Saturday, September 20, 2008

Turvey claims victory at Spa

Turvey claims victory at Spa

Oliver Turvey claimed his second British Formula 3 victory of the season in today's race at Spa-Francorchamps.

The 21-year-old Briton has dominated the weekend up to this point and turned his pole position into a comfortable victory.

He didn't have it all his own way, though, and had to drive around his Carlin Motorsport teammate Brendon Hartley into Eau Rouge on the first lap to regain the lead after Hartley beat him down to La Source at the start.

Once he resumed the lead, Turvey settled into a rhythm, although the gap between the Racing Steps Foundation-backed driver and Hartley fluctuated between 0.5 and 1.5 seconds throughout the race.

Turvey was thrilled to clinch his first win since the opening round of the season in April and has closed the gap to Jaime Alguersuari at the top of the standings to just four points.

"It was interesting going through Eau Rouge side-by-side on the first lap," said Turvey. "It's great to be dominating, and it makes it even sweeter that it's at Spa.

"I had to push really hard every lap to make sure he couldn't get enough of a slipstream to pass me, but I knew I had the pace to control it, I've had that confidence all weekend."

Hartley was quick enough to stay with Turvey, but the leader had enough in hand that Hartley couldn't drag past on the long straights, but he was happy enough with second.

"I expected to be able to pass around here, this is Spa," he said. "But I just couldn't get near him, even in the slipstream. But he did a good job. I would have only needed him to make one mistake."

Alguersuari completed the podium with Sam Abay in wheeltracks completing a clean sweep of the top four places for Carlin.

John Martin was fifth for Double R, ahead of a race-long battle between Sergio Perez and Marcus Ericsson for sixth. The memories of the previous round at Brands Hatch will have come flooding back to Ericsson after spending his third consecutive race tucked under the rear wing of the Mexican's T-Sport car.

The Swede had been up to third on the first lap but came off worst when he, Alguersuari, Abay, and Perez ploughed into Eau Rouge together on lap two.

Michael Devaney finished eighth for Ultimate Motorsport, with Walter Grubmuller and Atte Mustonen completing the top ten.

Stefan Wilson won the National Class after passing Salman Al-Khalifa for 14th place overall on lap eight.

Guest driver Daniel Campos-Hull was set for a good showing with HBR Motorsport, but the Spaniard collided with Sebastian Hohenthal at Les Combes on lap eight while contesting tenth place and both retired on the spot.

Pos Driver Team Car Gap 1. Oliver Turvey Carlin D/M 27:10.800 2. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/M +1.231 3. Jaime Alguersuari Carlin D/M +7.540 4. Sam Abay Carlin D/M +8.651 5. John Martin Double R D/M +12.222 6. Sergio Perez T-Sport D/H +18.050 7. Marcus Ericsson Fortec D/M +18.437 8. Michael Devaney Ultimate M/M +25.100 9. Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M +25.626 10. Atte Mustonen Double R D/M +29.599 11. Alastair Jackson Ultimate M/M +36.394 12. Henry Arundel Double R D/M +38.011 13. Oliver Oakes Eurotek D/M +38.635 14. Stefan Wilson Fluid (N) D/H +44.867 15. Salman Al-Khalifa T-Sport (N) D/H +45.623 16. Jay Bridger Fluid (N) D/H +45.803 17. Max Chilton Hitech D/M +46.430 18. Steven Guerrero T-Sport (N) D/H +51.411 19. Hywel Lloyd CF (N) D/H +51.918 20. Phillip Major Fortec D/M +53.040 21. Kristjan Einar Carlin (N) D/H +1:02.343 22. Craig Reiff Nexa (N) D/H +1:26.032 23. Nick Tandy JTR M/M +1:29.828 Retirements Ricardo Teixeira Ultimate M/M 8 laps Daniel Campos-Hull HBR D/M 6 laps Sebastian Hohenthal Fortec D/M 6 laps Basil Shaaban HBR D/M 1 lap Fastest lap, Hartley 2:15.362 on lap 6

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