Watts the story

Well, what a weekend! Castle Combe went extremely well and we made history by being the first manufacturer to beat a Dallara for 11 years in the British Formula 3 Championship.

After practice on Saturday morning (45 minutes) we dialled some oversteer out of the car for qualifying and the Lola felt like it was on rails. I stuck it on pole position for race one and the car was easy to drive, predictable and balanced.

For second qualifying we kept it simple, left the car as it was and it was down to me to get the most out of it. My best time was just 0.014 slower than Adam Carroll's, but to be on the front row was very positive.

Sunday arrived and, before I knew it, I was lining up on the grid ready and waiting for the red lights to go out (F1 spec at Castle Combe)! My start was okay, and once I got to Quarry (the first corner) I pushed for 10 laps, got a gap of 3secs. After that I just settled down in the second half of the race and crossed the line to give Lola-Dome their first-ever victory in the British F3 Championship.

On the slowing down lap coming back to the pits, every driver got alongside me and either clapped or gave the thumbs up - really good sporting gestures that showed everyone was genuinely pleased for us. That meant a lot.

Race two was wet. A big downpour an hour before the race meant that treaded tyres was the only way to go. I knew how good the car was in the wet already, as we finished a strong 5th at Silverstone in similar conditions, so I was confident of another top result.

We went out on new tyres and it was like driving on ice for the first three laps until they came in. By then I had dropped from second to fourth. When my tyres came in we were flying, and I managed to close on Viso, who spun under pressure, then I homed in on Carroll and Parente, but just couldn't find a way past. Still, third position was a good result.

All in all, to go away from Combe with a pole, a win, a third, Castle Combe driver of the day, and F3 driver of the day was very pleasing. All credit must go to Lola and Promatecme for working so hard with very little money, and it proves that the package we have is very competitive.