Asmer Capitalises on Pre Season Form to Win British F3 Round 2

10 April 2007

Marko Asmer won an incident packed round 2 that saw two restarts and a reduced race of 10 laps at the end of a busy day at Oulton Park. Stephen Jelley pushed Asmer for the entire race but couldn't force the young Estonian into a mistake. Fortec's Sebastian Hohenthal filled the last podium place in a good debut British F3 weekend for the UK Formula Renault Champion.

In the National Class Frankie Cheng completed the double taking the fastest laps in both races to take a maximum 42 points from the weekend. Formula Palmer Audi graduate Viktor Jensen went one better than his first race result to finish 2nd, with Salman Al Khalifa becoming the first driver from Bharain to take a podium finish in British F3.

The 31 cars lined up for the second race of the day with Jonathan Kennard (Raikkonen Robertson Racing) on pole position with Stephen Jelley alongside him on the front row. At the start however it was Sebastian Hohenthal (Fortec Motorsport) who shot through into the lead from row 2. But it was all for nothing as Mike Meadows, Hamad Al Fardan and Albert Costa had a coming together out of sight on the back of the circuit causing the red flags to come out to stop the race.

With the track cleared and all drivers involved given the all clear the race was restarted over 15 laps. This time it was Stephen Jelley who flew off the line followed by Asmer and race 1 winner Maro Engel as Kennard got too much wheel spin. As the field went around the circuit to Druids the red flags flew again as five cars got involved in another incident which saw Albert Valerio, Leo Mansell, Sean Petterson, Albert Costa and Alex Waters all out of the race. Another casualty was Juan Pablo Garcia Samano when his Lola Dome caught fire on the grid and disappeared in a cloud of dry powder from the fire marshal's extinguisher.

Once again all the drivers were OK and the race was restarted over 10 laps. This was third time lucky for Asmer as he shot through from 4th on the grid to take the lead as Kennard once again failed to make the most of his pole position.

Asmer was able to control from the front but he had Stephen Jelley's Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara filling his rear view mirrors as he attempted to force the Hitech driver into a mistake that would allow him to take the lead. However Asmer held his nerve and despite a couple of moves by Jelley, the young Estonian held the racing line through the corners. Sebastian Hohenthal was also putting pressure on Jelley and towards the end of the race Kennard attempted to make good the poor start by joining the battle at the front of the field.

In the national class Viktor Jensen led the reduced class field away but was soon harried by Frankie Cheng. The Icelandic teenager managed to hold off the Chinese driver but Cheng wasn't to be denied and was soon leading the class.

At the front asmer continued to control but it was Kennard who set the fastest lap of the race, equalling the new British F3 lap record set by Hohenthal in race 1 exactly. But Kennard had left it too late and Asmer took the chequered flag to the delight of the Hitech team, just 0.4 seconds ahead of Stephen Jelley and Sebastian Hohenthal.

In the National Class it was a clean sweep by Cong Fu Cheng claiming the fastest lap as well as the wins in both races to score a maximum 42 points from the weekend. Formula Palmer Audi graduate Viktor Jensen took second place to add to the third place from race 1, while Promatecme's Salman Al Khalifa became the first driver from Bharain to set onto a British F3 podium.

SRO

See 2007 series calendar for British F3 Championship

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