Calado wins again in final race
James Calado got his rookie British Formula 3 campaign well and truly back on track by winning the feature race at Silverstone this afternoon
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
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments