Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

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

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Ricciardo strolls to Silverstone win
Next article West-Tec signs Maurage, Ma

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe