the championship, we've had a few ups and downs but we kept at it and we put in the work we needed to to catch up and then pull ahead with a really solid gap at the end in terms of points. I'm just so grateful, so many people have put in so much effort for this year and made so many sacrifices, so I'm just so grateful I could bring it home for them."
BRDC British F3 Championship, Silverstone race two top-six:
1. Benjamin Pedersen, Double R Racing, 10 laps
2. Bart Horsten, Lanan Racing, +0.737s
3. Nazim Azman, Carlin, +1.140s
4. Oliver Clarke, Hillspeed, +2.001s
5. Carter Williams, JHR Developments, +19.440s
6. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +20.362s
BRDC British F3 Championship, Silverstone GP race three top-six:
1. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, 10 laps
2. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +4.121s
3. Ayrton Simmons, JHR Developments, +8.660s
4. Oliver Clarke, Hillspeed, +9.932s
5. Sasakorn Chaimongkol, Hillspeed, +11.435s
6. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, +14.600s
BRDC British F3 Championship, top-six final standings:
1. Kaylen Frederick, Carlin, 499pts
2. Kush Maini, Hitech GP, 448pts
3. Ulysse De Pauw, Douglas Motorsport, 392pts
4. Louis Foster, Double R Racing, 388pts
5. Nazim Azman, Carlin, 370pts
6. Josh Skelton, Chris Dittmann Racing, 320pts
