Monday, April 13, 2009

Ricciardo completes double at Oulton

Ricciardo completes double at Oulton

Australian Daniel Ricciardo completed a dominant British F3 double by racing to a comfortable victory in race two at Oulton Park this afternoon.

The Carlin driver made two superb getaways at the start of the race, which was restarted following a first corner crash involving T-Sport team-mates Wayne Boyd and Gabriel Dias.

On both occasions, poleman Walter Grubmuller fluffed his start and each time Ricciardo blasted past on the outside to take the lead before turn one.

From there, Ricciardo was able to pull out an instant gap on his Austrian rival and maintain pace consistently to flag.

"I wasn't sure I'd be able to get such a good start both times," said Ricciardo. "But it all worked out and from the first lap I was able to drive my own race and watch the gap back to the rest while keeping my laptimes fast and consistent."

Behind, Grubmuller showed strong pace in his pursuit of Ricciardo and even set the fastest race lap, but a couple of errors dropped him back into the clutches of the chasing Nick Tandy.

Tandy held station in third for most of the race, after winning a first lap duel with Max Chilton, and didn't have the pace to capitalise despite Grubmuller's occasional errors.

Further back, Riki Christodoulou endured a frustrating race, stuck in sixth behind Daisuke Nakajima after also making a poor start.

Pos Driver Team Car Time 1. Daniel Ricciardo Carlin D/V 23m57.693s 2. Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M +2.625s 3. Nick Tandy JTR M/M +4.454s 4. Max Chilton Carlin D/V +10.652s 5. Daisuke Nakajima Double R D/M +15.912s 6. Riki Christodoulou Fortec D/M +16.721s 7. Adriano Buzaid T-Sport D/V +17.623s 8. Oliver Oakes Carlin D/V +21.381s 9. Henry Arundel Carlin D/V +22.173s 10. Victor Garcia Fortec D/M +29.372s 11. Hywel Lloyd CF D/H +29.517s 12. Daniel McKenzie Fortec (N) D/H +37.905s 13. Stephane Richelmi Barazi Epsilon D/M +42.668s 14. Carlos Huertas Double R D/M +43.578s 15. Maxim Snegirev West-Tec (N) D/H +1m00.042s 16. Victor Correa Litespeed (N) S/H +1m04.642s Retirements Jay Bridger West-Tec M/H 6 laps Wayne Boyd T-Sport D/V 0 laps Gabriel Dias T-Sport (N) D/H 0 laps Fastest lap, Grubmuller 1m29.177s

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