Alguersuari Gives Himself a Great 18th Birthday Present
Alguersuari made a good start to lead the 27 car grid away for the second race of the weekend. Behind the Spaniard Esteban Guerrieri in the Ultimate Motorsport Mygale got a great getaway to move up into 2nd after the first corner from 5th on the grid ahead of Ericsson and Hartley. 6th placed Max Chilton had a poor start and ended up losing seven places on the opening lap.
At the front Alguersuari started to open up a gap to 2nd placed Guerrieri as the Argentine had to defend his position from a very determined Marcus Ericsson in the Fortec Dallara, this battle allowing the leader to move further ahead of the field. At the end of lap 2 4th placed Brendon Hartley came under pressure from Ericsson’s teammate Sebastian Hohethal and in a demon move at Old Hall the Swede moved up into 4th place at the expense of the New Zealander.
For the next six laps the 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed cars circulated the Oulton Park circuit separated by less than a second, with Guerrieri using his vast racing know how to keep the Fortec duo at bay. However a mistake on lap 10 drop the Argentine down to 6th place behind Walter Grubmuller.
Jaime Alguersuari continued to improve and set fastest lap times on the 5th, 6th and 7th laps and then on lap 10 went even faster, setting a new British F3 lap record by 0.116 seconds.
Further back down the field John Martin (#24 Double R) and Nick Tandy (#28 JTR) tangled at Hislops, pushing some of the tires onto the racing line at the chicane and forcing the deployment of the safety car, reducing Alguersuari’s lead from 9.1 seconds to zero. However confusion reigned as some of the drivers thought that the safety car had been withdrawn and Brendon Hartley and Esteban Guerrieri moved into 1st and 3rd respectively. The Argentine realized his mistake and moved back to 6th place but Hartley stayed out in front of the pack as the safety car circulated.
As the safety car was withdrawn at the end of lap 14 Hartley continued to lead from Alguersuari, Ericsson, Hohethal and Grubmuller, with everyone expecting the New Zealander to move over and allow the others past. How Hartley doggedly maintained his lead on the road and with 19 laps completed the checkered flag came out, which he duly took ahead of Alguersuari.
However a swift decision by the stewards put Hartley back to 4th place and the win went to Hartley’s Red Bull teammate Jaime Alguersuari, his first in British F3 and his first on a British circuit.
In the National Class Andy Meyrick made it look so simple, taking another decisive win ahead of Salman Al Khalifa, the Bahraini driver happy to get his season underway after problems in race 1 denied him of any points. Irish driver Niall Quinn was the third podium finisher and as a late entry to the championship he was happy to gather as many championship points as possible.
The next two races take place at Croft, North Yorkshire on Sunday 27 April. Motors TV and Channel 4 are showing highlights of the two races.
Round 2 – Provisional result
1 – 4 – Int – Jaime ALGUERSUARI – ESP – Carlin Motorpsort – 30:10.677 – 19 laps
2 – 8 – Int – Marcus ERICSSON – SWE – Fortec Motorsport – +0.411s
3 – 7 – Int – Sebastian HOHENTHAL – SWE – Fortec Motorsport – +2.748s
4 – 3 – Int – Brendon HARTLEY – NZL – Carlin Motorsport – +2.963s
5 – 2 – Int – Walter GRUBMULLER – AUT – Hitech Racing – +3.481s
6 – 11 – Int – Esteban GUERRIERI – ARG – Ultimate Motorsport – +4.621s
7 – 26 – Int – Atte MUSTONEN – FIN – Double R Racing – +5.653s
8 – 13 – Int – Michael DEVANEY – IRL – Ultimate Motorsport – +6.018s
9 – 25 – Int – Alistair JACKSON – GBR – Double R Racing – +7.702s
10 – 6 – Int – Henry ARUNDEL – GBR – Double R Racing – +8.933s
11 – 18 – Int – Sam ABAY – AUS – Carlin Motorsport – +9.449s
12 – 17 – Int – Oliver TURVEY – GBR – Carlin Motorsport – +9.637s
13 – 9 – Int – Sergio PEREZ – MEX – T – Sport – +12.783s
14 – 1 – Int – Max CHILTON – GBR – Hitech Racing – +13.061s
15 – 56 – Nat – Andrew MEYRICK – GBR – Carlin Motorspoort – +13.997s
16 – 57 – Nat – Salman Al KHALIFA – BHR – T – Sport – +17.127s
17 – 12 – Int – Ricardo TEIXEIRA – ANG – Ultimate Motorsport – +18.489s
18 – 58 – Nat – Niall QUINN – IRL – Team Loctite – +18.594s
19 – 50 – Nat – Jay BRIDGER – GBR – Fluid Motorsport Development – +18.803s
20 – 52 – Nat – Hywel LLOYD – GBR – C F Racing – +20.156s
21 – 54 – Nat – Kristjan EINAR – ISL – Carlin Motorsport – +22.824s
22 – 14 – Int – Philip MAJOR – CAN – Fortec Motorsport – +23.310s
23 – 51 – Nat – Stefan WILSON – GBR – Fluid Motorsport Development – +33.282s
24 – 55 – Nat – Craig REIFF – GER – Nexa Racing – +37.784s
25 – 53 – Nat – Steven GUERRERO – COL – T – Sport – +1 lap
DNF – 28 – Int – Nick TANDY – GBR – JTR Marshall Westland
DNF – 24 – Int – John MARTIN – AUS – Double R Racing
Fastest Lap
****New Lap Record****
4 – Int – Jaime ALGUERSUARI – ESP – Carlin Motorsport – Lap 10 – 108.43mph – 1:29.375
56 – Nat – Andrew MEYRICK – GBR – Carlin Motorsport – Lap 10 – 106.27mph – 1:31.189