Conway Takes his First F3 Win

The Briton, who started second on the grid, roared into the lead at the start as pole position man Alvaro Parente got away slowly and dropped to third, behind Marko Asmer.

The top three stayed in their order during the opening laps, running ahead of Championship leader Danilo Dirani, Christian Bakkerud and Dan Clarke, before a hail storm caused chaos out on the track by soaking just half the circuit.

Clarke saw the damp circuit as a chance to move up the order and he got past Bakkerud at Tower Corner to take fifth. His similar attempt to grab fourth from Dirani went badly wrong at the same place on lap eight, however, and the pair collided - putting both men out on the spot.

With conditions at Tower Corner getting treacherous, with several drivers including Bruno Senna spinning off there, race organisers decided to bring the Safety Car out for a few laps.

With the hail disappearing and the sunshine returning, the Safety Car came in and the order at the front remained unchanged to the chequered flag, with Conway taking the finish a comfortable 3.369 seconds clear of Asmer, with Parente just six tenths further behind.

Bakkerud took fourth, while Salvador Duran took fifth place ahead of Barton Mawer.

Pos  Driver              Make                      Time
 1.  Mike Conway         Dallara Opel Spiess       26:30.701 17 Laps
 2.  Marko Asmer         Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  +   3.369
 3.  Alvaro Parente      Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  +   3.904
 4.  Christian Bakkerud  Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  +   4.603
 5.  Salvador Duran      Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  +  10.054
 6.  Barton Mawer        Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  +  11.286
 7.  Ryan Lewis          Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  +  11.822
 8.  Josh Fisher         Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  +  13.351
 9.  Charlie Kimball     Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  +  14.256
10.  Jonathan Kennard    Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  +  17.370
11.  Juho Annala  Fin    Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  +  24.918
12.  Ronayne O'mahony    Dallara F305 Opel Spiess  +  26.744
13.  Keiko Ihara         Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda  +1:00.803
14.  James Walker        Dallara F305 Opel Spiess  +   1 Lap
15.  Nick Jones          Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  +   1 Lap
16.  Ricardo Teixeira    Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  +   1 Lap
17.  Cheong Lou Meng     Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda  +   1 Lap

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Driver              Make                          On Lap
     Danilo Dirani       Lola B05/30 Mugen Honda         8
     Dan Clarke          Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda        8
     Charlie Hollings    Lola-Dome F106/4 Mugen Honda    6
     Bruno Senna         Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda        5
     Steven Kane         Lola B05/30 Mugen-Honda         1
     Stephen Jelley      Dallara F305 Opel Spiess        1
     Tim Bridgman        Dallara F305 Mugen-Honda        1

Fastest Laps:

Championship: Mike Conway,    1:15.153, lap 16
National:     Salvador Duran, 1:16.287, lap 15