British Formula 3 championship rivals expect clean decider

Englishman King leads Northern Irish racer Will Buller by just three points, with Italian Antonio Giovinazzi a further 18 adrift.

With 25 points on offer for a win in races one and three (and 12 for the reversed-grid second race), King reckons that none of the contenders can afford a non-finish.

"Being in the lead is the best place for me," he said. "Both Will and I are in a good position, and with Antonio being only just behind that should stop anything stupid happening."

King, who races a Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, took two fourth places in last month's F3 European round at the Nurburgring.

Although this weekend's races are on the Grand Prix circuit rather than the shorter course used by the DTM package, he knows the longer track from his Formula Renault campaign last season.

"I know the circuit and we were quick last month," he said, "so I shouldn't have to build up to speed.

"We took a double pole at Silverstone, double second on the grid at Spa and double second at Brands Hatch, so there's no reason not to carry on as we have been.

"Unfortunately I dropped 30 points [due to an incident] at Silverstone and we've been playing catch-up to Will ever since, and with the smaller field it's been harder to pull points back, but we've managed it."

BULLER ADDRESSES QUALIFYING ISSUES

Buller only lost his points lead in the last race at Brands when his Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes was spun around in a clash with Giovinazzi's similar Double R Racing machine.

"If it hadn't been for that I'd be leading the championship," said Buller. "But that's what occurs when you qualify in the mix ? anything can happen."

Buller has struggled for qualifying pace this season, but says that the Fortec team made strong progress in a test at Anglesey on Monday.

"We've worked on our qualifying since Brands," he said. "I just wanted to refresh myself [after racing in Formula Renault 3.5], just to get up to speed. It was a good day."

Giovinazzi knows he is the outsider, but believes the title is possible, although he has only raced on the shorter Nurburgring circuit.

"After our [European F3] test at Hockenheim the car is a lot better," he said. "The gap is only 21 points so I just have to make a good three races and try my best."

With 65 points available, all eight regular participants in the A-class have a mathematical title chance, although the prospects are very remote for Felipe Guimaraes (43 points behind), Nicholas Latifi (50), Sean Gelael (52), Jann Mardenborough (53) and Tatiana Calderon (59).