British F3 Snetterton

[Richard B]

Is it too early for predictions?
Possibly, but there is apparently a 3rd driver at Litespeed ,Aaron Steele, driving in National Class in a second Litespeed R1

[TIMELORD]

Here are the theoretical best lap times from today's qualifying sessions. They are made up of the best sector times for each driver, in either session.

Pos	Driver	Sector 1	Sector 2	BEST
1	van der ZANDE	29.065	32.945	1:02.010
2	ARUNDEL	28.885	33.141	1:02.026
3	CHILTON	29.080	32.995	1:02.075
4	RICCIARDO	29.008	33.096	1:02.104
5	GRUBMULLER	29.118	32.987	1:02.105
6	CHRISTODOULOU	29.117	33.046	1:02.163
7	BUZAID	29.090	33.101	1:02.191
8	NAKAJIMA	29.086	33.206	1:02.292
9	HUERTAS	28.993	33.334	1:02.327
10	BOYD	29.271	33.111	1:02.382
11	BRIDGER	29.320	33.091	1:02.411
12	McKENZIE	29.230	33.242	1:02.472
13	GARCIA	29.309	33.227	1:02.536
14	DIAS	29.326	33.403	1:02.729
15	MAJOR	29.344	33.399	1:02.743
16	LLOYD	29.489	33.536	1:03.025
17	RICHELMI	29.720	33.673	1:03.393
18	CORREA	29.889	33.668	1:03.557
19	STEELE	30.006	34.219	1:04.225
20	SNEGIREV	29.882	34.347	1:04.229

[strider]

Originally Posted by Richard B

I started one on the 27th June but nobody posted anything...thought I'd got the date wrong! but there is however F3 this weekend... I know 'cos I was there

Originally Posted by TIMELORD

I tried to revive it this afternoon, but to no avail!
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116727

It's not your fault, guys, at least you tried.

There are a couple of major problems, especially this weekend. The first is that the WSR is at Silverstone and FREE, so a lot of folk are there. The second is that no-one seems particularly interested in F3 this year unless someone really massages the the thread along from start to finish. As I said I'm doing other things, but I don't mind giving a hand tonight.

The report of Q1 is here and the times were:

Pos Driver                  Team             Car    Time          Gap
 1. Renger van der Zande    Hitech           D/M    1m02.071s
 2. Henry Arundel           Carlin           D/V    1m02.074s  +0.003
 3. Max Chilton             Carlin           D/V    1m02.079s  +0.008
 4. Daniel Ricciardo        Carlin           D/V    1m02.178s  +0.107
 5. Walter Grubmuller       Hitech           D/M    1m02.195s  +0.124
 6. Riki Christodoulou      Fortec           D/M    1m02.226s  +0.155
 7. Daisuke Nakajima        Double R         D/M    1m02.372s  +0.301
 8. Adriano Buzaid          T-Sport          D/V    1m02.406s  +0.335
 9. Jay Bridger             Litespeed        M/M    1m02.509s  +0.438
10. Daniel McKenzie         Fortec           D/H    1m02.643s  +0.572
11. Wayne Boyd              T-Sport          D/V    1m02.679s  +0.608
12. Carlos Huertas          Double R         D/M    1m02.690s  +0.619
13. Gabriel Dias            T-Sport          D/H    1m02.729s  +0.658
14. Philip Major            Carlin           D/V    1m02.743s  +0.672
15. Victor Garcia           Fortec           D/M    1m02.983s  +0.912
16. Hywel Lloyd             CF               D/H    1m03.328s  +1.257
17. Stephane Richelmi       Barazi Epsilon   D/M    1m03.523s  +1.452
18. Victor Correa           Litespeed        S/H    1m03.861s  +1.790
19. Maxim Snegirev          West-Tec         D/H    1m04.459s  +2.388
20. Aaron Steele            Litespeed        S/H    1m04.928s  +2.857

The report of Q2 is here and the times were:

