Thread: F3 in Bucharest

I havn't put anything about British f3 up in a while so thought i would chuck up the latest results from Bucharest

Quali 1 report

Brendon Hartley underlined his raw pace with a sensational pole position lap in the qualifying session for today's British Formula 3 race at Bucharest.

The New Zealander needs a pair of victories in Romania this weekend to keep his championship hopes alive and he got off to the best possible start by producing the lap of the season so far.

Oliver Turvey looked set to take his fifth consecutive pole position when he beat Jaime Alguersuari's best time with five minutes to go. But it all came down to the final minute of the session between the Carlin Motorsport trio.

Hartley knocked half a second off the pole time with a 1:12.7 on his penultimate lap. Turvey and Alguersuari responded with their last efforts but could only manage a 1:12.8 and 1:12.9 respectively.

But Hartley was already on his final lap and giving it everything. He carried incredible speed through the chicanes, using all the road but just missing the walls, and unleashed a staggering 1:11.960 - more than eight tenths of a second faster than anyone else.

Turvey and Alguersuari were the only other cars in the 1:12s with the rest of the field well over a second off Hartley's time.

Esteban Guerrieri was an impressive fourth fastest, making another return to Ultimate Motorsport, and will be one to watch at the start of this afternoon's race as he's renowned for his excellent first laps.

Sam Abay made it four Carlin cars in the top five, with Max Chilton producing another strong qualifying performance in sixth. Double R teammates Atte Mustonen and John Martin qualified seventh and eighth, with title hopeful Sergio Perez a disappointing ninth.

Marcus Ericsson will start from the back of the grid after clouting the wall (for the second time this weekend) on his first flying lap of the session. His Fortec Motorsport teammate Philip Major also hit the wall later in the session.

Jay Bridger headed the National Class runners, pipping practice pace-setter Steven Guerrero by a tenth of a second. Recent form man Stefan Wilson was only fifth in class after a spin stranded him at the third chicane.


Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/M 1:11.960
2. Oliver Turvey Carlin D/M 1:12.819 +0.859
3. Jaime Alguersuari Carlin D/M 1:12.913 +0.953
4. Esteban Guerrieri Ultimate M/M 1:13.230 +1.270
5. Sam Abay Carlin D/M 1:13.542 +1.582
6. Max Chilton Hitech D/M 1:13.561 +1.601
7. Atte Mustonen Double R D/M 1:13.669 +1.709
8. John Martin Double R D/M 1:13.717 +1.757
9. Sergio Perez T-Sport D/H 1:13.908 +1.948
10. Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M 1:13.985 +2.025
11. Michael Devaney Ultimate M/M 1:14.466 +2.506
12. Oliver Oakes Eurotek D/M 1:14.526 +2.566
13. Henry Arundel Double R D/M 1:14.778 +2.818
14. Jay Bridger Fluid (N) D/H 1:15.031 +3.071
15. Steven Guerrero T-Sport (N) D/H 1:15.157 +3.197
16. Ricardo Teixeira Ultimate M/M 1:15.269 +3.309
17. Hywel Lloyd CF (N) D/H 1:15.276 +3.316
18. Salman Al-Khalifa T-Sport (N) D/H 1:15.592 +3.632
19. Stefan Wilson Fluid (N) D/H 1:16.750 +4.790
20. Philip Major Fortec D/M 1:17.064 +5.104
21. Kristjan Einar Carlin (N) D/H 1:17.098 +5.138
22. Marcus Ericsson Fortec D/M no time

Race 1 Report
Hartley takes dominant race one win

Brendon Hartley dominated a shortened British Formula 3 race and took his fifth win of the season on the streets of Bucharest this afternoon.

He made a swift getaway from his pole position and nobody could get anywhere near him in the race.

Hartley had to build his lead twice after a mid-race safety car period caused by a multi-car collision lower down the order. He quickly re-established a six-second lead and the victory was confirmed when the race was red-flagged four minutes before the end when Ricardo Teixeira spun and blocked the track.

