Burti wins but Karthikeyan in trouble

The Brazilian, who won twice last season, overtook pole position man Narain Karthikeyan halfway round the first lap when the Indian made a mistake. From then on, Karthikeyan's Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen Honda was virtually sawing at the gearbox of Burti's Stewart Racing Dallara-Mugen, but there was no way through.

Karthikeyan himself was under pressure, with championship leader Marc Hynes right behind. In turn, fourth-placed Martin O'Connell was on the tail of Hynes.

Karthikeyan was involved in a controversial collision with Matt Davies on the first lap. When he made his mistake, Burti overtook and Davies drew alongside, but the two banged wheels, bending the Fortec Dallara's suspension and snapping off its wing. Davies, who was forced to retire, labelled Karthikeyan - who said he didn't realise the Essex man was alongside - "an animal".

Davies himself was criticised by Malaysian Alex Yoong, who accused the rookie of "blatantly whacking me onto the grass" at the start of the race. Yoong recovered superbly to overtake Michael Bentwood around the outside on the final lap to take fifth.

Thruxton winner Jenson Button was one of three drivers to stall on the grid, but one by one he picked off the midfielders and backmarkers to claim eighth behind Kristian Kolby, who did a solid job in a Dallara patched up after his qualifying crash yesterday.

Kolby, in seventh place, was just 3.4 seconds behind winner Burti after 25 laps of frantic action.

"I'm very happy about my first win this season," said Burti. "It was pretty difficult. I knew that you have to lead the first lap at Brands, because after that it's difficult to get past unless the guy in front makes a mistake.

"Narain made a mistake at Graham Hill Bend and that allowed me to get past. After that it was a case of keeping consistent and not making mistakes, keeping the inside closed under braking."

Karthikeyan rued missing out on his first F3 win. "Out of Druids I put a wheel on the sand," he recalled. "Into Graham Hill Bend I was too excited and carried too much speed - the usual stuff - and went onto the kerb. I hit Davies - there was no one alongside me and as soon as I turned in there was a tap.

"I was quicker than Luciano but he did what he had to do."

Burti knows it will be difficult to beat Karthikeyan in this afternoon's second race if the Indian makes no mistakes: "If I can't catch him I'll finish second - that's good for the championship," he said.

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