Kevin Magnussen wins spectacular British Formula 3 race at Donington Park

Rain arrived just before the start and caused the first six drivers on the grid to make a last-minute switch to wet tyres. The rain intensified on the formation lap, so only 10 cars took up their grid slots as most of the field dived into the pits for a tyre change.

Magnussen made an excellent start from the third row of the grid to jump to second behind champion elect Felipe Nasr on the opening lap. The Carlin pair made contact in race one yesterday and did so again as they swept through the Fogarty Esses for the first time.

Carlin team-mates Jack Harvey and Rupert Svendsen-Cook took over at the front as Magnussen dropped to third and Nasr spun back to 10th. Svendsen-Cook then ran off the road at Goddards in the worsening conditions a few laps later, freeing Magnussen to attack Harvey.

The Dane took a few laps to set up the move, but swept by through the Esses on lap nine of 24 and then pulled away.

Harvey defended resolutely from an impressive Pipo Derani (Double R), but retired with just four laps to run with a sick-sounding Volkswagen engine in the back of his Carlin Dallara.

Derani finished just 4.8 seconds adrift of Magnussen in taking a season-best second. The Brazilian was chased home by a recovering Svendsen-Cook, while Carlin's Carlos Huertas came home a solid but distant fourth.

Sino Vision's Adderly Fong revelled in the wet conditions and crossed the line fifth, which would have been his best of the year, but a 10-second penalty for his team not clearing the grid in time before the start dropped him to seventh.

Double R's Scott Pye recovered from an early trip through the gravel at Old Hairpin to inherit fifth and finish highest of the pre-race pit visitors.

Fortec's Harry Tincknell got as high as fifth at one stage, but slumped to eighth on the road behind Hitech's Pietro Fantin after a late run through the Redgate gravel trap. Tincknell's own 10s penalty for the same infringement as Fong dropped him further to a point-less 14th.

His Fortec team-mate Lucas Foresti thus inherited eighth, while Nasr trailed home ninth after several further spins during the course of the race, ahead of Carlin team-mate Jazeman Jaafar, who also spun late-on.

GP3 champion Valtteri Bottas (Double R) mistakenly started on slicks and had to pit for wets on the first lap after a terrible getaway from the grid.

The Finn recovered to 13th, but was often over a second lap faster than anyone else and eventually took the bonus point for fastest lap with a best time over half a second quicker than any other driver.

Results - 24 laps:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                     Time/Gap
 1.  Kevin Magnussen       Carlin Dallara-VW          40m30.222s
 2.  Pipo Derani           Double R Dallara-Merc        + 4.806s
 3.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin Dallara-VW            + 7.477s
 4.  Carlos Huertas        Carlin Dallara-VW           + 19.373s
 5.  Scott Pye             Double R Dallara-Merc       + 26.252s
 6.  Pietro Fantin         Hitech Dallara-VW           + 26.588s
 7.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision Dallara-Merc    + 35.271s
 8.  Lucas Foresti         Fortec Dallara-Merc         + 37.897s
 9.  Felipe Nasr           Carlin Dallara-VW           + 39.009s
10.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW           + 39.587s
11.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport Dallara-VW          + 41.245s
12.  Hywel Lloyd           Sino Vision Dallara-Merc    + 45.661s
13.  Valtteri Bottas       Double R Dallara-Merc       + 45.935s
14.  Harry Tincknell       Fortec Dallara-Merc         + 47.610s
15.  Yann Cunha            T-Sport Dallara-VW        + 1m13.884s
16.  Will Buller           Carlin Dallara-Merc       + 1m19.705s
17.  Bart Hylkema          T-Sport Dallara-VW        + 1m23.043s

Retirements:

     Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW             20 laps
     Fahmi Ilyas           Fortec Dallara-Merc           19 laps
     Maxim Snegirev        Hitech Dallara-VW              9 laps
     Kotaro Sakurai        Hitech Dallara-Mugen           4 laps