"I was actually pretty reserved," Hartley said afterwards. "I knew I had the pace so it was just about not making a mistake."

The victory helped to keep Hartley's title hopes alive, but championship leader Oliver Turvey finished second with Jaime Alguersuari, who is now Turvey's closest rival, completing another Carlin Motorsport 1-2-3.

The other title hopeful, Sergio Perez, watched his own title aspirations all but slip away when his Mugen-Honda engine blew up while he was running eighth.

Esteban Guerrieri was a strong fourth in Ultimate's Mygale, holding off a line of cars for much of the race. Sam Abay, Max Chilton, Atte Mustonen, and John Martin queued up behind.

Salman Al-Khalifa clinched his maiden National Class victory while carnage reigned behind. The T-Sport driver picked his way to the front of the class in the opening laps and already off up the road when three of his rivals were eliminated at one corner.

Steven Guerrero clattered the wall and seconds later Stefan Wilson and Kristjan Einar tangled. Einar was flicked into the same wall as Guerrero had just hit, while Wilson went the other way and knocked Philip Major into a spin.

It took ten laps behind the safety car for the incident to be cleared, but nothing could deny Hartley his win.

Guerrero's retirement also cemented the National Class title for Jay Bridger, who only needed to finish ahead of Guerrero to be confirmed as champion.

Pos Driver Team Car Time
1. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/M 23:50.696
2. Oliver Turvey Carlin D/M +5.831
3. Jaime Alguersuari Carlin D/M +6.701
4. Esteban Guerrieri Ultimate M/M +8.203
5. Sam Abay Carlin D/M +8.822
6. Max Chilton Hitech D/M +9.715
7. Atte Mustonen Double R D/M +10.232
8. John Martin Double R D/M +11.010
9. Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M +11.570
10. Michael Devaney Ultimate M/M +12.213
11. Marcus Ericsson Fortec D/M +13.999
12. Salman Al-Khalifa T-Sport (N) D/H +20.858
13. Hywel Lloyd CF (N) D/H +23.622
14. Oliver Oakes Eurotek D/M +24.563
15. Jay Bridger Fluid (N) D/H +25.384

Retirements:

Driver Team Car Laps
Ricardo Teixeira Ultimate M/M 14
Henry Arundel Double R D/M 12
Sergio Perez T-Sport D/H 12
Stefan Wilson Fluid (N) D/H 5
Steven Guerrero T-Sport (N) D/H 4
Philip Major Fortec D/M 4
Kristjan Einar Carlin (N) D/H 4

quali race 2

Turvey pinches pole from Hartley
Oliver Turvey clinched pole position for this weekend's second British Formula 3 race on the streets of Bucharest.

Turvey, who finished second to Brendon Hartley in yesterday's race, pinched pole from the New Zealander by 0.003s today with his last lap of the session.

The session was broken up into three parts thanks to a couple of errors at the fast right kink at the back of the circuit.

Atte Mustonen was first up, hitting the wall hard as he slid sideways through the corner just five minutes into the session.

After the restart, Hartley and Turvey swapped the top spot back and forth as the times dropped from high to low 1:12s

Sam Abay was next into the wall at the right kink, altough he did at least manage to drag his mangled car off the track and out of harm's way.

But it was only three more minutes until Steven Guerrero clouted the wall in the same place - for the second time this weekend - and the session had to be stopped again with his car broadside in the middle of the road.

That left just four minutes of qualifying at the end, and Turvey was the only one of the front runners to improve his time - lapping just three thousandths of a second quicker than Hartley.

Jaime Alguersuari completed another Carlin Motorsport clean sweep of the top three, with John Martin fourth for Double R.

Hitech Racing filled row three with Max Chilton and Walter Grubmuller producing their best efforts of the weekend.

