F3: Manning wins first heat in Korea

In a two-legged race, caused by a multiple car pile-up, the TOM'S driver got cleanly away both times to head Jenson Button into the first corner.

Although he was able to extend his advantage in the early stages, he lost his advantage when they came up to lap backmarkers and, over the final laps of the second leg, Button pushed him really hard.

At the hairpin halfway round the lap, Button tapped the rear of Manning's car but it was not enough for the Promatecme driver to get ahead and he crossed the finish line with an aggregate deficit of 1.4 seconds.

Third place went to Japanese Toshihiro Kaneishi who was beaten away from the line in the second race by French duo Jonathan Cochet and Benoit Treluyer.

Indian Narain Karthikeyan was the calalyst for the accident which stopped the first race when he spun into the barriers at the start of the main straight after contact with Julien Beltoise.

The Paul Stewart Racing driver's car was collected by Tsugio Matsuda and Ryo Fukuda, which caused the track to be virtually blocked.

On the next lap a number of cars arrived at the scene too fast and smashed into the wreckage -- including Beltoise, fourth placed runner Christijan Albers and British Formula Three front-runner Luciano Burti.

Briton Marc Hynes finished seventh in the first leg despite a collision with Swede Peter Sundberg, while Andrew Kirkaldy was 15th after spinning on the first lap.

Matt Davies fought the pain barrier following the practice crash which hurt his leg to finish 19th, despite gearbox problems.