Pos  Driver                Team            Car  Time       Gap
 1.  Renger van der Zande  Hitech          D/M  1m02.098s
 2.  Walter Grubmuller     Hitech          D/M  1m02.166s  + 0.068s
 3.  Riki Christodoulou    Fortec          D/M  1m02.184s  + 0.086s
 4.  Max Chilton           Carlin          D/V  1m02.310s  + 0.212s
 5.  Daniel Ricciardo      Carlin          D/V  1m02.331s  + 0.233s
 6.  Adriano Buzaid        T-Sport         D/V  1m02.437s  + 0.339s
 7.  Wayne Boyd            T-Sport         D/V  1m02.457s  + 0.359s
 8.  Victor Garcia         Fortec          D/M  1m02.536s  + 0.438s
 9.  Daisuke Nakajima      Double R        D/M  1m02.543s  + 0.445s
10.  Jay Bridger           Litespeed       M/M  1m02.611s  + 0.513s
11.  Henry Arundel         Carlin          D/V  1m02.704s  + 0.606s
12.  Carlos Huertas        Double R        D/M  1m02.716s  + 0.618s
13.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec          D/H  1m02.736s  + 0.638s
14.  Gabriel Dias          T-Sport         D/H  1m02.779s  + 0.681s
15.  Hywel Lloyd           CF              D/H  1m03.184s  + 1.086s
16.  Philip Major          Carlin          D/V  1m03.234s  + 1.136s
17.  Stephane Richelmi     Barazi Epsilon  D/M  1m03.466s  + 1.368s
18.  Victor Correa         Litespeed       S/H  1m03.563s  + 1.465s
19.  Aaron Steele          Litespeed       S/H  1m04.343s  + 2.245s
20.  Maxim Snegirev        West-Tec        D/H  1m04.681s  + 2.583s

Obviously I'm not being particularly smart when I say that my tip for victory is Renger van der Zande, but he does need to make a good start. Also, he might have to defer to his team-mate in race 2, because I think that's part of the deal.

There were supposed to be 22 cars this weekend, but there are only 20. One absentee is Nick Tandy for reasons I explained elsewhere, but I can't work out who else is missing. Both Philip Major and Aaron Steele are there as new comers. Anyone help?

There is no live coverage on line, which people don't like, but if you go here and click on the Live Timing button, that's what you'll get. It's better than nothing.

The weather tomorrow is likely to be be okay, although one of Friday's test sessions was washed out.

Keep an eye on the official website here for further information. By my calculations the first race is at 11.50am. Not sure about race 2, but it's usually around 3.30pm.

Hope that helps.

[Robbe]

Originally Posted by strider

There were supposed to be 22 cars this weekend, but there are only 20. One absentee is Nick Tandy for reasons I explained elsewhere, but I can't work out who else is missing. Both Philip Major and Aaron Steele are there as new comers. Anyone help?

Compared to last weekend, Ericsson, Wickens and Tandy are missing. Snergiev, Major and Steele are back/new on the grid. Not sure who was on the 22 cars entry list.

Apart from that, switching Tandy-Ericsson-Wickens with Major-Steele-Snergiev is not exactly improving quality of the field.

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by strider

There were supposed to be 22 cars this weekend, but there are only 20. One absentee is Nick Tandy for reasons I explained elsewhere, but I can't work out who else is missing. Both Philip Major and Aaron Steele are there as new comers. Anyone help?

From what I can see all the regulars are there. Marcus Ericsson has competed in the last 4 races but I assume they were only one off rounds, so he may be the other absentee. In fact he is 4th in the championship, shame he can't do an Asmer and 'sack off' Japanese F3!

Is van der Zande's deal really to play second fiddle to Grubmuller? He only missed 2 races, so isn't he racing for the title himself? Or does Walter's dad play a part? Because as we all know, Renger is by far the better of the two..

Looks like McKenzie is still following on from his great form in the National class, a couple of rounds ago at Rockinham it looked like Dias had the edge. Respectable times too by Correa, I often wonder what he could do in a Dallara. He was a race winner in Formula Ford last year, and FF graduates usually go well...I assume he is a lot quicker than the Litespeed R1 enables him to go to be honest. Considering the car was set-up by Robbie Kerr in winter, it has never showed much pace, neither in the Euroseries with Carbone nor National class.

[gomick]

Great efforts in qualifying by Renger - he seems to be able to get that little bit extra out of the car when 10ths of a second are like gold...
Hope for a great round of British F3

[strider]

Originally Posted by Robbe

Compared to last weekend, Ericsson, Wickens and Tandy are missing. Snegirev, Major and Steele are back/new on the grid. Not sure who was on the 22 cars entry list.

Apart from that, switching Tandy-Ericsson-Wickens with Major-Steele-Snegirevis not exactly improving quality of the field.

Originally Posted by runshaw

From what I can see all the regulars are there. Marcus Ericsson has competed in the last 4 races but I assume they were only one off rounds, so he may be the other absentee. In fact he is 4th in the championship, shame he can't do an Asmer and 'sack off' Japanese F3!

