Hitech GP’s Reece Ushijima and Chris Dittmann Racing’s Ayrton Simmons were the winners on Sunday at Silverstone, after an entertaining pair of races at the home of the British Grand Prix.
Japanese driver Ushijima claimed his second victory of the weekend with another dominant display in race one, while Simmons salvaged glory from a difficult weekend in the reverse grid race three.
Race two
Ushijima started from pole for the second time this weekend, with the grid based on each driver’s second fastest time from qualifying. The Hitech driver made another good start to hold the lead while Carlin’s Zak O’Sullivan again slotted into second in a near mirror image of yesterday’s opening race.
This time Ushijima’s victory was more comfortable, and it was O’Sullivan coming under pressure in the final stages as Roberto Faria surged from sixth on the grid to third on the opening lap, and then closed right up to O’Sullivan on the final lap.
Frederick Lubin claimed fourth for Arden despite a 10 second time penalty for exceeding track limits, with Elite Motorsport’s Javier Sagrera fifth ahead of Hitech’s Bart Horsten. The Australian was one of the stars of the race as he blasted from 15th on the grid to sixth.
Race three
Simmons started fourth on the grid for the race three, but found his way into second place by the end of lap one and moved past teammate Max Marzorati at Brooklands to take the lead next time around.
From there he built a small gap over Alex Connor who had moved into second after Marzorati had been wiped out of the race by Carlin’s Bryce Aron, while Faria moved from 10th on the grid into third once more.
A safety car was deployed mid race after a collision between Bart Horsten and Mikkel Grundtvig, and when it pitted at the end of lap seven, there was only time for two racing laps. Simmons made a good restart, but Connor closed right up at the end of the race, with Faria following suit. Simmons ultimately claimed his second win of the year by just 0.281s, with the top three drivers covered by half a second.
In the championship standings, O’Sullivan holds a narrow six point lead over double winner Ushijima, while Faria’s double podium means he climbs to third heading to the next rounds at Donington in two weeks’ time.
Ushijima commented: "I knew that once we got the first win, the second was bound to come so I’m glad we could get that done and hopefully we can repeat this performance at Donington.
"When you’re in the lead it’s quite comfortable to just drive around. There’s a lot we can improve on with the pace though, and we’ll look over that tonight so we can lead even further next time.”
Simmons commented: “This win is not only for me but for the team. They’ve been working crazy hours, I think I’ve been carrying damage that we couldn’t fix from Brands Hatch. The team has been working day and night, they’ve had the car in bits on numerous occasions and they were here last night until stupid hours. I’m very happy for me, very happy that in a damage limitation weekend we still managed to come away with a win.”
BRDC British F3 Championship, Silverstone race two top-six:
1. Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, 10 laps
2. Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin, +1.174s
3. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +1.656s
4. Frederick Lubin, Arden Motorsport, +11.821s
5. Javier Sagrera, Elite Motorsport, +12.025s
6. Bart Horsten, Hitech GP, +13.034s
BRDC British F3 Championship, Silverstone race three top-six:
1. Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing, 9 laps
2. Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, +0.281s
3. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, +0.552s
4. Reema Juffali, Douglas Motorsport, +3.789s
5. Jose Garfias, Elite Motorsport, +5.356s
6. Tom Lebbon, Elite Motorsport, +5.692s
BRDC British F3 Championship, top-six drivers' standings after race six of 24
1. Zak O’Sullivan, Carlin, 149pts
2. Reece Ushijima, Hitech GP, 143pts
3. Roberto Faria, Fortec Motorsports, 90pts
4. Ayrton Simmons, Chris Dittmann Racing, 89pts
5. Frederick Lubin, Arden Motorsport, 88pts
6. Alex Connor, Arden Motorsport, 85pts
