Turvey wins season opener at Oulton
| By Steven English |
Monday, March 24th 2008, 11:55 GMT |
 Oliver Turvey kicked off his British F3 campaign with a victory in the opening round at Oulton Park today.
He made the best start in slippery conditions and was able to control the race and hold off his Carlin Motorsport teammates Jaime Alguersuari and Brendon Hartley for most of race.
Turvey's life was made easier three laps from the end when Hartley tried to dive inside Alguersuari at Shell. The pair collided and ploughed straight on, both retiring on the spot.
That promoted Max Chilton to second place, but he was far enough back that Turvey could control the pace to the finish.
"The conditions were difficult but I just took it easy as the dry line emerged," said Turvey. "Jaime didn't look like he was going to have a go at me and I could have gone a bit quicker if I'd needed to.
"It would have been great to have a 1-2-3 finish for the team, but it made things a lot easier for me when I saw that they'd disappeared."
Atte Mustonen completed the podium from 10th on the grid, ahead of Ultimate Motorsport pair Michael Devaney and Esteban Guerrieri, who started 11th and 18th respectively.
Marcus Ericsson finished sixth after winning a race-long battle with Sergio Perez and Sebastian Hohenthal.
The National Class was comfortably won by Andy Meyrick, who finished eight seconds ahead of Jay Bridger with Hywel Lloyd a distant third.
Pos Driver Team Car Time
1. Oliver Turvey Carlin Motorsport D/M 30:48.289
2. Max Chilton Hitech Racing D/M +1.978
3. Atte Mustonen Raikkonen Robertson D/M +3.893
4. Michael Devaney Ultimate Motorsport M/M +5.275
5. Esteban Guerrieri Ultimate Motorsport M/M +5.677
6. Marcus Ericsson Fortec Motorsport D/M +15.300
7. Sergio Perez T-Sport D/M +16.445
8. Sebastian Hohenthal Fortec Motorsport D/M +18.431
9. Henry Arundel Raikkonen Robertson D/M +20.183
10. Sam Abay Carlin Motorsport D/M +21.647
11. John Martin Raikkonen Robertson D/M +24.105
12. Andy Meyrick Carlin Motorsport (N) D/H +34.867
13. Alistair Jackson Raikkonen Robertson D/M +37.441
14. Ricardo Teixeira Ultimate Motorsport M/M +37.806
15. Jay Bridger Fluid Motorsport (N) D/H +42.693
16. Philip Major Fortec Motorsport D/M +51.494
17. Hywel Lloyd CF Racing (N) D/H +54.824
18. Niall Quinn Team Loctite (N) D/H +1:09.056
19. Kristjan Einar Carlin Motorsport (N) D/H +1:09.922
20. Steven Guerrero T-Sport (N) D/H +1:21.539
21. Stefan Wilson Fluid Motorsport (N) D/H +1 lap
22. Craig Reiff Nexa Racing (N) D/H +1 lap
Not classified
Driver Team Car Time
Jaime Alguersuari Carlin Motorsport D/M 14 laps
Brendon Hartley Carlin Motorsport D/M 14 laps
Nick Tandy JTR M/M 8 laps
Salman Al-Khalifa T-Sport (N) D/H 4 laps
Walter Grubmuller Hitech Racing D/M 1 lap
Fastest lap: Martin, 1:37.196 on lap 18(D/M = Dallara-Mercedes, D/H = Dallara-Honda, M/M = Mygale-Mercedes)
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