There were two new race winners at Thruxton today. Race 1 was the best, with a very well-deserved win, at last, for Stephen Jelley, coming through from 5th on the grid. Brief report and interviews
here.
Atte Mustonen was the fastest man on the track, setting a new F3 lap record for the circuit. He could well have won, after a slow start and being delayed by a clash between Seb Hohenthal and Niall Breen, but made a brave move to go around the outside of Sam Bird at the Club Chicane. He got ahead, but then Bird locked up and slid into Atte's sidepod, taking them both out. To his credit, Sam later apologised, but it was probably a racing incident.
Jelley timed his bid rather better, waiting until the restart after the Safety Car intervention to slice past Jonathan Kennard at the Complex.
Guerrieri's 4th place was especially well deserved, because the Mygale front end is very hard on tyres, pretty though it may be.
Race 2 was much less exciting, unless you happen to be one of those people who has been waiting for Atte Mustonen to convert his excellent recent qualifying results into a race win...
When it happened, it was surprisingly easy, Atte leading from lights to flag and winning by over 4 seconds from Niall Breen and an impressive Rodolfo Gonzalez, who also took fastest lap. Report and interviews
here.
Maro Engel kept the title battle alive by taking 3rd and 4th respectively. Marko Asmer had a surpisingly quiet day. Normally Hitech's cars are very quick around Thruxton, but for some reason it just didn't seem to happen this weekend. Even so, the gap is now 72 points with just 84 still on offer at Croft and Rockingham. Table
here.
In the National Class Sergio Perez took another couple of wins. Frankie Cheng was lying second in race 1 until until the last lap, when he apparently tangled with a Championship Class car, possibly Leo Mansell.
Race 2 was more controversial when Perez allegedly clashed with Cheng on the first lap at the Complex, with Cheng bouncing back onto the track to take out himself and Mike Meadows. There was no clear evidence of this, so it will be interesting to see any TV coverage.
For the moment, Perez leads the class by a decisive 69 points. Table
here.
The weather took until lunchtime to be as good as yesterday, but overall there can be no complaint on that score and Thruxton is truly an excellent circuit for F3 racing.