I remember now. Christian Ebbesvik of Norway did the Snetterton test in June for West-Tec and maybe I jumped the gun and thought he was joining the field permanently.

Yes, Ericsson has gone back to Japan now but certainly proved that there was nothing wrong with Double R's car.

Major replaces Wickens, who was having a one-off in Hockenheim. Snegirev is back and Steele is a genuine addition, but Tandy has gone, although he did the Friday test, so 20 cars it is.

Originally Posted by runshaw

Is van der Zande's deal really to play second fiddle to Grubmuller? He only missed 2 races, so isn't he racing for the title himself? Or does Walter's dad play a part? Because as we all know, Renger is by far the better of the two..

When Grubmuller won race 2 at Hockenheim there was very much the feeling that VDZ got himself into 2nd and then acted as rear-gunner, bottling up several cars behind him. I don't know what the financial deal is, but Hitech is very much Team Grubmuller now.

Originally Posted by runshaw

Looks like McKenzie is still following on from his great form in the National class, a couple of rounds ago at Rockingham it looked like Dias had the edge. Respectable times too by Correa, I often wonder what he could do in a Dallara. He was a race winner in Formula Ford last year, and FF graduates usually go well...I assume he is a lot quicker than the Litespeed R1 enables him to go to be honest. Considering the car was set-up by Robbie Kerr in winter, it has never showed much pace, neither in the Euroseries with Carbone nor National class.

To begin with with Dias seemed to be quicker tham McKenzie, but more incident/accident prone. Lately, however, McKenzie seems to have the edge in speed as well.

You're right about the Litespeed. The team are a very nice bunch and they did a good job of converting the car to National Class spec, but it has never been a particularly quick car, even in the hands of Fabio Carbone. I winced a bit when I heard that Robbie Kerr was developing the car over the winter. Not because Robbie is a bad driver, but he has a very individual set-up preference, which doesn't usually suit other drivers. They should have used Danny Watts.

[gomick]

If it is that obvious that Hitech is Team Grubmuller - why is it allowed to happen?

[strider]

Renger van der Zande has won race 1 at a canter, report here.

I was watching live timing and Renger seemed to be in a class of his own. He was probably helped by the fact that Henry Arundel was in 2nd place until Ricciardo got by and then pulled away.

I don't know why, considering it has one of the longest straights in the country, but Snetterton is a particularly difficult circuit on which to overtake in F3.

[strider]

Originally Posted by gomick

If it is that obvious that Hitech is Team Grubmuller - why is it allowed to happen?

Simple. Grubmuller Sr owns the team. David Hayle has gone off and formed Hitech Junior to run cars in FRenult UK and the Superleague Formula.

[gomick]

Well, Walter better pull his finger out or daddy will get angry...

Good points for Ricciardo

[strider]

Originally Posted by gomick

Well, Walter better pull his finger out or daddy will get angry...

From what I hear, that does happen sometimes.

Race 1 result:

Pos Driver                   Team              Car              Gap
 1. Renger van der Zande     Hitech            D/M       30m39.225s
 2. Daniel Ricciardo         Carlin            D/V           +3.870
 3. Henry Arundel            Carlin            D/V          +10.243
 4. Walter Grubmüller        Hitech            D/M          +10.649
 5. Riki Christodoulou       Fortec            D/M          +14.269
 6. Max Chilton              Carlin            D/V          +14.674
 7. Jay Bridger              Litespeed         M/M          +15.089
 8. Daniel McKenzie          Fortec            D/H          +15.721
 9. Adriano Buzaid           T-Sport           D/V          +16.640
10. Daisuke Nakajima         Double R          D/M          +19.958
11. Gabriel Dias             T-Sport           D/H          +26.866
12. Victor Garcia            Fortec            D/M          +27.866
13. Hywel Lloyd              CF                D/H          +29.471
14. Philip Major             Carlin            D/V          +30.516
15. Wayne Boyd               T-Sport           D/V          +30.843
16. Stephane Richelmi        Barazi Epsilon    D/M          +53.827
17. Victor Correa            Litespeed         S/H          +56.316
18. Aaron Steele             Litespeed         S/H           +1 lap
19. Maxim Snegirev           West-Tec          D/H           +1 lap

Retirements

    Carlos Huertas           Double R          D/M          15 laps

Fastest lap, Van der Zande 1:02.645 on lap 12

[strider]

Race 2 sounds to have been more interesting. Report here. I'm saying absolutely nothing about the start, but congratulations to Riki Christodoulou, not just for the win but also for overtaking someone! Although it doesn't say so VDZ took fastest lap - no surprise there.

