Alvaro Parente Wins Wet British F3 Race at Knockhill

23 May 2005

Carlin Motorsport's Alvaro Parente won the first race on Sunday at Knockhill under very difficult conditions. The race was started in heavy rain, which eased off slightly towards the end. Starting the race from pole position, Parente lead the field all the way to the finish with an assured performance. "I didn't push too hard during the race," Parente admitted afterwards. "I just tried to keep it clean and bring the win home. I had one really scary moment when I had to lap my team-mates Keiko (Ihara) and Ricardo (Teixeira). I had to find a way between both cars and it was very close. Now I am hoping to get a second win this afternoon."

Ryan Lewis from T-Sport finished second after a great fight with Mike Conway (Fortec Motorsport), who came third. Lewis, who started the race fourth on the grid, soon made his way past Stephen Kane (Promatecme), who had qualified ahead of him. After this manoeuvre, Lewis pushed hard throughout to catch Parente. "I could have maybe got Alvaro (Parente), but I wanted to just finish the race in a safe second place," Lewis commented later. "The most important thing was to get some points today."

Mike Conway (Fortec Motorsport) started the race in second place, and after being passed by Ryan Lewis, could not find a way to fight back. "It's good to be on the podium again," Conway was quoted saying. "But I am obviously disappointed, because I so wanted to win this race. Let's see what happens in race two."

Stephen Kane, who started in third place in his Lola B05/30 Mugen-Honda, was hoping for a podium finish. Half way through the race, he managed to find a way back past Mike Conway and was up in third place. He was going faster as the race continued and it looked like he had secured a podium finish. However, an incident, which saw Bruno Senna (Raikönnen Robertson Racing) and Nick Jones (Team SWR) make contact coming down Scotsman's Corners, forced Kane to run wide into the gravel. He was able to re-join the race, but could not make up the lost time.

Charlie Hollings (Promatecme) converted his fourth pole in a row into a win, when he took victory in the National Class. Setting the overall best lap of the race at one stage, Hollings was controlling the pace and was very happy to finally make it to the top. "It was a very good race; the problem today was to lap slower cars ahead of you with all the spray around," Hollings commented. "But I am just so happy to finally have won a race after my four poles in a row."

Salvador Duran from P1 Motorsport finished in second place after starting the race down in seventh. He quietly fought his way through the field, catching second-placed Barton Mawer (T-Sport) and pushing hard to get Hollings. But Duran eventually had to be satisfied with second.

Josh Fisher from Team SWR finished the race in third place but thought he could have done better. "I would have been second, but Bruno Senna spun ahead of me coming out of the last corner and blocked my way," Fisher said. "I couldn't get around him quickly enough and that's when Salvador (Duran) was able to get past me."

SRO

See 2005 series calendar for British F3 International Series

Related Story 21.05.2005 - Double Pole for Alvaro Parente at Knockhill Rounds of British F3