Mike Conway Secures His First F3 Victory at Croft

08 May 2005

Fortec Motorsport driver Mike Conway won the first British F3 International Series race at Croft on Sunday lunchtime, after a great start from second place on the grid. Having finished in second and third positions at Donington Park last month, his first F3 victory has placed the British driver in the lead of the Championship class.

Like the first British GT race on Saturday afternoon, the weather played a key part in the result, with light rain and hail storms making conditions difficult, and ensuring an action-packed race. Tim Bridgman was unable to take the start as his engine broke down on the way out of the pit lane. Stephen Jelley (Menu Motorsport) and Promatecme's Stephen Kane made contact at the start, taking both cars out of the race. "I had a slow start as I had clutch problems in the warm-up lap," Kane said after he got back to the pit lane. "Then I stalled the car at the start, and unfortunately I was hit by Stephen [Jelley]."

Dan Clarke (Raikönnen Robertson Racing) and P1 Motorsports Danilo Dirani came together towards Tower, which forced both cars to retire. The Safety Car had to come out after the accident to remove the debris of Dirani's car. Once the Safety Car came in, Conway was able to build a lead over Marko Asmer (Hitech Racing) to take his maiden win. "It wasn't as easy as it looked when the rain and the hailstones came down," Conway said in the press conference afterwards. "It was just a case in keeping the car on the track and seeing what the weather would do. After the Safety car period I had a backmarker between me and Marko Asmer, which helped me to get a good re-start. Obviously I am very happy to win my first British F3 race here at Croft."

Asmer (Hitech Racing) finished the race in second position, ahead of pole sitter Alvaro Parente of Carlin Motorsport. Asmer was pleased with his second podium finish of the season, but admitted: "We need to find more speed. At the moment I can keep second but I am not able to go for the win."

Parente made a poor start from pole after developing clutch problems in the warm-up lap, but was able to battle back and secure a final podium place. "The start was not good at all, my clutch slipped a little bit in first gear," Parente said afterwards. "Our pace was good, but it's very difficult to overtake here around Croft. I could get closer to Marko [Asmer] in the slow corners but I wasn't fast enough on the straights to catch him. We will hope for the second race."

Bruno Senna damaged his bodywork early in the race. After a quick pit stop, he came back out, minus his engine cover. However, he lost control in the damp conditions towards the end of the race, and went off at Tower.

Salvador Duran (P1 Motorsport) won the National Class race, ahead of Barton Mawer of T-sport and Team SWR's Josh Fisher.

A mistake from Charlie Hollings (Promatecme), who led the National Class for the first half of the race, saw him crash into the tyre barriers and retire.

SRO

See 2005 series calendar for British F3 International Series

Related Story 07.05.2005 - Parente Secures Pole Positions for Both F3 Races at Croft