Calado wins again in final race

The Racing Steps Foundation-backed Carlin driver led from lights to flag to record his second victory of the weekend. He again resisted the advances of Fortec rival Oli Webb to win by just over a second.

Calado streaked away from his second pole position of the event to lead at the start. He broke away from the pack on the first lap as Hitech's William Buller leapt up into second and began holding the rest of the field up behind him.

The leader stretched his advantage to 1.6s before Buller ran wide out of Copse on lap three and fell back to fourth. Such was Buller's lack of pace that he eventually tumbled out of the top 10 as rivals picked him off one by one.

Buller's misfortune freed Webb, who closed the gap down to 1.2s before a safety car (deployed while marshals removed Luiz Razia's stranded West-Tec car on the home straight) erased Calado's lead completely.

Racing resumed on lap 11 and the top two bolted clear, stretching out a 1.4s gap over third placed Daisuke Nakajima (Raikkonen Robertson Racing).

Webb twice attacked Calado, but some robust defending allowed Calado to keep his lead. As Webb's challenge faded, Calado edged away over the final few laps.

Nakajima resisted enormous pressure from team-mate Felipe Nasr for much of the race, before finally succumbing to the Brazilian's advances at Copse on the penultimate lap.

The Japanese racer's car developed a problem and he gradually tumbled back through the top seven before pulling off before the Maggotts/Becketts complex on the final lap.

Nasr finally enjoyed a clean race to record a very impressive podium finish on only his second weekend racing in F3, while ART's Alexander Sims produced another outstanding charge from row seven to finish fourth.

Carlin trio Adriano Buzaid, Jean-Eric Vergne and Jazeman Jaafer filled out the next three places, while Gabriel Dias (Hitech), Esteban Gutierrez (ART) and a recovering Buller rounded out the top 10.

Reigning British Formula Ford champion James Cole took the National Class honours, 17th overall and one place clear of T-Sport team-mate and championship rival Menasheh Idafar.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Car     Time/Gap
 1.  James Calado          Carlin               D/V   41m03.787s
 2.  Oli Webb              Fortec               D/M     + 1.056s
 3.  Felipe Nasr           Raikkonen Robertson  D/M     + 2.893s
 4.  Alexander Sims        ART                  D/M     + 3.943s
 5.  Adriano Buzaid        Carlin               D/V     + 6.563s
 6.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Carlin               D/V     + 7.250s
 7.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin               D/V     + 8.895s
 8.  Gabriel Dias          Hitech               D/V     + 9.667s
 9.  Esteban Gutierrez     ART                  D/M    + 10.540s
10.  William Buller        Hitech               D/V    + 15.928s
11.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin               D/V    + 16.171s
12.  Lucas Foresti         Carlin               D/V    + 17.345s
13.  Jim Pla               ART                  D/M    + 18.930s
14.  Hywel Lloyd           CF/Manor             D/M    + 21.221s
15.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec               D/M    + 21.668s
16.  Maxim Snegirev        Fortec               D/M    + 31.650s
17.  James Cole            T-Sport              D/H    + 33.112s
18.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport              D/H    + 33.811s
19.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision          D/M    + 40.173s
20.  Alex Brundle          T-Sport              D/V  + 1m53.117s
21.  Daisuke Nakajima      Raikkonen Robertson  D/M      + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Carlos Huertas        Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  14 laps
     Jay Bridger           Litespeed            D/M  13 laps
     Luiz Razia            West-Tec             D/H  5 laps
     Rio Haryanto          CF/Manor             D/M  3 laps