Esteban Guerrieri was top Mygale in seventh, ahead of Marcus Ericsson, while Abay's best lap before his crash put him ninth. Sergio Perez completed the top ten for T-Sport.

Newly-crowned National Class champion Jay Bridger took the class pole, ahead of Hywel Lloyd. Guerrero was third despite his accident and Stefan Wilson completed a quartet of National cars from 14th to 17th places.

Race 2

Alguersuari capitalises for race two win

Jaime Alguersuari scored his third victory of the season Sunday's British Formula 3 race at Bucharest to keep his title hopes alive with one event remaining.

Alguersuari took the lead on the first lap when Oliver Turvey ran wide at the first corner defending from Brendon Hartley and delayed them both.

Turvey maintained second but Hartley dropped to fifth and had to fight his way back past John Martin and Max Chilton, but he got both in one move at the last corner.

All three were side by side down the straight, with Hartley on the inside and Chilton on the outside both sweeping past Martin. Chilton tried to chop into the corner but Hartley was already there so he aborted and cut the roundabout.

Chilton rejoined ahead of Martin but lifted on the main straight to give the place back, but the loss of momentum also allowed Esteban Guerrieri to come through and Sergio Perez was all over the back of the Hitech car as well.

Perez harassed Chilton for a few more laps until he got a good run down the main straight and moved ahead around the outside. Chilton tapped the back of Perez as the Mexican braked in front of himand his nose kept pushing the back of the T-Sport car until it spun.

Perez was then collected by the unsighted Ricardo Teixeira, which brought out the safety car, and Chilton had to pit for a new nose.

The safety car closed things up at the front and after the restart, Hartley set about finding a way round Turvey. He looked to be quicker, but save for a bit of darting around in the mirrors, he couldn't get close enough to make a serious move.

Turvey was also able to keep his pace up enough that Alguersuari couldn't get away, and 1.1 seconds covered all three as they crossed the line at the end.

"I knew my teammates were a little bit faster than me but I was still able to win," said Alguersuari. "The championship is still very close and we'll see what happens at Donington, I hope to be able to win there."
Martin lost fourth place when he spun and crashed at the right-hand kink and that promoted the Mygales of Ultimate Motorsport teammates Esteban Guerrieri and Michael Devaney to fourth and fifth.

Walter Grubmuller completed the top six, while Oliver Oakes passed Sam Abay for seventh four laps from home.

Stefan Wilson claimed his fourth National Class win of the year with ninth place overall, ahead of Hywel Lloyd and Jay Bridger.

Pos Driver Car Time
1. J.Alguersuari Dallara/Mercedes 30:43.123
2. Oliver Turvey Dallara/Mercedes + 0.642
3. Brendon Hartley Dallara/Mercedes + 1.121
4. E.Guerrieri Mygale/Mercedes + 10.113
5. Michael Devaney Mygale/Mercedes + 12.233
6. W.Grubm?ller Dallara/Mercedes + 12.891
7. Oliver Oakes Dallara/Mercedes + 19.853
8. Sam Abay Dallara/Mercedes + 21.858
9. Stefan Wilson Dallara/Mugen-Honda + 23.258
10. Hywel Lloyd Dallara/Mugen-Honda + 23.546
11. Jay Bridger Dallara/Mugen-Honda + 24.735
12. Marcus Ericsson Dallara/Mercedes + 26.124
13. S.Al-Khalifa Dallara/Mugen-Honda + 36.642
14. Steven Guerrero Dallara/Mugen-Honda + 38.568
15. Henry Arundel Dallara/Mercedes + 39.163
16. Max Chilton Dallara/Mercedes + 54.934

Retirements:

Driver Car Laps
John Martin Dallara/Mercedes 15
Atte Mustonen Dallara/Mercedes 13
Philip Major Dallara/Mercedes 12
Sergio P?rez Dallara/Mugen-Honda 7
Ricardo Teixeira Mygale/Mercedes 7