Auto Racing

Some masterful moves from Cooper Tires British F3 championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne brought the flying Frenchman a richly deserved victory at Thruxton this morning, his 10th win in 20 races. Vergne led home James Calado for a Carlin 1-2,…

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Some masterful moves from Cooper Tires British F3 championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne brought the flying Frenchman a richly deserved victory at Thruxton this morning, his 10th win in 20 races. Vergne led home James Calado for a Carlin 1-2, with Oli Webb third for Fortec. Menasheh Idafar recovered from a mid-race spin to take National class honours.

Vergne was in imperious form from the outset, determined that sixth spot on the grid would be no bar to his aspirations. His cause was aided by a second lap accident between the early leader, Brazilian Lucas Foresti, and his countryman Felipe Nasr.

Foresti’s Carlin car overhauled the Raikkonen Robertson Racing machine of polesitter Nasr at the start and, as they disputed top spot on the approach to the Club chicane, they touched and spun off. That handed the lead to Webb, with Saturday winner James Calado next up and Vergne fourth behind his team-mate Adriano Buzaid.

Vergne outdragged Buzaid for third up Woodham Hill on lap five, breaking the lap record as he did so, then settled on to Calado’s tail. James had profited most from the lap two crash, jumping ahead of both Vergne and Buzaid in the chaos which followed, but the Racing Steps man had no answer to Vergne’s subsequent pace.

Jean-Eric passed James into the chicane on lap seven and set about reeling in Webb, narrowing his 1.3s advantage to 0.4s within four laps. Then, into the chicane on lap 12, the Frenchman left his braking impossibly late as Webb hugged the inside line and drove all the way around the Englishman in what was possibly his best – and bravest – overtake of the season to date. And Vergne lowered his own lap record on the same lap.

Vergne, who went on to win by 1.6s, said of his manoeuvre on Webb: “I braked really late, the car was really good – I don’t know, maybe I had less downforce than him and he couldn’t brake as well as me – but it was a really good move, maybe my best in the year. It’s all good news for the championship.”

Webb lost second to Calado four laps from the end, James replicating Jean-Eric’s late-braking adventures into Club to achieve it. Said Oli: “I just couldn’t keep up the pace that we had at the beginning; they were just too quick. They caught me easily in the tow. It’s always hard leading here… That was that, and there’s not much else to say.”

Calado was pleased with second, ahead of his rival for the championship runner-up spot, Oli Webb: “I had a good start and overtook Jean-Eric to catch up with Oli, but we made a few changes to the car yesterday and he had more pace than me. I made it easy for him to pass me because I didn’t want to waste any time; it benefited me because it gave me the chance to pass Oli later on.”

Rupert Svendsen-Cook enjoyed another strong showing to relieve Buzaid of fourth place on the ninth lap, with Fortec’s Daniel McKenzie demoting the Brazilian to sixth two laps from the end. Jazeman Jaafar placed seventh ahead of Carlos Huertas and Gabriel Dias, with Jay Bridger 10th for Litespeed, ahead of Alex Brundle and Hywel Lloyd.

As in yesterday’s race, Menasheh Idafar led the National class from the beginning for T-Sport, and again came to grief at the Club chicane. This time, however, his clash was with Adderley Fong in the Sino Vision car and, though their synchronised spin delayed both men, damage was minimal. Idafar lost the class lead to James Cole for a lap before reasserting his superiority to take the win.

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