Double Top for
Senna and Gonzalez in British F3
17 April 2006
Bruno Senna took the chequered flag for the second time with another
lights to flag win after getting the jump on pole position holder Mike
Conway into Old Hall Bend. Carlin Motorsport had another podium to celebrate
with Christian Bakkerud holding off a race long challenge from Conway.
T-Sports Rodolfo Gonzalez added a second winners trophy in the National
Class to his collection, finishing 8th overall, five places higher than
nearest rival Cristiano Morgado and smashing the two year old lap record
for the British F3 National Class at Outlon Park.
21 cars made the grid for the start of race 2 with Hitech's James
Walker missing after his accident in the opening race. At the green
light pole sitter Mike Conway got a poor start allowing Bruno Senna
to take the lead, with 3rd placed Christian Bakkerud taking advantage
of the situation to move into second. On the exit of Old Hall a scramble
ensued with Stephen Jelley and Yelmer Buurman being the main losers,
ending the opeing lap in 19th and 13th respectively. At the end of the
opening lap Senna had a 1.6 second lead over Bakkerud, Conway, Jarvis
and Engel. Rodolfo Gonzalez was leading the National Class by a country
mile after making up 6 places on lap one, seven places higher than his
nearest rival Cristiano Morgado.
On lap 2 Bakerrud was forced to defend his 2nd place from Conway,
allowing the flying Senna to extend his lead to 2.4 seconds. Lap 3 saw
Conway get alongside the Carlin Motorsport Dallara at Knickerbrook but
Bakkerud held his nerve and his position. Dennis Retera did a bit of
grass tracking at Cascades, regaining the track quickly but losing 2
places in the process.
On the next lap Conway attacked again but Bakkerud was defending well
and Conway couldn't find a way without risking losing his front wing
and the much needed championship points.
The race settled down with Senna extending his lead by 0.4 seconds
per lap because of the battling duo behind. Oliver Jarvis also used
the 2nd and 3rd placed drivers distraction to close up and threaten
Conway for 3rd, which took some of the pressure off of Bakkerud.
On lap 8 Keiko Ihara was being lapped by the leaders and Conway saw
an opportunity to have a stab at Bakerrud. With blue flags flying Ihara
moved over but Conway saw his chance and dived down the inside at Knickerbrook
but Bakkerud was determined to hold on and Conway had to yield and the
status quo was restored.
For the next 4 laps Bakerrud, Conway and Jarvis were nose to tail
as Senna disappeared into the distance. On lap 11 James Jakes ran into
the back of Jonathan Kennard at Knickerbrook, launching the Hitech Dallara
Mercedes into the air but coming down on its wheels. Jakes was out and
Kennard limped back to the pits and into retirement.
Salvador Duran, running in 6th place, overshot the apex at Lodge and
ran on into the gravel trap. He managed to keep going and made the track
but had lost 12 places in the process.
On lap 16 Senna set the fastest lap of the race with a 1m30.941to
secure the extra championship point and a lap later he took the chequered
flag to secure his second win of the day. Behind him Conway tried a
last gasp attempt to take second place from Bakkerud but it wasn't to
be be with the Dane holding on to secure the 15 championship points
for 2nd place.
Rodolfo Gonzalez took his second win of the day in the National Class.
With 6 championship cars finishing behind him, the 19-year-old Venezuelan
has certainly made the rest of the grid take notice of his speed in
the two year old Dallara by breaking the two year old F3 National lap
record with a time of 1m31.891s, 0.315 seconds faster than the record
set by Stephen Jelley in 2004.
Bruno Senna: "Well I wasn't expecting that but in the end I got
a good start from then on I pushed really quite hard. We were a bit
on the edge but the intention was to pull a big and then if something
was to happen I had enough space to get to the end, it was a good race.
It wasn't easy, the race seemed a bit longer than it is because you
want it to finish but I'm just delighted."
Christian Bakkerud: "I definately got a good start and it made
the difference in the race. I got Conway behind me at the beginning,
couldn't quite get Bruno who was just too quick. Conway was just giving
pressure the whole way through the race, the Mercedes isreally strong
out the chicane and up the hill, they have really got a lot of grunt.
Everywhere else we pretty even I would say so I was just happy to keep
him behind me. I've absolutely got no complaints about the Honda (engine),
It's going to be touch and go this year, the Honda is going to be quicker
on some tracks where we have the longer straights and Mercedes is probably
going to be a bit quicker where we have small tight corners and up and
down hills. I'm not worried."
Mike Conway: "I had a bad start. The car was very good all the
way through, but I just couldn’t get by Bakkerud - I put lots
of pressure on him but he didn’t make any mistakes."
Rodolfo Gonzalez: "It was a fantastic race but I it was really
hard, the win was great but I was pushing to get the lap record, which
I did at the end and that has made my day. Two pole positions, two fastest
laps, two wins I couldn't ask for a better start to the season."
SRO
See 2006 series calendar for British
F3 Championship
Related Story 17.04.2006 - Senna
and Mercedes Take First British F3 Win
