Hitech boss hits out at rivals

Hayle believes that rival teams doubted Asmer's title credentials after the Estonian started the season so well, as they were expecting the inexperienced drivers to topple the Hitech driver later in the season.

"A satisfying thing is that from Donington (where Asmer won twice in April) onwards, our main rival was saying that was the end of Marko's wins," said Hayle.

"They were saying that the young ones were going to catch him, that the gap was going to get smaller, and that by this time of year he wouldn't be winning races."

Asmer went on to take 11 wins in total this year on his way to the title, and Hayle took particular satisfaction from the penultimate race of the year, where the 23-year-old won by 12.9 seconds.

He added: "The fact is Marko's now winning races by the biggest margins ever, still getting poles, and still getting fastest laps, so they're wrong again."

Asmer's Rockingham victory was the biggest winning margin in British F3 since the season-opener in 2004, where Adam Carroll led home Nelson Piquet Jr by 17 seconds at Donington.