Van der Zande charges to victory
Renger van der Zande scored an emphatic third British Formula 3 victory after coming through to the front of a pulsating second race at Silverstone this afternoon
Double R's Daisuke Nakajima led the field away from his maiden series pole position and initially looked quite comfortable in the lead, but his pace suddenly fell away at one-quarter distance - allowing fellow front row starter Max Chilton (Carlin) to close.
Nakajima's defensive driving frustrated Chilton's attacks and allowed van der Zande to close on the pair. The Japanese driver eventually locked up at the Abbey Hairpin, delaying Chilton and allowing van der Zande to pass him for second at the complex.
On the next lap, van der Zande drove around the outside of Nakajima at Abbey and survived some wheel banging with his rival to assume the lead.
From there, the Dutchman simply streaked away from the field - the only driver able to lap in the 1m16s bracket, which he did consistently to romp home to an 11s victory.
Nakajima's defensive tactics eventually won him a hard earned second place - his best result of the season, while Chilton fell to the tail end of the top 10 after contact with Nakajima sent him straight on at Becketts. He recovered to a disconsolate seventh.
After a poor start, the shenanigans in front of him allowed championship leader Daniel Ricciardo (Carlin) to complete a stealthy climb to the podium. He finished just fractions behind Nakajima, with title rival Walter Grubmuller (Hitech) even closer behind in fourth.
This trio finished well clear of Carlos Huertas (Double R), who made a great start to vault from eighth to sixth on the first lap, which became fifth when Chilton dropped back. Fortec's Riki Christodoulou applied race-long pressure, but couldn't find a way by the Colombian and had to settle for sixth.
A last lap lock-up at Abbey sent Huertas wide and almost allowed Christodoulou through, but all it did was delay Carlin's Henry Arundel, who fell to ninth behind team-mate Chilton and T-Sport's Wayne Boyd on the final run through the complex.
Fortec's Victor Garcia produced a strong run to round out the top 10, just fractions behind Arundel at the flag, while T-Sport's Gabriel Dias completed a National Class double in 14th place overall.
Pos Driver Team Car Time/Gap 1. Renger van der Zande Hitech D/M 29m39.462s 2. Daisuke Nakajima Double R D/M +11.197s 3. Daniel Ricciardo Carlin D/V +12.432s 4. Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M +12.724s 5. Carlos Huertas Double R D/M +17.878s 6. Riki Christodoulou Fortec D/M +18.300s 7. Max Chilton Carlin D/V +18.808s 8. Wayne Boyd T-Sport D/V +20.560s 9. Henry Arundel Carlin D/V +21.298s 10. Victor Garcia Fortec D/M +21.379s 11. Hywel Lloyd CF D/H +21.955s 12. Adriano Buzaid T-Sport D/V +25.383s 13. Philip Major Carlin D/V +25.830s 14. Gabriel Dias T-Sport D/H +36.701s 15. Stephane Richelmi Barazi Epsilon D/M +40.459s 16. Daniel McKenzie Fortec D/H +41.334s 17. Victor Correa Litespeed S/H +1m00.244s 18. Kevin Chen Double R D/M +1m01.443s 19. Jay Bridger Litespeed M/M +1m01.685s 20. Michele Faccin West-Tec D/H +1m03.335s 21. Satrio Hermanto Litespeed S/C +1m19.794s 22. Maxim Snegirev West-Tec D/H +1 lap
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