Full results:
Pos  Driver                Team            Car    Time/Gap
 1.  Riki Christodoulou    Fortec          D/M  30m42.827s
 2.  Daniel Ricciardo      Carlin          D/V   +  1.152s
 3.  Walter Grubmuller     Hitech          D/M   +  1.803s
 4.  Renger van der Zande  Hitech          D/M   +  3.095s
 5.  Adriano Buzaid        T-Sport         D/V   +  7.390s
 6.  Wayne Boyd            T-Sport         D/V   +  9.213s
 7.  Max Chilton           Carlin          D/V   +  9.767s
 8.  Henry Arundel         Carlin          D/V   + 15.916s
 9.  Jay Bridger           Litespeed       M/M   + 16.263s
10.  Victor Garcia         Fortec          D/M   + 17.165s
11.  Gabriel Dias          T-Sport         D/H   + 18.584s
12.  Carlos Huertas        Double R        D/M   + 20.324s
13.  Daisuke Nakajima      Double R        D/M   + 21.040s
14.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec          D/H   + 21.506s
15.  Hywel Lloyd           CF              D/H   + 27.152s
16.  Aaron Steele          Litespeed       S/H   + 56.745s
17.  Victor Correa         Litespeed       S/H   +   1 lap
18.  Maxim Snegirev        West-Tec        D/H   +   1 lap

Retirements:

     Philip Major          Carlin          D/V  19 laps
     Stephane Richelmi     Barazi Epsilon  D/M  0 laps

[gomick]

What happened at the start strider? How did Grubmuller get infront of Renger?

Another good points drive for Ricciardo - Congrats to Riki on his 1st F3 race win

[strider]

Originally Posted by gomick

What happened at the start strider? How did Grubmuller get in front of Renger?

Renger nearly stalled, which meant that Grubmuller, who was on the front row with him, took the lead, but he only held it for a couple of laps before first Christodoulou and then your mate Ricciardo got past.

[Alex K]

Date for Snetterton is unfortunate, we had WSbR, BTCC and BGT weekend in 1 weekend. Ebbesvik, what I just found outwas with West Tec and won race 1 at Donington.

What was attandance like at Snetterton?

[bella]

Originally Posted by Alex K

Date for Snetterton is unfortunate, we had WSbR, BTCC and BGT weekend in 1 weekend.

absolutely, especially if you're a bit pressed for money. given the choice of paying £20 for the privelege of watching f3 and a 12 car hour long gt race, or getting a free day down the road at silverstone it was a no brainer.

[strider]

Originally Posted by bella

absolutely, especially if you're a bit pressed for money. given the choice of paying £20 for the privelege of watching f3 and a 12 car hour long gt race, or getting a free day down the road at silverstone it was a no brainer.

Totally agree. The trouble is that when SRO look at dates all they care about is that there is no GT clash. I thought MSV might think about it, but they get the testing income from Friday plus a big circuit hire fee from SRO, so they're not too bothered what happens after that.

[alias99]

The first round at Oulton Park had a great turn out but thats only because of it being easter weekend. I think something needs to be done to increase crowds, but to be fair the price compared to the quality of racing really doesn't make sense. The only race thats a good one to watch is the Formula Fords and boy do they put on a show. Maybe if there was more done to get fans involved that would help.

Im still sticking with my pre season choice of champion - Ricciardo.

Shame that Tandy has gone as he always made the race more interesting but good luck to him in Euro F3. I think he will do well as the car needs devolping and he showed he can do that with the Mygale.

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by Alex K

Date for Snetterton is unfortunate, we had WSbR, BTCC and BGT weekend in 1 weekend. Ebbesvik, what I just found outwas with West Tec and won race 1 at Donington.

What was attandance like at Snetterton?

Attendance wasn't bad, no idea of numbers but certainly more than Rockingham more than Oulton? no, more than last year? no
but still the usual queue towards Thetford on the way home. I guess whilst it clashed with WSR at Silverstone, Snet is quite a way for many to travel and F3 is probably the quickest single seaters the track will see.

[bella]

the snett races are historically pretty tedious as well - i know that was a factor in my choice of where to go on sunday. it's closer to me than silverstone by about half an hour, but that wasn't enough encouragement.