Alguersuari takes title with victory

The 18-year-old, who is also the first Spaniard ever to win the British title, only had to outscore his Carlin Motorsport teammate Oliver Turvey by three points to seal the title, but he romped away to an emphatic victory to secure the crown.

He jumped polesitter Oliver Oakes off the line and never looked back. It took him three laps to break away from second-placed Sergio Perez and then ensuing scrap behind meant he had a huge lead just five laps later.

Alguersuari's lead was reduced in the closing laps after Nick Tandy won the battle for second and gave chase, but the result was never in doubt.

"I still can't believe I'm the new champion, it might take a few days for me to believe it," he said. "It's even more special to be the first Spanish driver and the youngest ever winner, I'm just so thankful.

"My teammates and Sergio gave such a big fight all season and made me push like hell the whole year. I think we've seen the best season in British F3 and it was so nice to be part of it.

"I didn't care too much about winning the race, I just knew that I would win the title as long as I had points. But it was nice to do it with a win."

Behind Alguersuari, Perez did his best to hang onto second but was clearly struggling with pace and smoke puffed out of his Mugen-Honda engine each time he hit the brakes for the final chicane.

Brendon Hartley was all over Perez in the early stages and tried desperately to dive ahead of the T-Sport car, but Perez just about held him at bay. Hartley then dropped out of contention when he had to pit to have a loose wheel tightened. He rejoined to set the fastest lap but retired a few laps later when the wheel worked loose again.

Tandy then forced his way past Perez with a lunge up the inside at the Esses and he set off after Alguersuari, leaving Perez heading Sam Abay, Oakes, Marcus Ericsson and Dean Smith.

Abay tried unsuccessfully to squeeze by Perez on three consecutive laps, while Smith somehow made it round the outside of both Ericsson and Oakes into the Esses.

It ended in tears on the last lap as a tangle exiting MacLeans jumbled the order. Oakes was delayed while Ericsson and Oliver Turvey - charging up from 14th on the grid - spun, with Turvey left stranded in the gravel.

Jay Bridger finished the season with a National Class victory in eighth place overall, holding a safe gap over Henry Surtees who scored his second class podium of the day.

Pos Driver             Team            Car          Gap
 1. Jaime Alguersuari  Carlin          D/M    30:21.986
 2. Nick Tandy         JTR             M/M       +4.171
 3. Sergio Perez       T-Sport         D/H      +12.032
 4. Dean Smith         Fortec          D/M      +12.968
 5. Sam Abay           Carlin          D/M      +13.300
 6. Oliver Oakes       Eurotek         D/M      +14.879
 7. Marcus Ericsson    Fortec          D/M      +19.973
 8. Jay Bridger        Fluid (N)       D/H      +22.909
 9. Henry Surtees      Carlin (N)      D/H      +24.984
10. Henry Arundel      Double R        D/M      +25.567
11. Max Chilton        Hitech          D/M      +25.933
12. John Martin        Double R        D/M      +39.627
13. Steven Guerrero    T-Sport (N)     D/H      +40.341
14. Adriano Buzaid     Carlin (N)      D/H      +40.593
15. Stefan Wilson      Fluid (N)       D/H      +41.420
16. Hywel Lloyd        CF (N)          D/H      +45.615
17. Philip Major       Fortec          D/M      +46.246
18. Atte Mustonen      Double R        D/M      +53.369
19. Clemente Faria Jr  Cesario         D/H       +1 lap
20. Walter Grubmuller  Hitech          D/M      +3 laps
21. Jonathan Legris    Litespeed (N)   S/H      +6 laps

Not classified

    Oliver Turvey      Carlin          D/M      26 laps
    Brendon Hartley    Carlin          D/M      22 laps
    Callum MacLeod     T-Sport (N)     D/H      15 laps


Fastest lap, Hartley 1:01.721 on lap 18

D/M = Dallara Mercedes, M/M = Mygale Mercedes, D/H = Dallara Mugen-Honda,
S/H = SLC Mugen-Honda