44,000 Crowd for Rockingham British F3/GT

04 August 2003

A crowd of 44,000 fans smashed all records during the British F3 and British GT Championship meeting at Rockingham on Sunday (3 August). Boosted by the SEAT 'Racing Rivals Live' event and a concert by the 'Sugababes', the huge crowd represented the biggest audience ever at the Rockingham Motor Speedway.

The on-track action fully lived up to the size of the event, with action-packed and exciting racing throughout race day. Glorious sunshine completed the package for an event that drew the second biggest motor racing crowd in Britain to date this year. Only the British Grand Prix has been watched by a bigger crowd and the figure is a new record for Rockingham. In 2001, the inaugural Rockingham 500 attracted 42,000 fans to the Champ Car race.

In the British F3 Championship gripped by AVON Tyres, Alan van der Merwe continued his progress towards the overall title even though he only netted a third and a fourth place in the two races. "That was one of the best races this year; there was a lot of overtaking going on," said van der Merwe after the second F3 race. "I was able to bag some points and the championship is still looking good." However, race wins fell to Nelson Piquet Junior and Jamie Green, and they are now split by just seven points in the battle for second in the table.

The Rockingham races have also set up a thrilling finish for the contest in the F3 Scholarship class, with just 20 points now separating Karun Chandhok, Steven Kane and Ernesto Viso, with eight races still to run. Viso's attacking drives at Rockingham earned him the 76 Racing Fuels driver of the day award.

The British GT title race is also shaping up nicely with Tom Herridge now leading Piers Johnson and Shane Lynch by only two points, with Rockingham winners Shaun Balfe and Jamie Derbyshire a further 12 points adrift. In the GT Cup class, however, Patrick Pearce and Matt Griffin are looking ever more like the 2003 champions and now have a 52-point lead over Morgan racer Neil Cunningham. Into second in GT Cup came Liz Halliday and Tom Shrimpton in the other Tech 9 entered Porsche 911GT3 Cup, and it was Halliday who earned the 76 Racing Fuels driver of the day award for the GT race.

Two action-packed races for the Holiday Inn SEAT Cupra Championship kept the crowds entertained as Stefan Hodgetts and Gavin Smith took the major victories. The series will now go to the final pair of races at Thruxton on 17 August with the title up for grabs.

The Carlube TVR Tuscan Challenge delivered a pair of excellent races, notably in the feature race when Lee Caroline snatched victory from Philip Keen by a tenth of a second as they charged out of Turn Four at around 140mph. Caroline also won the sprint race to tighten his grip on the 2003 championship title. A storming Dunlop Mini Se7en Challenge race was won by Tim Sims, while veteran Mini racer Peter Baldwin won the Mini Miglia counter. Finally, Rei Yamaguchi and Matt Shawyer took victories in the pair of BRDC Single Seater Championship races on Saturday.

After such a thrilling day of race action at Rockingham, the British F3 and British GT teams now have less than two weeks to prepare for the next F3/GT event at Thruxton on 17 August. The Hampshire track is another venue famed for exciting racing and with F3 and GT titles to be won and lost over the next eight weeks, the action promises to be non-stop.

See series calendar for British GT Championship

Related Story 03.08.2003 - Mosler Dominates British GT at Rockingham