Danilo Dirani Wins British F3 Season Opener at Donington Park

03 April 2005

Danilo Dirani secured a phenomenal victory for Lola and P1 Motorsport in the opening round of the British F3 International Series, which took place on Sunday morning at Donington Park. The Brazilian drove a superb race, leading the field from the start through to the chequered flag. Despite pressure from Mike Conway (Fortec Motorsport) and the Double R Racing driver Daniel Clarke, the Brazilian kept the advantage throughout. "It's fantastic, to win the first race, with a new team and a new car. It was more than any one was expecting, " Dirani said after stepping off the podium, soaked in champagne. "We always wanted to win, and I wanted to be on the podium. It's quite simply fantastic!"

Having started from pole, Dirani made a good start, unlike Marco Asmer (Hitech Racing) who, suffering from clutch problems, slipped from second spot on the grid down to 20th position. The Estonian, who had seemed well placed to win the first race of the 2005 season, managed to recover well, climbing up to 8th place by the end. In the final stages, he was lapping a second and a half quicker than Stephen Kane's Promatecme in 7th position ahead of him, but could not quite manage to claim the Ulsterman's place.

Mike Conway (Fortec Motorsport), who started the race in third position, had a great battle with Daniel Clarke, who found himself in third position after the start. The Safety car was called out after a collision between Suk Sundher, Ronayne O'Mahony and Tim Bridgman, after Bridgman had problems getting off the grid. After five laps the Safety Car was called back into the pits and the race was re-started, with Dirani flying away from the rest of the field and pulling out a three-car advantage over Fortec driver Mike Conway. On lap six, Double R Racing's Bruno Senna closed up on local hero Stephen Jelley, touching the back of the Menu F3 Motorsport car, which resulted in Jelley sliding backwards into the gravel.

2004 Scholarship winner Ryan Lewis, who has moved into the Championship Class with T-sport for 2005, started the race in 6th position and progressively made his way towards the front of the field. From lap 9 onwards he was going extremely well, closing in on Bakkerud (Carlin Motorsport). After a couple of laps being stuck behind the Carlin driver, Lewis made a solid move on the inside around Bakkerud to take fourth, pulling away. Setting the fastest lap of the race and a new lap record of 1:02.682 in lap 14, Lewis proved that he is a potential title contender in the Championship Class in 2005. "My race went really well. I did profit from a couple of drivers who struggled at the beginning of the race. I was 5th after the Safety car pulled back in, and I had much better tyres on than Christian in front of me, so it was just a matter of time and I could pick up on him, " Lewis said afterwards. During the final laps, Ryan closed up on Daniel Clarke (Double R Racing), but could not quite pass him.

So the first race of the 2005 British F3 International Series was an exciting opener to the season, with Lola taking everyone in the Paddock by surprise to secure a clear victory. Mike Conway was second ahead of Double R Racing driver Daniel Clarke.

First win of the season in the National Class went to Team SWR driver Josh Fisher. "I am really happy," confessed Fisher after the race, "I didn't really see much of the B class boys, I was racing more with the A class drivers and it was good fun." T-sport's Barton Mawer finished the race in second place ahead of another Lola chassis driver, Charlie Hollings. "We wanted to win the race here, as did most of the guys, but to have a podium at the start of the year is a pretty good start," the Promatecme F3 driver explained.

SRO

See 2005 series calendar for British F3 International Series

Related Story 02.04.2005 - Asmer Snatches Pole from Diriani in Qualifying for F3 Second Round