British F3 Win for Turvey at Spa
02 August
2008
Oliver Turvey scored his second win of the 2008 season
after a race long battle with Brendon Hartley at Spa in Round 15
of the 2008 British F3 International Series. Jaime Alguersuari completed
a podium lockout for Carlin Motorsport, with Sam Abay coming home
in 4th to complete a Carlin 1-2-3-4. Stefan Wilson also took his
second win of the year, passing Salman Al Khalifa on lap 7 after
the Bahraini made up six places on the opening lap.
Twelve laps of
Spa awaited the twenty seven drivers as they came onto the grid to
start the race. The engine notes rose as the red lights came on and
Turvey shot off the line from pole position as the lights went out.
However the British driver’s start wasn’t
as good as his teammates as Brendon Hartley got down the inside
of Turvey into the first corner to take the lead. As Hartley headed
down the hill into Eau Rouge for the first time Turvey fought back
and was alongside the Red Bull car as they headed up the hill to
Les Combes with Turvey getting the better line to regain the lead.
Meanwhile
further back other drivers made up places as other floundered. Marcus
Ericsson got past Sam Abay and as the cars came into the final corner
for the first time the Swede dived to the inside of Jaime Alguersuari
to cross the line in 3rd. However on the next lap Ericsson lost all
the ground he had made to finish the second lap back in 5th and coming
under pressure from John Martin. Invitation Class driver Basil Shaaban
had a short lived return to British F3 as he pulled into the pits at
the end of the opening lap to retire.
In the National Class Jay Bridger
got boxed in as Salman Al Khalifa made possibly his best ever start
in British F3 to take the National Class lead. Bridger was then demoted
another place by his Fluid Motorsport teammate Stefan Wilson as the
driver from Sheffield fought to get on terms with the lead car. Bridger
was then passed by the International Class car of Ricardo Teixeira,
which meant he couldn’t get back
at Wilson while in turn he was now under pressure from Steven Guerrero
in the T Sport Dallara.
Meanwhile back at the front Turvey and Hartley
were pulling away from 3rd placed Alguersuari who was maintaining a
comfortable gap to Abay in 4th. On lap 4 Marcus Ericsson lost another
place to Sergio Perez for 6th as John Martin continued to maintain
a gap to the duelling pair in 5th.
On lap 5 Walter Grubmuller slipped
past the Invitation Class Dallara of Daniel Campos Hull on lap 6 to
move into 9th overall, with the Spaniard then coming under pressure
from Atte Mustonen and Sebastian Hohenthal. Mustonen got past on lap
7 but Hohenthal and Campos Hull collided forcing both cars out of the
race.
Al Khalifa was trying desperately to hold onto the National Class
lead but on lap 7 Wilson made a move at Les Combes which propelled
him into the lead.
The final few laps were pretty static as the chequered
flag approached, with Ericsson trying to regain 6th from Perez on the
final lap. However as Turvey approached the finish line for the 12th
time there was confusion as the chequered flag failed to appear and
the cars continued round for another lap. The race was declared on
lap 12 despite the lack of a chequered flag which meant a 1-2-3-4 for
Carlin Motorsport led by Oliver Turvey. Brendon Hartley was second
and set the fastest lap of the race just two tenths outside of Jonathan
Kennard’s lap record
set in 2007. Jaime Alguersuari’s third place gives him a four
point lead over Oliver Turvey in the championship table with Sergio
Perez now six points behind the Spanish driver.
SRO
See 2008 series calendar for British
F3 Championship
Related Story 14.07.2008 - Turvey Scores Double Top in Mirror F3 Challenge
